The Disney Party Blog

A Phineas and Ferb First Birthday Party

2012-05-23T10:02:00.000-06:00

Disney Party: Evan’s 1st Birthday Country Bear Jamboree

2012-05-21T08:11:00.000-06:00

Photos: Daniella Schmidt
Favors: The kids table was decorated with tambourines , signs and harmonicas from http://www.windycitynovelties.com . Also each child got a cowboy hat and Boot mugs filled with western activity book, crayon from Oriental trading Company. The final touch was the washboards equipped with a spoon to play a tune.
Crafts: A craft table was set up for the kids to create their own Banjo’s to decorate. Games were played including Rope the Horse, bean bag toss and catch a fish. My Sister in law brought her goats for the petting farm as well.
Food: Popcorn bar, Veggie stand for snacks. Southern fried chicken from Wal-Mart( very reasonable and no cooking for me!) , pulled BBQ pork, corn on the cob, baked beans, pasta salad and corn break. There was also a tray of chicken tenders for the kids.
Saloon: Lemonade, Iced tea, paper straws from Etsy.com. A bucket of IBC root beer and orange soda.
Cake table: Water melon, Mom’s famous grape salad, cake made by me including the bunting on my cricut machine and mini chocolate cupcakes.
Music: Music was played on my Ipod. I was able to download the Country Bear Jamboree Soundtrack which just pulled the whole theme together.
Invitations, food signs, and pennant: made and designed by me with the use of some bear clip art found online.

A Winnie-the-Pooh First Birthday Party

2012-05-16T13:25:00.000-06:00

Photos: Tracy L.

Mackenzie's Tangled Birthday Party

2012-05-10T17:56:00.003-06:00

Photos: Timeless Memories Photography

Etsy Spotlight: JoanOrr, Home of Papaw Troy's Pull Toys

2012-04-21T21:18:00.000-06:00

Those of you who follow my other blogs might remember that my grandfather passed away early in October. I'm very happy that he was able to meet Eva before he passed, but I was a little bit sad that he wasn't around to celebrate her first birthday. When I was younger, he made me the most amazing wooden toys every year. I got benches, toy chests, doll houses, hobby horses...basically, if I named it, he built it. Over the years, those toys got handed down and passed around and now I only have a few left to share with Eva, which is really too bad because they were so well made and I loved them so much.

So, you can imagine how delighted I was when Papaw Troy (from JoanOrr's shop on Etsy) sent Eva a wooden whale pull toy for her birthday:

Isn't it darling? Eva isn't walking yet, but she'll drag the whale along as she crawls and every now and then she'll look back and be startled that the whale is right behind her, as though she's not the one pulling it!

Here's a peek at some of Papaw Troy's other pull toys:

Etsy Spotlight: Bella's Toychest

2012-04-21T21:09:00.000-06:00

Part of the appeal of handmade toys is that they're often made with less waste, don't require batteries, and aren't made of plastic and light bulbs. In other words, they're green, green, green! I love that and completely fell in love with these upcycled storybook blocks that Bella's Toychest sent for Eva's birthday:

Bella's Toychest specializes in vintage items and handmade treasures for children. Here a peek at what's available in their Etsy shop:

Etsy Spotlight: Cronopia6

2012-04-21T21:01:00.000-06:00

One of the trends I've seen lately in handmade toys are little pillow people that serve as soft, washable dolls. I love the idea and knew that I wanted some for Eva as part of her growing handmade toy collection, so I enlisted the help of Cronopia6 and they sent Eva three matryoshkas, all squishy and ready to love:

Darling, no? They live on her reading bench because I think they're little works of art, so Eva reads her picture books to them (and occasionally uses them to prop up her head). Plus, as far as I know, they're her only toys from Chile!

