Rule #324: Celebrate your babies for who they are.
I can’t believe our little Brookie Cookie is already one! 365 days of eyebrow raises, belly laughs, and a little shade-throwing. We celebrated her with family and friends using a Tribal “Wild ONE” theme. I think it fit perfectly for her wild little personality! I couldn’t have asked for a baby girl so wonderfully suited for our family!
Cheers to this guy for helping me get everything together for the big day (and sportin’ her headband that I forgot to put on her)!
She still looked awfully cute in her little Wild One Tutu getup!
I think she should wear the headband out on a regular basis just so everyone knows she’s the Queen.
Three generations of Wild Women.
I couldn’t have gotten everything together without the help of my Momma and my second Mama! I’m so grateful for their help! (Also: shoutout to my girls, Rachel & Erin, for taking and sharing all the pics from Brooke’s birthday!)
Brooke’s outfit was the first thing I ordered when I started planning her party. Of course, she had to have a tutu (and matching headband). This one is so precious, and I plan on saving it for basically forever. Also, if you see us in the grocery store, don’t be surprised if she’s wearing this tutu. It’s too damn cute to keep locked up in a closet!
I couldn’t help myself. I had to have this photo banner when I saw it on Amazon! Only $18? Sold. The balloons were a great quality + price, too. We bought the gold confetti ones and the coral colored ones. I took them to H-E-B the night before the party, asked them to be ready by 9 the next morning, and had Jon Boy pick them up while he got ice. Voila! Stress free balloons, yes please! We actually only ended up using half of the balloons we ordered, so we’ll have some for the next party!
My favorite thing from Corey’s first birthday was his photo banner. It’s still hanging in his closet, and I look at it almost daily!
It’s amazing how much babies grow and develop their personalities in just one year.
I didn’t take pics of everything at the party (crazy, I know), but here are some of the other details: Birthday Invitations | Party Favors | Rose Garland | Faux Eucalyptus | Eucalyptus Stems
I tried to keep it simple-ish by just renting a bounce house for the bigger kids to enjoy. Clearly Mother Nature didn’t check with me because I ordered 75 degree weather with a breeze. We instead got 99 with swamp-like humidity. We always rent from Jumping Fiesta Rentals and love them!
Corey tested the bounce house multiple times for quality purposes and gave it a big cheesy grin of approval.
My mom made Brooke’s smash cake complete with her very own special cake topper! It was very special because she put it on her own birthday plate from when she was born.
Brooke was way more into the cake smashing than Corey was (you can read about his 1st bday here). I knew from the minute we put her in the chair that she was ready to get down to business.
“Ohhhhh. What’s this? My peasants have brought me a treat?”
She wasn’t into the texture at first…
…but then she quickly got over it.
“Mom! This! Is! Amazing!”
Messy baby don’t care.
Brooke didn’t last long after the cake smash, so we put her to bed. Hey, it’s her party, and she can sleep if she wants to! So Jon Boy and I opened her presents for her (with the help of some very special friends).
It felt like we were at a wedding or baby shower all over again. It was so fun to open girly presents! Very different than the Astros, dinosaurs, Paw Patrol, etc. we’ve had in the past. Although all of those things are pretty fun, too!
I really can’t believe our baby is one. I know a lot of other parents have echoed my feelings when I say that I feel like I haven’t given Brooke as much as I gave Corey. I feel like I read more books, played on the floor more, sang more songs, snuggled more, etc. with the first baby than our second. It’s been tough to reconcile, but I’ve got to give myself a little grace. I do the best that I can and that’s all anyone can do. Plus, Corey didn’t have a really cool older sibling to watch and torment!
You know I can’t talk about a party without talking about the food! We ordered pizza via Door Dash from our favorite: Locatelli’s for the main dinner. For appetizers, we had: Spinach + Artichoke Dip, Caprese Bites (coming soon to ze blog), and Ham, Cheese, + Jalapeño Roll-ups (also coming soon to ze blog). My mother-in-law also put together a beautiful fruit tray and vegetable platter with dip!
The Caprese Bites + Ham, Cheese, + Jalapeño Roll-ups were so simple to make. Plus, they can be assembled ahead of time and stored in the fridge!
My mom made cupcakes for dessert! They were French Vanilla and Devil’s Food Cake. She’s one heck of a baker.
I bought all of the paper goodies from good ole Target. I like to keep it simple and not spend tons on paper products.
It ain’t a party without a little libation, ‘m I right?
The next morning, as we were cleaning up, Jon Boy decided to go on balloon duty. Helpful tip: don’t pop confetti balloons anywhere except right inside of a trash can.
You’d think he’d have learned the first time…
Brookie partied hard and woke up in her outfit from the night before. She had so much fun with her family and friends! She loved her presents, especially her very own light saber.
Whew! And with that, I think I’ll go take a nap now. It was so much fun planning her big day, but this Mama is ready for a lazy weekend! How about you?