when we made the decision to keep our celebration for enzo's first birthday small, we kept calling it "his tiny party". after a couple days, i realized that i could easily incorporate this title into a simple and sweet theme. a tiny party is not original (see martha's ideas here) and i have seen some others' takes on it around the blogosphere. this works well for a first birthday, considering it signifies the end of babyhood and the start of things not-as-tiny.
here is our tiniest little with his tiny birthday hat. i made one for each of us. and how about that tiny bow tie? found it the day before while sorting through a year's worth of outgrown tiny clothes (but that is a story for another day).
these blocks were a present from luca and gia. very simple and thoughtful, plus super easy decor for our little party.
i hung a flat sheet over the fireplace (just draped it over the mantle and stacked cookbooks on top) for a quick photo shoot. (and it could have been ironed, but this is way more authentic.) jesse looked half asleep in every shot. but i think he has been half asleep for the last few months. that guy works so hard! one reason a tiny party was necessary. and i am amazed i got this photo of the three kiddos. it is very true to their personalities.
i bought a pack of water balloons from target's dollar bins over the summer. they worked great for tiny balloon bouquets. the color scheme for the party came from these. i loved the vintage-y muted colors and pretty sheen.
these tiny lemon bundt cakes were amazing. we also had mini marshmallows, mini m&m's and shrinkberries (aka blueberries). luca has a plan to invent a blueberry with shrinking powers so he and enzo never grow up. he has been talking about it for months. i thought it was a sweet little nod to his great imagination and very fitting for a tiny party.
and here is the tiny smash cake complete with tiny birthday bunting and tiny candle. i also made a tiny dot garland with scrap paper (kinda like this one). fast and reusable. it was draped on a second flat sheet hung over the buffet mirror. flat sheets make great party decor. i also used a third one for a table cloth.
my parents and brothers were able to join us for the afternoon. and they even humored me by wearing the tiny party hats. my brother cameron is the man of a thousand faces. he is the biggest ham ever. there were probably 20 photos like these. enzo was just confused.
i LOVE this photo. L.O.V.E.
and this one too. he looks so happy (and not half asleep).
watching enzo eat the cake was my favorite part. he couldn't understand why we plopped this (not-so-tiny) thing in front of him. after giving him a little taste from my finger, he tentatively picked at the frosting for a bit. and then all of a sudden he just stuck his whole face in the cake! it was awesome. he sat and gnawed at it until realizing fistfuls were more efficient. too cute.
their was frosting in every tiny nook and cranny on his tiny head.
for those interested i made a lemon cake (doctored box mix) with blueberry preserves filling and homemade chocolate frosting. this combination is my most requested for weddings and parties.
i didn't get many photos of our brunch from earlier in the afternoon. we served stacks of silver dollar pancakes with sausage and mini quiche (store bought). we drank out of these cute tiny mugs. nothing complicated but all very yummy.
i loved the chance to focus on our tiny guy rather than cleaning the house and making lunch for lots of guests. in general, i love having giant groups of people over to share and celebrate with. jesse and i both come from big families and we have great friends (our other family). but with all of the health issues i have been having, the adjustment to and new workload of homeschooling, recovery from our texas trip and the flu, and the general fatigue from raising three young kiddos made this a must. i am glad that with all of that, this day was special and full of sweet memories.
the tiny party was an enormous hit.
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