Here's more from Cronopia6's Etsy shop:

Etsy Spotlight: CreaSas

2012-04-19T16:10:00.001-06:00

Goose Girl (from CreaSas) is one of the handmade presents Eva received for her birthday. She and her goose live under our telephone table on the wooden bench reserved for extra special friends. Currently, the bench is home to Yellow Dog, Cabbage Patch, Floppy Penguin, and Goose Girl with Goose. Goose Girl and her feathered friend are the favorites.

Here are some more lovelies from CreaSas:

Etsy Spotlight: Mad Menagerie

2012-04-19T16:01:00.000-06:00

New best bath time game ever: Eva gets in the tub. She soaks for 5 minutes, playing with her little rubber bath friends. Suddenly, the big bad hippo from Mad Menagerie (one of the handmade b-day presents) pops up out of nowhere and eats all the little bath friends. Eva laughs until she falls forward and snorts water up her nose. She retrieves the friends from the hippo's belly and feeds them to the hippo again. More falling and water snorting. We can do this for an hour.

Here are some of the other fabulous toy-munching friends from Mad Menagerie:

Etsy Spotlight: Mend by Ruby Grace

2012-04-05T12:07:00.001-06:00

For Eva's first birthday, we wanted her to get handmade, heirloom-quality items that would be special to her forever. Of all the things she received from generous Etsy sellers, this doll from Mend by Ruby Grace is one of my absolute favorites. It sits in a special place on her dresser right now, waiting for her to get just a little bit bigger, and every night we make sure to kiss "Baby Ruby" goodnight.

The dolls in the Mend by Ruby Grace shop will take your breath away with their careful detail and beautiful faces. Here's a sampler:

Etsy Spotlight: Suzie's Imaginarium

2012-04-05T08:29:00.000-06:00

Before we even started shopping around for Eva's first birthday, we knew we wanted to get her a security blanket. Kyle and I both had security blankets when we were little and we have fond memories of naptime and long car trips. Plus, Eva had developed a close (and gross) attachment to one of Kyle's old sport socks and it was really starting to bug me. I love Kyle, but not enough for my baby to be snuggling on his old socks.

We were just going to find a soft blanket, but then I stumbled onto the rabbit-headed blankets from Suzie's Imaginarium. She added a little Disney-themed fleece and the result was the perfect cuddly friend, who now lives in the diaper bag and goes with us whenever we leave the house. We call him her lovey and she's completely forgotten about that old sock. (Thank you!!)

Here are some of the other sweet items in Suzie's Imaginarium:

Etsy Spotlight: ElJayPlushie

2012-04-04T21:46:00.000-06:00

One of the darling items that Eva received for her first birthday was this birthday cupcake giraffe by ElJayPlushie:

It's made of soft fleece, so it's oh-so-snuggleable and it's been Eva's go-to naptime buddy ever since her birthday. I might not have mentioned this before, but Eva has quite the giraffe collection (more than thirty!) ranging from her giant nursery giraffe to a few tiny keychain stuffed giraffes. This is a perfect addition and I love the little cupcake accent because now we'll always remember that this is the giraffe from Eva's first birthday!

ElJayPlushie does all sorts of adorable and snuggly plush items. Here's a peek at some of the other things you'll find in the shop:

Etsy Spotlight: Manzanita Kids

2012-03-28T17:38:00.000-06:00

One of the heirloom toys Eva got for her first birthday was a Big Dipper Star Stacking Set from Manzanita Kids. They specialize in handmade toys that are both beautiful and educational, which is exactly what I was looking for! Eva had another stacking toy, but the rings rolled all over the place and she had a hard time picking them up. We swapped it out for this one as soon as we got it and she has a much easier time. I think she mostly just loves the shape of the stars and the feel of the wood, because occasionally she'll need to carry one around the house. Or to the store, because who doesn't need their star while they're shopping for groceries?

Manzanita Kids is offering 10% through the end of March with the discount code "dailycandy", so if you're looking for Easter basket fillers you should definitely pop over to their store! Here's a sampler of some more of their items:

Eva's Birthday: Her Birthday Presents from Etsy

2012-03-28T17:19:00.000-06:00

This is a sponsored post. I received these items for free from these Etsy sellers in exchange for publicity. All comments and opinions are my own.

