My parents came in a few days before, and my mom and I got to work on all the Pinterest projects I had in mind.
This was the invite I created and the inspiration for the party theme and decorations.
First, Mom and I got to work on the watermelon whale. I was glad I saved my pumpkin carving tools from Halloween, because they came in very handy! Also, I learned my mom has a hidden talent for mellon balling.
Next was the cake. My mom made some very elaborate birthday cakes for me growing up, so I knew she could help me pull off a whale. To make the shape of the whale, I blew up a clipart whale (from his birthday invitation) on my computer and traced it onto several pieces of paper which I taped together to make a big pattern. Then my mom put the whale on top of the 13x9 cake and cut around it. For the water squirting out of the blow hole we found a little sparkly decoration in the wedding section of Hobby Lobby. I think its supposed to be for bouquets or wreaths, but it worked!
I also made some whale sugar cookies. I used a whale cookie cutter that I found in this shop on Etsy. Lest you think we only served sugar at this party, to go along with the whale theme I had goldfish in little snack cups for the kids and chips and caviar (a mexican dip made of different kinds of beans, usually called "cowboy caviar"), along with homemade salsa and burgers.
This ocean punch was a mixture of Blue Hawaiian punch and lemonade. I bought whale squirters for party favors, and floated a few in the punch. I thought it was actually a pretty tasty drink!
I didn't want to go too crazy with decorations, but I knew I wanted a birthday banner and someway to display all of Knox's monthly pictures from his first year. So I kept it simple and just printed up his pictures and hung them on some twine with mini clothespins. I created a birthday banner in Pages on my Mac and then had it printed at Copy Corner. I thought it turned out pretty cute.
I also made a matching high chair banner.
Here's the little man in whale swim shorts I found on clearance at Target, perfect for the occasion.
Swimming with our little squirt.
Knox was a good sport for the whole thing. He wasn't a fan of the cake (it was really one of the first times he'd had a taste of sugar) and didn't really catch on to the art of opening packages, but seemed to tolerate all the people and attention really well, in true easy-going Knox style.
All in all, it was a perfect way to celebrate his first year of life, surrounded by family and close friends who had such a big part in helping us make it through this first year as a family of three!
