We invited a few friends over last Saturday to celebrate Charlotte’s first birthday! (It doubled as a laid-back housewarming party too.) There were 9 kids and 10 adults including the four of us, so it was a nice-sized group. If we’d had any additional guests we would’ve had to spill into the backyard despite the heat, but as it was, we stayed cool inside for the most part and let the kids have a blast with plenty of toys and games.
It turns out that it’s hard to take photos in our new house because there are so many windows in the background, but here are a few. I took photos of the decorations before people arrived, and Gavin used my camera to get the photos during cake time. (Thanks Gavin!)
I made the cake Saturday morning before the party while Emma was at gym class and Charlotte pulled all the tupperware out of the cabinets. (Ha!) I doctored a boxed cake mix using this recipe, topped it with buttercream icing (note to self: cutting the sugar to ~3 cups was perfect), and covered the whole thing with a very healthy dose of rainbow sprinkles. For something so simple, it tasted really really good!
I went super easy with the decorations by picking up several rainbow-themed items at Target the night before the party. I also had a string of Mexican party flags (“papel picado“) that I got at Market Square in San Antonio years ago. I’d never used them but hadn’t been able to throw them away, and they turned out to be the absolutely perfect thing to hang from the “catwalk” that runs from one side of our second floor to the other. I haven’t taken them down yet and probably won’t for quite a while because it makes me happy just looking at them!
I printed out each of Charlotte’s monthly pictures and posted them on the wall columns between the windows in our living room. It was impossible to get a good photo of them, but they looked great in person.
Overall Charlotte’s party was a big success and I think everyone had a great time. Jose and I were definitely patting ourselves on the back for getting the house in good enough shape to have a party only 2.5 weeks after moving in!! I look forward to many more fun times here in the future!
Love the pics, thanks to you and Gavin! You will certainly enjoy your house for years to come. Your girls will ❤️ growing up in that house😊