When we talked about what we wanted Eva to get for her birthday, it seemed like the options were nearly endless. They make more toys and books and outfits for one year olds than you'd even believe. We thought about doing one big present for her, like a new playset for the backyard or year membership to the local aquarium, but ultimately I knew that she'd get more day-to-day use out of some really quality, heirloom-style toys.

I'll be the first to say that Eva doesn't need toys. We have a lot of toys. That being said, most of her toys are hand-me-downs that haven't quite made the transition, either because they're missing pieces or because they're just worn out. She also has a lot of flashy plastic toys that only do one thing (push the button to play the sound, for example) and she gets bored of those easily. I wanted toys that were made love. I wanted toys that were going to teach her things. I wanted toys that were going to live to make it to the babyhood of her future siblings.

Enter Etsy.

I read an article recently about store-bought clothes vs. Etsy clothes. The idea was that investing in higher-priced clothing from Etsy was actually a better deal because you can get tailored pieces made by people who are really artists in their field from Etsy and those clothes will last a lot longer than ten off-the-rack pieces that don't really fit well, but were too cheap to pass up. I feel like it's exactly the same with toys. We could have spent money on more cheap plastic toys that were just going to break and fail to keep her attention or we could get a few really nice toys that will be the things we decide to save and pass on because they're so special.

I found a lovely bunch of Etsy sellers who were happy to help us out and sent Eva these beautiful presents for her birthday, inspiring us to donate a ton of her cheap commercial toys so we could make room for these special items:

Stuffed Birthday Giraffe from ElJayPlushie

Mickey Mouse Security Blanket from Suzie's Imaginarium

Big Dipper Star Stacking Set from Manzanita Kids

Custom Doll from Mend by Ruby Grace

Bath Time Buddy from Mad Menagerie

Three Matryoshkas by Cronopia6

Disney Storybook Upcycled Blocks from Bella's Toychest

Whale Pull Toy from JoanOrr

Sally the Goose Girl from CreaSas

Wooden Name Puzzle from Jigsaw Creations

Over the next few days, I'll be spotlighting each of these Etsy shops individually, with more photos of the toys and a sampler of other things offered in their stores. Eva's bonded with each of these items in a special way, just like I thought she would, and I'm excited to tell you more about that. With Easter coming up, I highly suggest that you look into these sellers to fill your baskets!

Etsy Spotlight: Salt City Bakery

2012-03-24T20:53:00.000-06:00

We got a sampler of delightful goodies from Salt City Bakery for Eva's Princess and the Frog first birthday brunch.

This bakery is based in Salt Lake City, but they ship anywhere. Here's a look at some of the items available in their shop:

Etsy Spotlight: Kittie's Cakes

2012-03-24T20:26:00.000-06:00

We used Kittie's Cakes on Etsy for some of the yummy baked goods we had at Eva's Princess and the Frog first birthday party.

Here's a sample of some of the other delicious items in their shop:

Eva's Birthday: The Buffet Table (Part Two)

2012-03-24T12:47:00.000-06:00

Even with the table decorations and the lovely pedestals I had for Eva's party, I knew that it would all be forgotten if we had boring, unappetizing food out for the buffet. Unfortunately, I'm not that great of a cook... or rather, I make tasty food that looks like it's been run over. I'm not an aesthetic cook. I'm a midnight leftovers out of the fridge cook.

I didn't want to take a chance on hoping my cooking skills would suddenly improve with this party, so I delegated the cooking out to other people. Some of the brunch was made by my mom and Kyle's mom, including muffuletta sandwiches wrapped in paper, mini-pancakes, bacon, sausage, breakfast casserole, and fresh beignets. I did offer up a little aesthetic assistance, including putting the little pancakes on party picks with blueberries (success!) and trying to make the bacon into hearts (fail!), but mostly I stayed out of everyone's way since I'd made all the cupcakes the night before.

