Claire's Birthday

We threw a little get-together for Claire's birthday last Wednesday. She's not a huge fan of crowds and is just starting to get over her stranger anxiety, so we kept it pretty small. We were really glad to have Allie and Macey in town for the occasion and also invited our friends, Libby and Jon. Libby's mom happened to be visiting that week as well, so she rounded out the group!

We spent the morning watching the election of the new pope. Claire was very excited that the decision was made on her birthday and, of course, she has a soft spot for the name Francis! Allie and Macey were a huge help with the party preparations while Claire took her afternoon nap.



We served homemade pizza and salad with cupcakes and fruit for dessert. I think Stewart's soda bottles are so cute {not to mention really tasty!} so we had those to drink and kept them chilled in this beverage tub. 



When I saw these pom-poms on the dollar rack at the craft store, I just couldn't resist.



The birthday girl had a special bib and cupcake onesie, both from Carter's, as well as crown she grabbed from the previously-mentioned dollar rack and wouldn't let go of without a fight!



I made the table runner and napkins using these Michael Miller fabrics. I'm thinking they'll be brought out of for all future family birthday celebrations.



I also made this banner out of Claire's monthly fabrics. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it says "Yay for Claire" because it was exactly twelve letters and because I'd love to bring it out for other occasions like her baptism day and patron saint feast day. I may even have visions of using it at her graduation party one day...



The mantel got a little extra flair as well, in the form of a display of Claire's monthly pictures.



I used a scrap of chalkboard leftover from covering up our fireplace for the display.



Allie made and iced all the cupcakes and even supplied the super cute liners!



She used this cupcake recipe and we displayed them with this cupcake tower. I really like that it's collapsible, since we don't exactly have a lot of room for party supplies.



After dinner, we watched the year-in-review video we made. Claire is kind of obsessed with it. We've watched it several times in the past week and she just loves that cute baby on the screen. I really want to know if she recognizes herself!



Then we opened presents, which Claire was far more interested in than compared to Christmas. Although she was mostly interested in chewing on the rubber mallet that came with the drum in the very bottom of that picture...



We gave her a Pride & Prejudice board book, a toy camera, and a homemade quilt. I'll share more on that next week!



We concluded the party with cupcakes and singing happy birthday, of course!



We splurged on these festive side plates, which will also hopefully become a family birthday tradition.



The first thing Claire did with her cupcake was eat all the icing. A girl after her mother's heart!



That much sugar in a very small tummy led to some grumpiness really quickly.



So, she was whisked into the bath and put to bed shortly afterwards, where she slept very soundly thanks to all the excitement!



The next day, we realized that we didn't get any pictures of Claire with her guests. So, naturally, we put her in the same outfit and pretended like we didn't just forget.



The birthday girl blowing out her candle and digging in. It was a very special first birthday, indeed.