Nolan's First Birthday Party

Calling all Super Heroes! Here comes Nolan's big first birthday party blog post :) Get ready for photos galore!

We had Nolan's party the Saturday after his birthday (the weekend before his birthday was Easter). I spent a good amount of time on Pinterest before deciding on an Outer Space theme. I'm a dork at heart, and have fond memories of learning all about space when I was little (my first science fair project was a model of our solar system), so I figured it'd be fitting for Nolan. Gotta take advantage of these few years where the parents actually can choose a theme ourselves!

Invite for Nolan's first Birthday Party!

I had fun shopping with Nolan over the the week I was home with him, and had some extra time to do some fun "crafty" ideas for decor.

Quick photo of the food table while the hot items were in the oven

Detail shot: table backdrop

The cold food - colorful fruit kabobs, caprese kabobs, rocket shaped goldfish crackers 

I didn't get a photo of the hot food since it went so fast, but the table also included a spincah/artichoke ring, stuffed mushrooms, ham & egg puff pastries, and sausage balls. I had planned on putting little tags in front of the food with spaced themed names, but ran out of time! I don't think anyone noticed/cared ;)

Kitchen and deck

Detail shot: hanging "planets" in the kitchen

Alien Cupcakes and homemade cake pops

Alien cupcake close up!

Rocket ship and planet shaped cookies!

View from the kitchen

Themed artwork - most brought down from Nolan's room

Nolan Monthly photo display #1

Nolan monthly photo display #2

Phew! That was hard work setting up all the decorations, but I was so happy with the way it came out. Everyone seemed to notice all the little details too - I even got rave reviews of the monthly photos from the photo developer at Target when I went to pick them up :)

We had a good amount of people attend - about 15 adults and 2 children (I'm sure that ratio will change as Nolan gets bigger!) We had mostly family in attendance with a few childhood and local friends thrown in. Nolan took a nice long nap right before everyone came and was in a great mood for the party! After everyone had some food, we started in on the present opening:

Us, Nolan, and a massive pile of presents!

He can rip the paper off himself now!

What's in this bag?

These presents are bigger than me!

Loving his red wagon from Nonna and Grandpa

Audience watching - including big brother Dean!

Wooden Dinosaur puzzle!

What's in here??

Dean is jealous of his bath toy that resembles a dog toy :)

Check this out!

I want to play with this one now!

Trying to get a family photo, but he wants to go play with his new toys of course!

Spoiled kid!

Abby with a balloon to take home

The birthday boy having fun!

With Aunt Mary Beth

Playing with Aunt Peggy in her cape

Besides opening presents, the other highlight of the day was cupcake time! Nolan was amazingly tolerent of his new birthday hat, so we got some cute photos of him in his highchair.

Singing "Happy Birthday" while keeping the flame out of arms reach

Interested in the song and his cupcake

Can I have it now?

This looks different than the last one

Mommy giving me a taste to encourage eating

He semi-liked it

Playing with his food

A few more bites

Family photo! Little did I know what was coming next....

A big frosted hug!!

I thought the frosting was supposed to get all over the birthday boy not me!!!

Aaand he's done!

Time to go for a ride with Grandpa while Mommy cleans frosting out of her hair

Cousin play time - getting a ride from Mattie

More cousin play time

Come back here with my school bus!

Photo with the Fam

Check out my new toys!

Bottle break with Daddy :)

Someone else needed a break too!

Photos with my besties - 2 Laurens and a Nicole

Auntie Lauren!

My sisters from another mother. Love watching them with him.

The Specchio's!

Having a blast!

Our little family

Playtime with Dad!

Thumbs up to my first Birthday Party!

All tuckered out in dad's loving arms.

Nolan's birthday party was a huge success! We had such a wonderful time celebrating our little guy (and us surviving the first year of parenthood!) Our lives have changed so much since he joined our little family, and we wouldn't change anything for the world. Thank you Nolan for providing so much joy and happiness to us everyday. Looking forward to many more birthdays to come :)