Kirsten's First Birthday ~ Pink Lemonade

So, I thought today I'd share some details from Kirsten's first birthday party and also some links to recipes that I used that I will definitely use again.  This post is link heavy, however none of them are affiliate links, just recipes or sources that I loved and will definitely use again and thought I would share.

I didn't want an overly themed party, more of a color scheme. I went with pink lemonade, everything in shades of yellow and pink. So, first to give inspiration credit where it is due... I found an amazing lemonade punch called Party Lemonade over at One Charming Party.  I absolutely LOVE that site for party inspiration.  I don't have a picture of my punch because I kept it in the kitchen to avoid messes in the dining room, so hers will have to do.

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Her cake was a two tiered ruffled cake inspired by a cake by Sweetapolita, her cakes look amazing!  For a little eye candy and taste bud torture, take a look at her round up of her top posts of 2011... OH MY!  This was the inspiration cake for the decoration, but I wanted it in a pale pink.

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For Kirsten's cake I went with two tiers, the top tier was lemon with lemon curd filling and the bottom was strawberry with strawberry jam filling by O' For Heaven's Cakes and more.  It turned out beautifully and it was sooooooo delicious!

For the sugar cookies, I once again turned to Sweetapolita for her Sugar Cookie recipe.  I used a basic corn syrup, powdered sugar, milk icing for the outline and filling and then while the pink was still wet I covered it with pink sanding sugar.  This is my go-to cookie recipe for sugar cookies now, it was so easy to work with and the cookies weren't too hard or so soft that they didn't hold their shape.

I made some pom-pom's out of the tissue paper from the gifts we got at her baby shower.  I thought it was a sweet touch to recycle all that tissue in a somewhat meaningful way.  We also got a helium tank for her 36" pink balloon and all the smaller pink and yellow balloons for the kids to take home.  What kid doesn't love a balloon?

The pink bags are filled with Caramel Corn, I use the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Best Loved Community Recipes. Unfortunately, the book isn't readily available anymore, but you can occasionally find used copies on Amazon.  Volume I and II are my two favorite cookbooks ever, they're compilations of the best church/community cookbook recipes.

The jars are filled with jellybeans and personalized M & M's, I've gotten personalized M & M's for both birthdays so far and they are NOT cheap, but it's such a cute touch.

I made Lemon & Strawberry Marshmallows, then I put them on sticks and dipped the bottoms in white chocolate.  The kids loved these, my favorite were the lemon ones.

For party favors I bought large Whirlypops from Bulk Candy Store, they had the best prices I could find and I was so pleased with what I got last year that I used them again this year for Round-up pop favors.  I designed and printed out circles that say "Thank you for making my birthday so sweet!" on the outside of the yellow, then her name and the number 1. Then I ran them through a Xyron 510, with sticker paper in it.  I finished them off with a sweet pink bow.

Using similar fonts and patterns I made a banner that we printed out and I cut.  I adore Photoshop!  I glued each letter onto pink and white twine and hubby taped it up for me.

She had a big pink balloon last year, just like the red one this year.  Party Explosions on Amazon has been a good source for 36" large balloons with a good thick latex that holds the helium and lasts a while.

Again, using the same colors from the lollipop stickers and the banner I made a little bunting for her highchair, the balloon was tied to the back.  I just glued the little paper bunting flags onto pink and white twine, then taped it to her chair.  A small detail, but so cute.  I really limited her sugar intake until her second birthday, so for her first birthday I made a simple vanilla cupcake with very lightly sweetened whip cream for the top.  She loved it and made a mess and I didn't have a crabby sugar crashed baby girl.  Even now I scrape the frosting off her cake and cupcakes, probably because I scrape it off of my own.

I got a guest book with the intent of using it each year, but I had a better idea this year which I'll be using from now on.  I'll share my idea later this week.