1 year

The birthday girl before her big party.
To decorate, I tried to go really simple, but it ended up taking longer than I thought.
Tissue Poms are MUCH more time-consuming than one would think.
Plus those paper lanterns take time, too.
Thanks to my dad and Greg for helping hang all these on Thursday before her party on Saturday.

I just got those cheap butterflies at Hobby Lobby. I guess they're used for floral decorations, but to adhere them to her decorations, I ripped out the wire and added a 3D foam dot to the back. Worked like a charm!

Everything was light enough to hang with fishing line onto the light fixture.

Her cake to dive into, which really just annoyed her because it made her hands messy.

Party favors (all pink), but some were for boys and some for girls.

The big cake, which BARELY fed everyone that came. Greg said I went overboard inviting everyone, but it was so hard not to. Plus only 2 families that we invited didn't come, so we ended up with over 60 people here. It was CRAZY. And wonderful.

My favorite part of her party was the photobooth. Mom and I hung crepe paper streamers to create a backdrop. Then I set out various props (easy to find around Halloween) and these are just some of the examples of what we ended up with.



Clockwise from top: Claire (of course), me, Mom, Greg

Clockwise from top: Ryan & Christine, Grayson & Deryck, Roan (boy with the biggest vocabulary and imagination you've ever heard!) & Jennifer (my IVF nurse, so it was WONDERFUL she could come celebrate with us!), Garrett, Jackson, Tim & Chantal, Beau (who I used to baby-sit), and Grayson (Claire's betrothed)

After taking the photos, I printed them on the pivi Instax printer (you can only buy this off ebay), then let everyone put their photo into Claire's birthday book and write her a message. LOVED how this turned out. Even the boys had fun...trust me!

In hindsight, I should have gotten the regular Instax camera, because the printer takes time to transfer data from the camera. But, using it to my advantage, it gave me a chance to visit with everyone while working on their photo and album page.

I'll be back later with photos of the smash book.