a beautiful girl's birthday party

There was never any doubt in my mind

that we would celebrate my beautiful girl's birthday in style.

One whole year on the planet deserves to be celebrated,

and one whole year of bringing up a baby deserves to be acknowledged too.

Our little man had a big first birthday bash

and there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity

to plan an exciting party for our little lady,

and to scream from the rooftops just how proud we are to have her.

We went with a ice cream theme

which was, in a word,

A. MA. ZING!!!

I managed to pick up some great ice cream themed items

and was kindly sent some to review too,

it was just such a fun theme to go with.

I genuinely think it works well as a theme for all ages.

I'd be just as happy with a ice cream party for my 30th next year

as I was hosting one for my daughters 1st.

I mean, who doesn't love ice cream?

We booked a lovely village hall in a neighbouring village

so that we could avoid the craziness of hosting at home.

We did this for the beautiful boy's first birthday party

and it was absolutely the right decision.

Lots of space for babies and toddlers to explore

without ending up with a trashed house.

Plus it was a real blank canvas of a space

which allowed me to get all creative.

I went mad on decorations

with bunting, honeycomb balls, balloons and photos

all making an appearance.

There were cakes a plenty

and the mummy-made birthday cake.

And an ice cream parlour table too

so that people could help themselves to sauces and toppings.

I had a mammoth task getting everything ready

with only an hour before the party guests were due to arrive.

But my little team and I did it . . . just!

And it was a great party.

The ice cream parlour was a resounding success.

Party goers both old and young alike,

really enjoyed being able to help themselves to a tub of ice cream

and then cover it in their choice of toppings.

I made ice cream cone favours

full of marshmallows, chocolate buttons

and little ice cream sweets

for each of the children at the party to take home.

All the children were thrilled to get an 'ice cream' to take away

and they also made a cute little display on a table

with a beautiful doll made especially to commemorate the party.

The birthday girl looked good enough to eat in her frothy tutu

(mummy made of course)

in pastel candy colours to match all the party decorations.

One party outfit wasn't enough for this little lady though,

because she got so covered in ice cream

that we changed her into a flowery frock half way through.

Well, if you can't have two dresses for your own party,

when can you?

There was plenty of cake,

from cupcakes and fairy cakes adorned with special cake toppers

to ice cream cupcakes which I made to match the theme.

The ice cream cupcakes were a big hit with the toddlers

who love licking the icing and pretending they were eating real ice creams.

It wouldn't have been right for this photo mad mama

to not include photos in the party somewhere,

so one wall was covered in a washing line of favourite photos 

showing how our little lady had grown 

from her birth day to her birthday.

And after the roaring success of the finger print guest book at the beautiful boy's party,

I bought a matching canvas

cracked out the paints

and made sure that all the guests left their mark and their name.

So now both my children have a painted record 

of all the special people who came to their first birthdays.

I rather bravely (or stupidly) decided to invent my own cake recipe

and didn't bother to practise making it either.

Fortunately after much stress and near disaster

it came out perfectly.

A layer cake of chocolate, strawberry and banana

with white chocolate frosting.

Yummy!

My husband and I just spent the day feel ridiculously proud

of our little family,

of our lovely children,

and of all the amazing people who are supporting us in raising them.

It's certainly humbling to look around you

and realise just how many people, besides yourself,

love your children to pieces.

The little man had an absolute blast

and would tell anyone who would listen

that it was his sister's birthday,

and that it was her party,

and that she was one.

And the little lady,

the birthday girl herself.

Well she enjoyed lots of ice cream

and especially liked the jazzies on top.

She loved all the attention, noise and excitement.

She loved the flying balloons, the squealing toddlers and Disney music.

And she was also pretty shattered by the end.

In fact she spent the second half of her party 

with her thumb permanently stuck in her mouth from pure tiredness,

but she didn't so much as whimper once.

She just smiled with her eyes at everyone

and watched the proceedings from her favourite position;

someone's arms,

mostly mummy's.

Nearly all the ice cream parlour stuff was kindly sent to us by Style My Party.

The ice cream theme was the backbone of the party

and the ice cream parlour absolutely made it;

I thought it was fantastic.

The Ice-Creamy Dreamy kit arrived

and it genuinely included everything I needed 

to turn the party into something special.

A huge box of tubs and spoons for people to eat their ice cream from.

All the signage and food labels came in the kit

as well as the stickers and lollipop sticks needed to label the pots of toppings.

Paper bunting, colouring sheets, matching drinks cups.

It was all in there.

The beautiful doll who looked after the party favours,

was kindly made by Stacy at Style My Party

to be a special keepsake of our little lady turning one.

With her signature flower headband

a pastel coloured tutu skirt,

and short golden hair,

I was so completely touched to receive her through the post.

The bunting on top of the cake 

was a free printable from the Style My Party website too

which you can find here.

I really can't speak highly enough of this company.

They really made the party memorable.

The little ice cream trucks were kindly given to us by party supplier, Delights.

These cute little trucks didn't just look pretty,

they also housed patterned ice cream tubs and spoons.

They are really fun and a great, simple way to make a food table look a little special.

And finally,

the majority of the photos in this post were taken by Katie of Katie Ellison Photography.

I cannot thank her enough for coming along and taking these for me

so that I could concentrate on speaking to everyone

and cuddling the birthday girl.

I'm so pleased with these photos

and all the details of the party that she captured.

The listed items were sent to us free of charge to use for the party

but all opinions are my own.