Fully DIY'd First Birthday Party

I have been wanting to write about Sophie's first birthday party for a while now but everytime I try to get to writing it - Sophie will cry out for me, for milk or simply to cling on me. So the first cut has been in the Draft folder since March. Today, I had a bit of time to dig out her birthday party pictures from the hard disc whilst she watches Sesame Street on the TV, so here it goes...

Sophie's First Birthday Party

I wanted to make her first birthday party special eventhough some poeple were telling me that it wasn't worth it as she would not even remember it so I decided to fully DIY the entire party - that means, I planned, executed and decorated mostly everything at the party myself. The whole process was quite a joy so I thought I'd share it with you here.

Firstly, without a doubt, good quality photos are a must as proofs that Mummy put a lot of effort to show how her first birthday party went, when she's able to understand it. So it is very important that you have someone to capture all this beautiful and priceless moments. Don't try to be a super-mummy by trying to do everthing by yourself. During the party, you wont have the time to take the pictures by yourself. Neither does your hubby! You will need to be the host and you would want to enjoy the moment without stressing yourself out. I hired my ex colleague, AJ to capture our moments. A young chap with great talent and very easy to work with.

The planning took months but I knew exactly what I wanted for Sophie's first birthday party. It had to be girly & magical! So the moment I set the theme for the party - everything else was easy. The theme? Of course Pink-Everthing and Pink Unicorn! Because our Sophie is our miracle baby, this was the only way to go!

String Polaroids in Big Frames

I had the frame made in a frame shop in Oldtown Petaling Jaya for RM75. And as for the polaroid photos, I used this software to create instant polaroid photos which were then sent to shop to be developed and cut to Polaroid sizes. It was so easy and fun to make!

Pennant Banners

I got the ideas from, of course, Pinterest. I actually had so much fun doing this. Getting the designs and printed and cut them and then changed my mind and went through the whole process all over again lol. Try it, it is kinda addictive - this whole DIY-artsy fartsy stuff.

Table decors

My bestfriend help made these cute baby booties. They are so cute! You can watch the tutorial here. 

The wands were made out of glitter foam sheets - I just cut them into star shapes and stuck two pieces together using double sided tape and glued the rods (that I have wrapped with ribbons) together. I learnt it from here.

And then, there were the cups, serviettes and placemats. Fully customised, of course!

The venue

I wanted to host the party at somewhere spacious with natural lighting. Natural lighting is best for an event like this. You will agree with me once you see all the pictures taken. Anyway, I found this place at The School, Jaya One called Fuwa-Fuwa Bakery Cafe while going through the venue options online. It was perfect. Not only because it was what I wanted, it was also because of the location. It was located in The School, Jaya One which is very children friendly mall. And the owner, Rainbow was such a pleasant lady. They were very accommodative with my requests and demands.

The chalkboard-inspired signage

Hubby helped me to design this. Initially, we wanted to print it on a canvas paper to act as a photobooth but the printer that we were supposed to use was close that week. He was my regular vendor for most of my events. I did not want to use a different printer as I was not willing to spend too much on this. Hence we made do with an A3 print and I attached the print on a hard board to create a bigger signage. You can find these designs on Pinterest.

Goodie bags

Because we were having young toddlers at this party, we wanted to give safe and non-choking toys as the goodies. We bought some loose items to be put in the goodie bags from a few shops in Oldtown Petaling Jaya. Oldtown is heaven for all this DIY business. I printed the label on matte sticker papers and stuck them on plain paper bags. You can get the paper bags from art stores - I got mine at this art shop in The Gardens.

Dessert Table

The cakes, cupcakes and cookies were made by my uncle whom is an amazing pastry chef in The Hilton KL. Check out his Instagram account for his amazing work. And I can tell you that these are not just good looking cakes, they taste as good as they look!

This cake was sugar free cake. I got the recipe online, shared it with my uncle and he made it happen. You can check the recipes out here.

Play area

We placed a mat and some toys below this canopy that we got from Ikea as the play area for the kids. It was quite a good idea for the guests knew exactly where to put their kids and babies to play whilst they catch up with each other.

We really had a gala time. The birthday girl was so well-behaved. Everything was so surreal. I mean, I couldn't believe it that my babygirl was turning 1yo already. Oh man. And I was so glad that I managed to actually DIY almost everything for Sophie's first birthday party.  Thank you, everyone who made time to share this beautiful moment with us. I cannot wait to plan for her second birthday party!