There was one food that I was in charge of, however, which was the fruit kabobs. I had seen cute rainbow fruit kabobs on pinterest and thought it would be fun to make little stars and hearts out of fruit for Eva's party. The result was pretty cute, but the shapes weren't holding up quite as well as I wanted them to and most of the fruit salad ended up in a bowl in our fridge. If you're thinking about doing this, I'll give you this advice: (A) don't try to make shapes out of fresh pineapple, because it doesn't hold, (B) add something like shapes out of cheddar cheese or anything that's easier to cute, and (C) get the thinnest skewers you can find or your shapes will fall apart when you try to string them together.

With the majority of the breakfast basics under control by my moms, I still wanted to have more of a festive spread. The thing I love about eating out at a nice brunch is the huge variety and how you can have little samples of lots of different things without filling up. So, I decided to enlist three Etsy sellers and asked them to send me samplers of their best stuff. By the way - if you're thinking about getting edible favors or other desserts off of Etsy for your event, I highly recommend paying for samplers from different sellers. It was an amazing way to check out what was available!

Jessica from the MiniME Bakery specializes in miniature sweets, which I thought was just perfect for a baby's birthday party. Her sampler included some mini sugar cookies in the party colors, frosted sugar cookies shaped like crowns and frogs, and a selection of mini lemon linzer cookies that didn't last long enough for me to try one! (I'm pretty sure my siblings ate them by the handful...) It was great to have the miniatures because they added a lot of festive color to the table, but they didn't take up a lot of space and the kids could eat them without filling up.

The lemon linzers are from the MiniME Bakery and the cream cheese sugar cookies are from Salt City Bakery.

Kittie's Cakes specializes more in baked goods and had a lot of items that came to mind when I thought of brunch. She sent us lemon bars, cherry coconut bars, and chocolate chip scones. It was great because the bars arrived uncut and we were able to divide them up into little squares so people could have a little taste of each. They were delicious (of course) and added that upscale bakery touch to the brunch.

I also used someone local that I found through Etsy. Andrea from Salt City Bakery is based here in my hometown, but she ships her goodies all over. She was nice enough to stop by the house with some of her russian tea cakes, cranberry pistachio shortbread (Kyle's favorite!), cream cheese sugar cookies, and a few neapolitan macarons. Again, she just brought a sampler of each item, so it felt like we had this huge abundance of flavors for the party. It was also fun to have things like tea cakes and macarons because not everyone there had ever tried those so they got an "exotic" experience on Eva's first birthday. :)

All in all, the buffet was a hit and we had less food leftover than I thought we would. I'm definitely going to repeat the little-bit-of-lots-of-things buffet strategy in the future!

Etsy Spotlight: Sip and Savor

2012-03-21T09:28:00.001-06:00

We used a custom cake pedestal from Sip and Savor for Eva's Princess and the Frog birthday party.

Here are some more of the lovely items in their Berlin-based Etsy shop:

Eva's Birthday: The Buffet Table (Part One)

2012-03-21T09:18:00.000-06:00

After looking at years and years of events online, I've noticed that buffet tables with lots of variety in height tend to look more inviting than tables with lots of flat trays of food. So, for Eva's party, I knew that I wanted to use a bunch of pedestals, bowls, and trays to mix it up a bit. My mom has a huge collection of dishes, so I knew that the majority could be borrowed. Still, I decided it was time to start my own collection with a special something for Eva's birthday that I could take out and use every year when her party comes around again.

Enter Sip and Savor, the Berlin-based Etsy shop run by Coco and Rosie.

These lovely women looked at the styleboard I made for Eva's party and then hit the thrift shops in Germany to find the perfect pieces to use for her pedestal. They even added a special touch to make it personal and the result was just lovely:

Here's what it looked like on the day of the party:

The funniest part about it was that as people took lemon and cherry bars from the pedestal, they revealed the "secret" Princess and the Frog decoration and were as excited as if they'd found hidden treasure. I guess it ended up being the party's hidden Mickey!

