Lauren's First Birthday Party

Lauren Turns One

I can't believe Lauren has been in our lives for 1 year already. Life really does pass you by so much faster when children are in it. I couldn't imagine a better second little girl to have in our family. She is quiet but cheeky, always happy and has the biggest bluest eyes which you could stare into all day. 

We celebrated her birthday over the weekend with family and a few friends and I thought I would share some snaps from the day & some ideas we did for the party. I also thought I would share some tips of what I did to not go over board with spending. 

Firstly when it came to buying food and drinks I tried to buy everything on sale, if it wasn't on sale it wasn't expensive food items. Also if you have a rewards program card for anywhere see if you have any credits you can cash in. I had $90 in Flybuys credit so that took a decent chunk off the cost. We served roast beef or chicken and gravy rolls for lunch & had a sweets nibbly plate & savoury nibbles as well.  

I also made the cake myself and it was delicious, if I do say so myself. It was a vanilla buttercream cake and vanilla icing. Click here for the cake recipe I used. Click here for the Icing recipe. They also used ingredients I already had in my pantry. The One decoration on top of the cake I had saved from Georgia's birthday & the little bunting I made myself.

For the kids activities we had a sand pit table set up. We also had a sensory table I made with rainbow rice & rainbow spaghetti which was a hit. Click here for the instructions for rainbow spaghetti, make sure you wear gloves to make it! For the rice I put uncooked rice in a zip lock bag with a few pumps on hand sanitising gel & food colouring, shook it to coat then let it dry on some baking paper. There was also table for the kids to make pasta necklaces, to colour the pasta just do the same as with the rice. I found food colouring gel made the pasta more vibrant. 

My lovely sister in law is a wiz at making prints and she made the print for me with all of Lauren's info on it. I also borrowed a lot of decorations off of her to make the place look pretty. If you can borrow decorations from friends & family that will save you so much money! Also see on Facebook for any local buy nothing groups near you. People give away loads of things you can use to decorate with.

I was very proud of my balloon garland, yes I made that! It is easy to make, it took me about 1.5hrs to do. I used almost 100 balloons. I bought 5 packets of balloons from Big W and they were $3 each. Also get a balloon pump, save your cheeks! Simply blow the balloons up at all different sizes. Tie 2 balloons together, then wrap string around them a couple times then repeat on the same length of string until you've got your desired length. I hope that makes sense! 

I made really simple party bags for the kids. I didn't put any food treats in there as I didn't want parents cursing me for it later! There was home made play dough, a bubble wand (which are 50cents each from Kmart) and some glow sticks for the kids to keep the party going and have a disco bath later on. 

I hope if you're planning a party that some of my inexpensive ideas help you out for your little one's special day. Don't forget to have a little celebration of your own, thinking about how you've nailed another year of being a fantastic parent to your little one.

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