Ladybug Birthday Party

Where:
Whitmer's House
When:
Saturday, September 12, 11:30am to 1:00pm

Cheesy poem:
It's hard to believe, but it's been one whole year,

since our sweet Charlotte decided to appear.

It's been really fun, it's been really great,

and now it's time to celebrate!

So if you have time. and if you like cake and lunch,

come join in the hullabaloo

at Charlotte's 1st birthday party, we'd really like to see you!

This post has been a long time coming... I wanted to get the good pictures from my friend Cortney before I posted. Here it is this 1st birthday bash recap:

Decorations/Theme
Ladybug theme and cake. Charlotte's ladybug book was the first book she liked and I already had lots of ladybug stuff since that's how I decorated my kitchen. I love the contrasting colors. I ending up doing red, black and pink so that Charlotte's outfit would match.

-I just did a ladybug evite then I found these cute cards to make so I made them for the Thank You's instead.

-Red table clothes with Oreo "spots"

-Random ladybug centerpieces borrowed from my kitchen decor

-Red and pink balloons with black string

-Black and white pictures of Charlotte's first year hung with clothes pins on pink ribbon tacked to the wall. I thought the black and white made the pictures seem more unified.

-Scrapbook and baby book on display, scrapbook page for guests to write a message around a picture of Charlotte

-Pink tutu outfit with a "Pretty Little Ladybug" onesie, cute bow that she wouldn't keep on so we stuck one of the present bows on her instead! I am in love with her tutu! I bought it at a craft sale months ago for her birthday but I've since found the directions for how to make them.

-Ladybug cake! I did a trial version first. Here's how I did it in case you ever want to do a ladybug theme party.

1.I used my middle and small sized glass bowls to cook the cake to give them more of a dome shape than regular round cake pans. Carrot cake from the good ol' Betty Crocker (from scratch doesn't seem to taste any better).
2.Red (pinkish) cream cheese icing I made myself.
3. Black licorice (yuck) down the middle to make wings. I tried to find the skinny string kind at 3 different stores for antennae with no luck. So no antennas!
4.Store bought disgusting tube black icing for head and pupils on eyes
5. M&M eyes
6. York peppermint patty spots- less work and cuter than icing. I also experimented with M&M spots and strawberries on the body to make it red but it looked too chucky. Surprisingly the peppermint patties seemed to be Charlotte's favorite part. She hardly got to the actual cake.

Events (pretty typical)
1. Lunch- Ham/Swiss/bacon sandwiches (thanks for the recipe Kelli!), mom's famous potato salad, green salad (thanks Kori), fruit (Grandma W.), Four layer delight for the adults, Flower cupcakes for the kids (thanks for the help finishing them Kori and Cortney)

2.Presents. Charlotte wasn't too interested in opening but she loved the bows and tissue paper of course. She does love her new toys and books and I love her new clothes.

Yeah! Look at all the loot! What a lucky little ladybug!

click to make the picture larger

Presenting the new Charlotte Banner for a New Year thanks to Grandma W.'s hard work! We love it!

3.The Great Ladybug Cake Massacre. She did me proud. The pictures should explain that pretty well.

4. Bath complete with chunks of cake in the water and red icing making the water pink.
5. Cousins and Grandpa and Grandad assembling and playing with toys
6. Birthday girl comes down from the sugar rush and takes a nap.

Charlotte did surprisingly well with all of the attention. She was only a little fussy and clingy- otherwise she seemed to enjoy her paparazzi. If you look at the pictures almost every person you see is holding a camera!

We feel so lucky to have so much family to come to all of these big days. Charlotte had both sets of grandparents, 4 uncles, 4 aunts, 4 cousins, and 3 friends at her party. It was a houseful! Thanks for coming we had a great time!

Video is 2min 9sec I put my favorite pictures from the video in the post for you Marti!