alonzo's 1st birthday

we celebrated our little guy's 1st birthday last february. i know that's 5 months ago and it's only now that i'm posting photos! talk about procrastination. anyway, before the actual planning hubby had conditions: a) to keep the party simple and stay within the budget, b) to invite only close friends and relatives and c) for me not the get "too crazy" with the DIY stuff.

fine.

we both decied to celebrate with the traditional cake and ice-cream birthday party. we had a cake and pie buffet and an ice-cream stand was also set up. different ice-cream flavors and toppings were available to allow guests to create their own concoction. the decor consisted of circle cut outs and twirling ribbon. i originally planned on making "little cardboard chandeliers" but later decided it would be more feasible to just tape one end of these "confetti streamers" onto the celiling. how easy it that?

there was this eye-sore of a bar at one end of the room which we weren't allowed to move. an idea struck and i figured to work my way around it by turning it into an ice-cream stand. too bad we don't have a decent photo of it to show.

for the backdrop, i framed a printed photo of the birthday guy with corrugated paper. i love how the pompom party hat added a whimsical effect.

i also cut corrugated paper to spell alonzo's name and hung them with gross grain ribbon across the table. we covered the table with bed sheets, by the way.

would you believe that these are made of paper??? no, we didn't feed our guests with paper cupcakes. these are actually party hats!

of course, the birthday guy had his own party hat, too!

the centerpieces also served as the party favors. we filled these paper cupcakes with little goodies (it opens at the bottom as you peel off the sticker). the cake stands are also made of corrugated paper.

all in all, i could say that the party was a hit. the guests were thrilled that they could satisfy their sweet tooth to their heart's content (we also had sugar-free cake and ice-cream for the sugar conscious) they loved the decors and apprecated the unique party favors. our little birthday boy, although he didn't seem to have clue, had a blast showing off his newest tricks to guests. hubby was also quite satisfied that we managed to have kept the party simple, intimate and within budget.

well, about not going overboard with the DIY stuff, i don't know what to say about that!