UP Themed First Birthday

I love planning birthday parties, and because I kind of didn't go all out for my son's party this year (as in I wasn't even going to throw a party until he asked so it is totally last minute), I thought I would throw it back to his UP themed first birthday that I never posted about. So far, it has been my favorite because the decor was perfect!

I'm not exactly sure where we came up with the idea of an UP theme, I literally think my husband just loved the idea of having a ton of balloons and we went with it. We did rent a helium tank to be able to fill up all of the balloons on our own, so it made that part a lot easier than driving to drive with a bunch of balloons in the rear-view. We used balloons for the cake, and also for the gift area. We also had the UP soundtrack quietly playing throughout the house as background noise. Obviously a Disney family.

For food, we did picnic type food with sandwiches, potato salad, fruit, and pulled pork sliders...as well as other snacks not pictured. It was perfect for a lunch time party and was incredibly easy to prep. The food table had the UP cake as a centerpiece, a stuffed Kevin and Paradise Falls money jar for decor.

We are lucky to have a local family friend who bakes AMAZING cakes for a great price. I gave her my ideas for the UP cake and she totally blew me away. The flavor was marble and the frosting was buttercream, the house and balloons were made with fondant and it just looked so perfect. Seriously one of my favorite cakes to date.

You can't have a first birthday without a smash cake, so of course we had a matching one made that Dax just LOVED. His was completely buttercream and he dove right in, careful not to get too messy. I took his birthay onesie off for the cake so he could put it back on later. I didn't do a typical high chair banner, but the I AM ONE balloons worked perfectly with the theme.

Daxton's "nanny" for the first 2 years of his life also happened to own her own in-home cookie business. Her cookies are DELICIOUS and oh so stinkin' cute! She made cookies to resemble the UP Wilderness Explorer Badges. We set these out on the main food table but they were used for our favors. I mean look how amazing they turned out!

I knew Dax's birthday outfit had to fit the theme, so he wore an embroidered balloon onesie from a shop on Etsy, and I added the suspenders for an extra touch. If you know Dax, you know he loves suspenders! We still have this onesie and I have considered cutting it to put in his baby book, but I think I will just keep it as is as a keepsake. He looked so cute.

I made a banner for our front door that said: ADVENTURE IS INSIDE - DAX IS ONE, and a happy birthday banner to hang across the windows inside. The front door banner had a burlap look and the inside one was rainbow colored. And then no UP party is complete without tying a bunch of balloons to your one year old's back and hoping he doesn't float away.

It was an awesome first birthday with so many family and friends celebrating our guy turning the big ONE.