Eva's Birthday: Birthday Party Dress

2012-03-19T02:12:00.000-06:00

If you visited The Disney Baby Blog last month, you might have seen Eva's one-year-old birthday portraits. They were themed for her Princess and the Frog birthday, with a little help from Etsy seller Loveable Baby Boutique, who made her headband in custom colors, and Etsy seller Snuggle-Bugs and Bows, who made her a pair of the sweetest little Princess and the Frog slippers.

We used Eva's birthday portraits in the invites and had a few prints hanging out around the party, but on the big day the birthday girl got a little more dressed up. She wore her Princess and the Frog slippers to the party, but lent her cousin Kaitlyn her poofy headband. I thought she looked adorable and I'm excited that Eva will be able to get use out of it for years to come!

I debated long and hard about what Eva should wear on her birthday. I've seen a lot of first-birthday dresses online, usually with a cupcake or a large number one on the front, but I decided I wanted something that fit the theme of her party a little better. I did look into some of the infant Princess Tiana costumes, but ultimately we were having a Princess and the Frog birthday party because Eva was named after the loveliest firefly in the Bayou, Evangeline. So, I decided it would be fun if she looked like a little firefly.

I found an Etsy seller, Strawberrie Rose, who does custom tutu outfits for infants and little girls. Her outfits are elaborate and adorable, so I was thrilled when she agreed to do a custom number for Eva's birthday. The result was nothing short of perfect:

Isn't she just the cutest little bug? Her dress was accented by her party shoes and a special infant headband from Le Petite Jardin. Her headband was made to look like a magnolia to fit the theme and had a blue jewel accent with some little white feathers to give it a romantic 1920's feel. Again, perfect!

I wore my own flower to match, from bridal shop Lola M. Designs. I've been quietly coveting the beautiful flowers brides have been wearing in the hair for quite some time now, so it was nice to have an occasion to use as an excuse. It was so easy to clip in and instantly glam up my look that I really wish I had gone for a flower instead of a veil at our wedding.

Etsy Spotlight: The Papered Nest

2012-03-15T18:37:00.000-06:00

We got the customized wooden spoons for Eva's birthday cake from The Papered Nest.

Here are some more of the party items available in their shop:

Etsy Spotlight: Blu Embellish

2012-03-15T18:27:00.000-06:00

We used a cake banner from Blu Embellish for Eva's first birthday cake.

Here are some more of the cute items available in the Blu Embellish shop:

Eva's Birthday: The Cake Table

2012-03-15T11:32:00.000-06:00

I think the cake table at Eva's birthday party ended up being on of the cooler spaces we put together. Usually I'm of the put-the-birthday-cake-on-the-big-table-with-everything-else camp, but for Eva's party I wanted to keep the whole Bayou fireflies theme alive by incorporating jars. We had about a million baby food jars around the house and it seemed like a good time to use them.

I decided to do cupcakes in jars, which is much easier than frosting regular cupcakes in my opinion. The hardest part was preparing the baby food jars. We used Gerber 2nd stage jars for most of the cakes, so I had to remove the baby food label and then use GooGone to soften the remaining adhesive before rubbing it off with a towel. It takes a minute to soften it and you really have to rub it off before you wash the jar, but it's worth it to be able to reuse those little jars.

When they're not holding cupcakes, we use our baby food jars to hold household things like paperclips or dry goods like chia seeds. I also use them to store leftover food I make for Eva, like macaroni and cheese or creamed cauliflower. The portions are perfect, obvioulsy, and they just pop into the dishwasher when I'm done.

To make the cupcakes in the jars, you just take regular cupcakes and slice them in half, horizontally. Put the bottom half of the cupcake in the jar, add a layer of frosting or filling, pop in the top half of the cupcake, and add more frosting. Voila! The great thing is that you can use one cake mix to make 12 regular vanilla cupcakes and then add a little cocoa powder and a few chocolate chips to the batter to make 12 chocolate cupcakes and suddenly you have a variety of different flavors in jars. I also added food coloring to some of the white frosting, just to mix it up a little.

