Harper's Lemon Garden Party 1st Birthday

Harper is ONE!

This year certainly flew by!! We celebrated Harper’s birthday at home and threw a ‘garden’ party with our closest family and friends. I knew throwing a garden party at the end of April was a risk – but can you believe it snowed on her party day?! We still kept the lemon garden party theme (just stayed indoors :).

I’m excited to share a some of the details – including a few party decor tips and last minute personal touches!

I really wanted this party planning process to be easy, but sweet.

It literally was full of SWEETNESS. From donuts, to cupcakes, cake and a lot of cookies! I also wanted to use local businesses and small business shop owners for most items. Don’t get me wrong, Amazon has been a lifesaver for things but I have been making strong efforts to go local when I can.

A few companies I want to share specifically are (pictures below!):

Treat Walls – SO many people in our local Facebook group recommended Treat Walls for a donut wall. It was a perfect addition to our party. They are based out of St Charles, IL but can ship nationwide.
Sarmie Sister Sweets – Two sisters, a doctor and a software marketer, started a cookie company and I am blown away by how talented they are! They are located in the Chicagoland are (Batavia, IL)
Studio B Labels – Custom labels on Etsy. They do excellent work and I was so grateful they were able to accommodate a last minute request! I’ve blogged about them before here so come back and take a look 🙂
Blue Goose Bakery – This is a grocery store in St Charles, IL and our go to place for cakes and cupcakes! You have to let them know exactly what you want but they are very reasonable priced and great to work with.

PS. none of this is sponsored (I know people ask!). I just want to share these favorite companies with you! Note, there are affiliate links used below, which means for every purchase made, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Here are a few pictures and details from Harper’s birthday party celebration! A HUGE thank you to my friend Becky for helping me with photos (seriously amazing!!)!:

Balloon Wall

I’ve been dying to try a ‘Balloon Wall’ and finally gave it a shot. I could have spent an hour tweaking the placement but just winged it and called it a day.

It only took about 15 minutes to put together (Eric was blowing up balloons). I used packing tape (per the recommendation from Party City) which held the balloons well. We installed it the day before and only had to fix a couple the next morning.

Donut Display

I had my heart set on finding a donut wall and was thrilled to discover Treat Walls in St. Charles, IL.

They offer custom logos and much larger displays too. I jazzed our Treat Wall up with some faux flowers and doilies behind a few of the donuts.

This way, when the donuts are taken off it still looks pretty 😉

I’m excited to use this for brunch parties with bagels too. Keep an eye out for their champagne wall coming out soon!!

I added colorful mini flower pots (from Trader Joes) to the table. We’ll plant them outside once it gets warm out.. soon I hope!

Party Time

The party started at 10:00am. I know, early! But I think this is going to become a thing for bday parties!

Weekends fill up fast, especially with little ones. With so many birthday parties and commitments, we decided to have it early in hopes people could make it. A few guests had afternoon parties so they could do both in one day.

It also made the party prep feel easy since pretty much everything done when we woke up.

We kept the menu simple: Donuts, bagels, fruit salad, egg casseroles and desserts of course. Eric and my Mom had a “bake off” of sorts. Eric’s spicy egg dish vs. my Mom’s sausage egg casserole – it was a close tie!

Attire

All the girls wore seersucker dresses. Harper’s was monogrammed and can be found on Etsy.

Harper’s Monogram Seersucker Dress
Taylor’s Ralph Lauren Blue and white Seersucker Dress (40% off)
Kinzie’s Pink and White Seersucker Dress

I had this floral dress to wear but wasn’t feeling it with the snowy weather! My earrings are from Rachel Parcel’s new earring line (I’ll need to get a better pic, they very cute): Flower Earrings

Even the ‘bust’ dressed up…

Photo Display…

I totally failed on doing the monthly pictures for Harper (sorry Harp!). But, I LOVE seeing how babies have grown in the first year. So I pulled some of my favorite photos from the last year and used mini clothing pins to hang them on a ribbon.

On the coffee table…

I don’t print photos very often so when I do, I tend to print A LOT. I displayed some favorite family memories on the coffee table from Harper’s first year. I also had extra napkins and coasters scattered around the end tables and coffee tables (mostly for decor and because we had extra!:).

Tip: if you are ordering custom napkins or any party supplies, order more than you need and use them for future parties. I had ordered so many extra personalized napkins, cups and coasters for Harpers sip and see when she was born. I was thrilled to be able to use them for her first birthday party too!

Drink station

Drinks included orange juice, champagne for mimosas, sparkling and still lemonade, vodka for screwdrivers (which surprisingly was a hit; I still can’t drink them since college!)… and lemons to garnish (of course).