Celebrating One, With Bubble Bath Fun!

Baby Girl turned ONE a month and a half ago. I can’t believe how long ago that already is and feels, and how quickly her first year went by. We had a wonderful celebration with family and friends. First birthday parties are special in our family. They are one of the big, everyone-is-invited celebrations. I promise Matt that subsequent birthday parties come around to or under the ten-kid limit. But there is something special about our children’s first birthdays (and their naming ceremonies :-)) that I feel should be celebrated with our wider community. Perhaps it’s just that we survived haha! But truly, there is so very much to celebrate in a baby’s first year … from the tiny instinctive movements of grasping fingers to running and climbing everywhere, what a huge leap in development, in change, in life. 

I make a birthday photo book for each child for every birthday and I think it really helps to capture and remind me all that has happened in the past year, and how much these beautiful children have grown. In addition to the pictures, this is the place where I jot down all the baby book stuff ... teeth popping through, developmental milestones like rolling over, crawling, walking, first words and favorites. One of Aviella’s favorites this past year has been bubble baths. So I knew I had to do her birthday party in a bubble bath theme.

But bubble baths … in October … in a drought ... in a park?! Yeah, it’s weird. I leaned heavily on the bubble aspect since I couldn’t very well invite everyone over to actually splash around in a real bubble bath. But I tried to include some bath themes where I could. I think she had fun despite the need to stretch the theme :-)

This was our first park birthday party … I’m not convinced it’s easier than at home haha. It was absolutely lovely being able to start the party with the house a complete disaster haha but I found it challenging to schlep everything over to a park, even one that was so close. Took numerous cars and numerous trips, and extended family helped with the schlepping back! And having to remember every little thing—matches, cake cutter, extra folding chairs, and having no extra time to set up. That was hard for this planner who likes to have things set and ready well before go-time. But no matter, even with the napkins covering the food because the flies were a nuisance and the bubble balloon bath quickly making its way to a car trunk since the babies discovered how much fun it could be to bite the balloons, there was sun, friends, family, older siblings racing around and younger ones jumping in bubbles and laughing, and Baby Girl was smiling the entire time. 

Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate our very special girl. Any tips for park parties in the future? Kalev's is just 2 weeks away now! Boy is fall busy!

Happy Birthday Aviella!

A very special thanks to Megan Pimentel for the beautiful pictures of Aviella. You can tell which ones they are because they are so much clearer than my iphone ones haha!

Menu: pasta salad bubble bath, fruit bubbles, cheese bubble & crackers, Israeli cous cous bubble salad, pink lemonade, pink lemonade + ice cream bubble bath punch, water

Easy peasy decorations: fabulous Aviella banner made by the wonderful Diana for Aviella's naming ceremony, jars with pink ribbon, pink runner over white tablecloth, clear plastic Christmas ornaments to look like bubbles on the table, a few rubber duckies, and pink balloons, of course

Bubble bath cake inspiration: CakeCentral

Bubble bath cake bubbles how-to: Globalpost

Bubble favors: Maison de Pax

Chocolate cake recipe: Add A Pinch

Buttercream frosting, per Matt's request: Martha Stewart (of course!)