REAL PARTIES: Office Party First Birthday

I’m SO excited to share this wonderfully creative party with you today! I first stumbled on it due to a google alert for HWTM and pretty much keeled over from cuteness overload after just the first few pics!

Jessica from Modern Moments Designs created this “{Not So Typical} Office Party First Birthday” theme to celebrate her adorable son Emerson, and although Jessica describes herself first as a “a wife, a mother, and a cupcake addict“, it’s pretty obvious there’s a very talented graphic designer in there too! For example, take a peek at (a small part of) the amazing invitation that she designed for the party:

Pretty cool, right?! More details on this “vintage book” style invitation are below, along with LOTS more inspiring images (as captured by Courtney Jade) and all the creative party details, as told by Jessica…

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“Our little Emerson tuned ONE in December! I always hate it when my babies get older. I think first birthdays are always hard on mamas. Here’s a look at how we celebrated his big day….

I knew I wanted to do a vintage style first birthday party. (Since Emerson is our third son, I felt like I had to be a bit more creative since we’ve already done many of the “traditional” party themes.) Thankfully, I’d been thinking about Emerson’s birthday for awhile and bookmarking things on Delicious. Here’s a peek at the final inspiration board:

Emerson’s birthday invite was the first piece that set the tone for the party . I created a heavily distressed vintage book invitation complete with a removable book slip cover!

Courtney, from Courtney Jade Photography took the amazing photos of Emerson used in the invitation and was kind enough to blog about the invitations (with plenty of detail shots!) right here.

I booked the party at Gymboree Play and Music. It was so fun and the staff was amazing! I literally brought in my whole house for Emerson’s party. Thankfully, I had a ton of help though from my mom and sisters, who came early to help me set up the dessert table…

I went with a ‘Milk and Cookies’ theme for the dessert table. I created an assortment of cookies, most of which I didn’t even have to bake. It was so easy and quick! Who knew if you just added chocolate to pre-made cookies it made them taste better and look prettier?!

A few of my favorite decorative elements on the dessert table were the adorable polka dot suitcases. I purchased them all the way from Australia from etsy shop Retro Bird Designs.

Since I broke my arm in early November, I really took it easy and “made” many treats that really just required some extra chocolate or assembly. I got a ton of ideas from Hostess Blog (HWTM), like these Candy Cane Mint Milanos, which were easy to make and a huge hit! I also loved the $0.99 cent picture frames that were used as signs at this birthday party and this bridal shower on HWTM and used them all throughout the party. Aren’t they cute?!

One of my favorite items was the chocolate milk served in mini glass bottles with retro stripe straws! They were the perfect size for little ones and really added that little something  ’extra‘!

Continuing on with the cookie theme, I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and sewed them in glassine bags that I purchased from Garnish, which is also where I bought the cute wooden forks.

If you know me at all, you know I love cupcakes. I always make cupcakes. For Emerson’s party, I made both banana and coconut. I’m partial to banana though!

Click here to check out a DIY tutorial on the little cupcake stands that I made for each kid. These were super easy to make too and I am in LOVE with how cute they are!

I gave each of the kids their own screen printed muslin bag with their name on it. I also made some extra bags with the words ‘thank you‘ on it.

I didn’t want the kids to have to carry all of their goodies, so I purchased little polka dot gable boxes to put all of the party favors in and made little ‘library cards‘ to clip on the boxes so each kid had a label on their box:

With so many kids, I think over-labeling their items is the best way to go!”

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VENDOR CREDITS & RESOURCES:
Styling & Design: Modern Moments Designs
Photography: Courtney Jade Photography
Invites, Place Cards, Library Book Cards, Water Bottle Labels, Signs in picture frames: Modern Moments Designs
Table Cloth: Table Vogue
Polka Dot Snack Cups, Polka Dot Candle, Cupcake Liners, Retro Stripe Straws: Hey YoYo
Red Polka Dot Suitcases: Retro Bird Designs
White Picture Frames: Ikea Tolsby Frame
Polka Dot Cookies: Sweeties By Kim
Polka Dot Gable Boxes: Creative Gift Packaging
Screen Printed Bags: Lovedrunk Designs Coming Soon!
Glassine bags & Wooden Forks: Garnish
White letter stand, Red Sorter, Ceramic Cake Stands, Ceramic Footed Stand: HomeGoods
Polka Dot Tie: Stacy Bayless
Mini Cake: Albertsons
Cotton Drawstring Bags: RunEllieRun
Party Location: Gymboree Play & Music