For Eva's party, I did 12 vanilla and 12 chocolate using that method and I also used a box of carrot cake with applesauce stirred in and used sprinkles to make those ones look like fake king cakes. Some of the chocolate ones had a layer of peanut butter filling in the middle, so all in all we had four different kinds of cake (not counting Eva's birthday cake).

Note: if you like the cupcakes-in-a-jar idea, you should check out the ones I made for St. Patrick's Day over on the mommy blog...

So, the cupcakes turned out very cute, but I knew that I was going to have to display them somehow and the thought of just having them out on the table was a little underwhelming. I really love the layered look of cupcakes in a jar and wanted to show them off, so Pedestals agreed to send me a cupcake tower. I had used Pedestals before for my sister's baby shower and I absolutely love their cake displays! The displays are custom trimmed in your requested colors and they arrive in three pieces so you can stack them or not stack them depending on how you want your table to look. They're also covered in oilcloth, so cleanup is no problem. I really feel like having the cake display just made the whole table!

Some of the cupcakes had toppers in them from Designs by Fun. They specialize in personalized party supplies and sent over a whole bundle of awesome for Eva's party. We had cupcake toppers, favor labels, scratch-off cards, favor tags, and laminated party badges for VIP guests. The kids loved playing with all the stuff and it was nice to have a continuous theme going throughout the party.

On the bottom layer, in front of the cake tower, I used jars to make yogurt parfaits and striped Jello for anyone who wanted cake. The parfaits were cute, but I forgot to put granola on the top, and the striped Jello was...eh. I used lime Jello for the bottom and top layer and then did a big layer of strawberry Jello mixed with condensed milk for the middle layer. I thought it would be cute pink and green stripes, but it didn't turn out that well. With everything available at the party, the striped Jello was definitely voted Least Likely To Make It Onto My Plate. Oh well. Maybe next time.

On top of the cake display, was the smash birthday cake I made for Eva and a little photo of the birthday girl (framed using a Disney wedding favor from My Wedding Favors). I'm not the greatest baker, especially when it comes to things like cake, so Eva's cake was a bit of a bumpy mess. I covered it up by using an entire bottle of sprinkles to coat the outside and topping it with a sweet cake topper from Blu Embellish. I was so happy that they had sent me the cake topper because it made the ho-hum cake into something really special and I was able to take it out so we can reuse it next time. I adore cake banners - they're so happy!

We also had refreshments and serving ware on the cake table. I used an old mirror that we haven't hung yet to create an area for the drinks and served OJ, milk, and iced coffee. In reality, everything was served in Starbucks Frappuccino bottles with the labels removed and the iced coffee was just Frappuccino. In addition to being a sweet display, especially when I added paper straws from the party store, this was a good way to have coffee at the brunch without brewing our own. Kyle and I don't really drink coffee so we don't own a coffee maker. Since most people do drink coffee, we wanted to at least have a faux option. Hooray for bottled Starbucks!

Note: to remove the labels from the Starbucks bottles, use the GooGone again to soften and scrape off the adhesive. If you still have expire-by dates on the bottles after you used the GooGone, use a Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover to take off any remaining ink. Be sure to wash the bottles thoroughly! We found that some of the sugary coffee residue was pretty stubborn. The great thing about these is that once you buy them, drink them, and wash them, you'll have the bottles on hand for all future events.

I also had Princess and the Frog napkins for the desserts on the cake table and some darling wooden spoons from The Papered Nest. This was another party detail that I was worried would be too subtle, because hand-stamped spoons aren't exactly going to steal the spotlight, but the guests loved them and really thought they added to the festive mood. They're such a simple touch and yet so much better than white plastic cutlery - I'll definitely be using them again!

