Camping Birthday Party

 Camp Eli

First birthday parties are a funny thing. Babies won't remember them. But us mama's. We will. 

We want our babies to feel loved. 

So when I began to think of Eli's 1st party I tried to dig deep and think of things he likes.

I came up with animals (in particular his dog Mack), being outside, music and balloons.

I came to Mitch with the idea of a vintage hot air balloon party. 

He veto'ed the "girly" idea and asked for a cowboy party. 

I wanted something little more unique and closer to what I felt Eli's personality will be. 

We settled for Camping!

Sweet Baby Eli 

In his "Camp Eli" tee-shirt and custom pine tree mocs

Y'all this baby is so presh! 

First, we had to think venue.
 I have always loved backyard parties but seeing as our backyard is the size of a pizza box we decided to have it at the park down the street. 

This park will forever remind me of sweet baby Eli and being a new mom. 

So many memories attached to this park. The venue was perfection. 

Bent Trail Park Dallas, Texas

Next,  I came up with activities.

My friend Isabel gave me the idea for a sand dig

The kids had a blast filling their bags with plastic bugs, gold coins and compasses

E loves to feed the ducks so we brought along some bread 

They loved feeding the beautiful Mallard ducks!

Eli LOVES animals so ponies we're just perfect  

We had one for "grooming"  

And one for riding!

All my life I will remember the look of pride on Eli's face as he rode right through his party. First one. It was really special for this mama.

But we ran into a small problem. The person from the pony rental company got sick... and they wanted to cancel one of the ponies... so I convinced Mitch's best friend, Chewy and my brother Ryan to take care of the ponies!!!!! LOL!  

Ryan just walking Silver around the park in Dallas!!

We had so much fun singing campfire songs 

Live music is always a hit! 

He loved singing along (well really he over ripping up the tissue "flames") lol! 

I'm lucky to have amazing friends who love to just sing along and have fun! 

The kids had a blast 

Especially Eli 

On to the decor

This is my favorite part. I love to put a look together from start to finish. I chose navy, white, and brown (wood/ cardboard) for the colors. Gingham is so precious to me. I looks to classic and masculine.

We had banners for every table, mini bales of hay, I made flower arrangements (mom did the gorgeous bows), borrowed wood stumps from my friend Sheri, personalized signs made by Christina (all the paper was made by Tinta!) , and my dad's fish for a touch. My friend Sheri always does book for sign in so we thought that would be a fun tradition to start as well! 

We did a larger than life chalk board sign I had made from Etsy!

The cute favors said "Thanks for coming to Camp Eli" on one side & "Have s'more fun!" on the other

I wanted to add a little area for the kids to take pictures! Although you can't tell I had the "Camp Eli" Banner from below between the trees! And a ton of balloons as they are my babies fav! 

We loved these cute canvas tents. Mitch did a great job with them.  The blue stars were a cute little touch. 

I made Eli this cute banner to show his growth over his 1st year. Such a sweet, personal touch.

What's a party with out cake? My darling friend Kelly from Sweet Life Cakery made the most fabulous treats! She brought my vision to life! I ordered the cute paper toppers off etsy! I loved picking the look for each sweet treat! 

You can see some of Eli's 1 year photo shoot in these pictures! (Photos by the incredibly talented Paige Walker Photography) To the right is his cutie smash cake. (Which he HATED!)

His 3 tier cake was filled with chocolate, vanilla and lemon cake. It was delicious! 

Kelly did awesome making the s'more pops! 

The flame cupcakes were strawberry flavored! The cookies were even cuter than I expected (Tents, flames, the number "1", "Camp Eli" signs, and pine trees!! 

Let's be honest, I had a lot of help when it came to the food! I trolled pintrest for cute Camp themed foods! My friend Christina, step mom, and mom all helped get everything together. Christina set the entire food table up! I couldn't have done it without her! 

Tinta made the cutest "mud cups" 

Firing up the grill 

Love the personal touch of stadium cups 

I had custom forks and spoons made. Each had a flame, s'more, or pine tree on them!
And don't forget the paper straws!
Note: Navy is NOT a common birthday party color, I had a heck of a time rounding everything up! 

Eli loved having everyone sing to him. (In fact, now every times he hears the birthday song, he thinks its for him!) 

His cousins joined in on the fun! 

Last, here are a few more pic's of our little family 

These 2 babies have a big piece of our hearts

My love

Can we all pause for a moment. How freaking GORGEOUS is my mom? 

This is what life is ALL about

No one will ever love you like your family

My Mack boy! 

Love them so much

Happy Birthday, baby boy! You mean more than anything

They bring me such joy!  

My gorgeous, talented best friend (and sister-in-law) Megan took ALL these fabulous pictures for us!!!!

In the end, the party planning is SO fun to me! Everyone kept asking me if I was relived after the party, and NO I wasn't!!!! I wanted to start all over again! 

But I know it's not the decor, the games, the cake. It's the people you share your life with. 

In this season I am choosing to celebrate the fact that Mitch and I have so many friends and family members that love us unconditionally. This weekend was such a milestone in many aspects. 

It was my first born son's first birthday. As well as a time that I realized that we are exactly where we need to be. Dallas is our home. We have made friends that are like family here. 

God, you are so good to us. 

Thank you.

Eli and his two best friends