Maddie’s First Birthday Party | You are my Sunshine

I cannot believe our little princess is one! It feels like only yesterday I was checking into hospital to have her. What an incredible year it has been. Becoming a mom has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding tasks I have ever taken on.

I couldn’t wait to start planning Maddie’s party as soon as 1 January came around. I remember as a little girl – the AMAZING parties my mum threw me as a child. I wanted to honour my late mum’s memory and keep on this tradition for my daughter.

My husband, Brett chose the theme – You are my Sunshine. He suggested it as it was the soothing song we sang to her while she was growing in my belly and it was also the theme we chose for her nursery. I felt like it was only fitting we followed it through to her first birthday party.

I might add that I planned this party while packing house to move only four days after the party so life was a little manic but luckily I had the help of some pretty amazing service providers who really took the edge off!

On Saturday, 25th of March (three days after her birthday) we threw her little party at our home – in the garden. The weather on the morning of her party didn’t match that of the theme! Grey skies threatened the party but nothing stopped our little sunshine from gracing her guests in the ball pit and brought a lot of love and happiness to mum and daddy’s heart!

DECOR
I chose to go with yellow and pink to fit the theme and brought in pops of polka dots through the material table cloths and trays. La Maison Creative in Durban North helped me design and put together some gorgeous buntings, food labels, straw tags, tags for the party favours and a bunting for Maddie’s monthly photograph. Party Sparks designed and hand painted the most gorgeous wooden suns and clouds to add to the decor. They were such a stand out on the table! JJ Baby Designs designed Maddie a personalised keepsake birth chart for her first birthday to track all her precious milestones. This is such a sweet idea and so great to display for your guests to read.

FOOD
Chateau Gateaux did the catering – they provided the yummiest quiches, gateaux, cakes and take home giant chocolate chip cookies for the kiddies. Maddie’s two tier B1 Chocolate cake was also by Gateaux Gateaux. I simply put together two of their cakes – a 12 slice and an eight slice together and decorated it with some round edible balls which I found at a party shop and topped it off with a cake topper custom made by La Maison Creative in Durban North. Quick and painless! I have seen how so many moms worry about the cake and often over think it and it ends up being such a pain and stress. Maddie’s cake took me 5 minutes to put together and decorate and I knew without a doubt that it would taste and look amazing! I decided to include Brett’s favourite Chateau Gateaux cake, Andrea’s Cheesecake seeing as daddy chose the theme. This cake is so versatile and allows for easy decorating – I sprinkled some yellow flowers on top and it fit into theme so beautifully!

FAVOURS
For party favours each child got a pair of sunglasses labeled ‘thank you for making my day shine’. Babe Bee spoilt each baby a very nifty bib strap in a custom polka dot yellow fabric to match the theme. This amazing clip allows you to make a bib out of anything like a napkin or cloth! These are great to keep at hand in your nappy bag. To top it off every baby got a giant chocolate Chip cookie from Chateau Gateaux to take home (for the parents to eat).

WHAT MADDIE WORE
Me3 were responsible for Maddie’s gorgeous little outfit! I literally sent them a picture over Instagram of what I wanted the outfit to look like and they went over and above my expectation creating the personalised onesie, tutu and matching headband. Maddie looked like a true princess!

ENTERTAINMENT
If you are planning a first, second or third birthday party – Soft Play has to be on your list! The littlies absolutely love it and it is so age appropriate for them to play on. Small Fries Soft Play supplied the morning’s entertainment for the kiddies and to say that there were still kiddies on the equipment when they arrived to collect the equipment when the party ended is completely accurate! We still joked and told some moms that their kids were getting packed away with the equipment! So much fun!

PHOTOS
I adore photos and capturing any special event and a professional photographer was a non-negotiable one for me. I would rather compromise on another thing to have all my photographs sorted in someone else’s hands so that I can actually enjoy the morning without worrying about capturing everything! I couldn’t be happier with Steph Stein’s amazing photographs from the morning! She truly did capture the day beautifully!

GUESTS
We invited and had more people come to Maddie’s party then we did at our wedding. At just over 60 people from brand new friends we have just met at our weekly Moms and Miracle’s class to our friends who we have grown up with from our Antenatal group to old friends and family – it was truly special!

Here are some pictures from the day…

SERVICE PROVIDERS
Maddie’s outfit – Me3
Stationery decor – La Maison Creative (Francie@lmcreative.co.za)
Wooden decor pieces – Party Sparks (vaalpartysparks@gmail.com)
Birth keepsake – JJ Baby Designs (mlkfaith@gmail.com)
Birthday cake, gateaux, quiche and chocolate chip cookies – Chateau Gateaux
Teepee – Totem Teepee (totemteepee@mweb.co.za)
Soft play – Small Fries Soft Play Hire (Mandy – 083 776 7945)
Bib straps – BabeBee (babebeeproducts@gmail.com)
Photographer – Steph Stein Photography