Max Turns One | A Monster Party

My little Baby Max turned ONE on Sunday!

Shirt from A Chapman Creations on Etsy

When you have your first baby, everyone tells you to cherish the moments when they're little because "they go by so fast."  And you smile and nod and think "yeah, ok, sure," as you adjust to punctuated sleep and the complete upheaval of your life as you get into a new groove with your little nugget.  You think those precious moments will last forever...they're always going to be little.

And then all of a sudden it's been a year since you brought your bundle into the world and you realize that the past year was the fastest-passing year of your entire life and you can finally conceptualize how true those 5 words really are.

How the flip do I have a 1-year-old already?!  I've been planning this party for months, but the actual day really seemed to sneak up on me.

We've been suuuuuper busy the last two weeks getting the house set up and ready for Max's birthday party, so I had to dust the cobwebs off this here blog before I could write this post today.  Sorry it's been crickets over here lately.  I hope today's post makes up for it!

I'll let the photos do most of the talking, but here's the low-down: we had a monster-themed party to celebrate Max's one-ness (other themes I considered were Sesame Street, baseball, nautical, and camping).  My sister and I baked and decorated all the cake pops, cupcakes, and Max's smash cake.  I got the ideas for the decor mostly from Pinterest but added my own spin to some of them.  All of the pictures were taken by my darling friend Dottie of Dottie Millwater Photography (when your talented photographer friend comes to your kid's birthday and offers to snap pics with her fancy camera, you put your own camera away and let her work her magic).

The Decor

Max's monthly photos

The centerpieces for the tables were tissue boxes wrapped in paper and decorated like monsters.  

Each table also had a jar of cake pops.  I made the jars for Max's baptism.

I thought my sister was going to throttle me when I told her I wanted to hang all those streamers from the bulkhead.  I'm very grateful that she supported my vision: there needed to be more color coming from the ceiling!  This tip made it super easy!

I made the confetti by cutting up pieces of cardstock.  I did the same for my wedding.  Easy peasy and adds pretty color to the table.

I made the boho flags from small pieces of scrapbook paper.

What's a party without balloons?

The Sweets

We baked for DAYS.  But we had fun.  And these cake-pops were TO. DIE. FOR.
Tutorials here and here.  (These gals have perfected the process...and they have pretty awesome blogs, too).

I love an opportunity to use my cake stand.

My future sister-in-law decorated these.  I love them!

The one in the middle is my favorite.  He reminds me of a minion from Despicable Me.

The Favors

Found these plush monsters on Amazon

The kids also got some Play-Doh and bubbles

The Man of the Day

Max was awesome on his big day!  He took a great nap that lasted through the start of the party and was such a happy guy playing with his cousins and friends.  I thought he might cry when we sang to him but he held it together!

Practicing walking.  He's still not interested in doing it on his own but he'll walk as long as someone or something helps him.

We taught him how to "blow" last week and we practiced with a scented candle at breakfast!

He wouldn't eat the cake unless we put strawberries in it.

He was happy with our singing.

With his parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncle

Such a wonderful day with family and friends!  Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate and to all who wished Max a happy birthday on Sunday!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!