The whole cake table was decorated by a large piece of artwork that my aunt made for Eva when she was born. Again - use whatever you have in the house first! Obviously, I don't expect everyone to have giant Disney art just hanging around, but if you're having a themed party you might want to check to see if you or friends/family members have art, stuffed animals, music, or even books that would add to the party atmosphere!

Etsy Spotlight: Nancianne514

2012-03-14T13:29:00.000-06:00

We used a feather boa light garland from Nancianne514 to channel Tianna's fancy restaurant dreams for Eva's Princess and the Frog first birthday:

Here are some of the other darling items available in Nancianne514's shop:

Eva's Birthday: Decorations (Part Three)

2012-03-14T13:20:00.000-06:00

Our living room is the largest area in our small home and we used this space for present opening and general mingling. It's a nice room with a lot of light, but didn't want to clutter the ceiling with more poms and confetti garlands like I had hung in the dining room. Instead, we blew up about a hundred white balloons and hung different lengths of purple ribbon from them to make the space feel festive.

You might notice that a lot of the balloons are notsomuch on the ceiling. That's because we blew them up at about 10 PM the night before and by 8 AM about 60% of them were bobbing around on the carpet. Kyle had to do an emergency run to the local drugstore to pay waaay too much for some white balloons so we still got the effect I wanted. Originally, I was going to put those twinkle balloon fillers in them to add to the firefly effect (the battery-operated twinkle lights blink on and off for about three hours) but now I'm just glad that we didn't have one more thing weighing them down.

By the way - I did love how festive it made everything and the kids liked playing with the balloons, but I was surprised by how expensive this part of the party was. We spent about as much on balloons as we did on food, which seems a little imbalanced to me. A cheaper way to go would be to invest in a helium tank and just get refills, but that will only be cost-effective if we keep using tons of balloons for each party. It might be a good investment for us, because I'm quite pro-balloon, but then again we'd have to store it. I'll have to think about that one next time...

I had made a DVD of some of the video clips we have from Eva and I had it playing in the background for the party. It was both a decoration and a little bit of entertainment for the peanut gallery while we were all eating and just hanging out. I dressed up the TV table with a feather boa light garland I got from Nancianne514 on Etsy.

It's a little over-exposed in the photo, so you can't quite see how dreamy it looks when it's all lit up. Eva was absolutely enthralled by it and we'll probably be finding a place for it in her nursery soon. I loved how soft and elegant it turned out - definitely something I would have considered for our wedding! It would also make a great photo prop, especially for newborn sessions.

A few of the decorations were DIY projects. One of the fastest was this photo garland. I strung photos backed by glittery cardstock on a thin feather ribbon (to match the feather boa light garland) and hung them across the mirror behind our couch. Originally, I was a little frustrated because the photos wouldn't stick to the glitter cardboard, but once I strung the ribbon through both the photo and the backing, it didn't matter. It turned out rather lovely and was a good conversation piece since everyone stopped by to see how much she changed over twelve months.

My favorite DIY project was also the most expensive and probably the most subtle. I wanted to create the look of real fireflies and originally I had planned on making a firefly lighting fixture to hang over the dining room table. When I tested it out, however, the effect was lost against that big sunny window in our dining room, so the fireflies moved to the mantle instead. I ended up liking this a little better, since it was closer to the look I was going for.

To create "real" fireflies, I bought a 10' twinkly light strand from Restoration Hardware. It was a little pricey at $25, but the thin lights on the copper wire were the closest thing I could find to that tiny lightning bug look. (I think holiday lights, even the mini ones, would have been a little confusing.) The twinkly light strands run on battery packs so I used five old canning jars from the local thrift store (50 cents a piece) and a package of craft moss from the fabric store ($3) to hide the battery pack and make it look like the fireflies were floating in and out of the jars. As I mentioned, the effect was pretty subtle and I thought people might miss it, but everyone noticed. The jars are still on our mantle because I'm a little in love with them. I think they're going to be a great centerpiece for an outdoor summer dinner!

Next up: Eva's cake table!