A few weeks ago, my youngest son turned one. While it was a huge milestone for him, it was bitter sweet for me.  His first birthday just crept up on me.  Whether I liked it or not though, it was here and it was time to celebrate. While I wanted a more intimate celebration with our family only, I still wanted to make it special.  With some help of a few very creative and talented vendors, I was able to throw my son a “rockin” first birthday party. The only stipulation that I made was that in lieu of gifts, if our guests want to give something, I asked them to donate money to their favourite charity.  Fortunately for my boys, our house already resembles a mini Toys R Us. The last thing my son needs is MORE toys.

Theme

I came up with a music theme because well, my son LOVES music.  He heads towards my husband’s drums every second he gets.  His eyes light up and his hands flap up and down with so much excitement whenever he hears music.

Decorations

With the help of Sleepy Owl, I got some beautiful decorations done including a banner, pom poms, an 8×10 table sign, cupcake toppers, loot-bag tags and personalized water bottle tags. They also created the great digital invitation for the event.

Cupcakes & Cookies

Neena from Yum Cakes and Treats made us some delicious cupcakes and cookies in the shape of guitars and music notes.  While these treats were enjoyed by all at the party, I also sent a cookie home with each of our guests.

Cake

Imagine Custom Cakes made my son the most beautiful smash-the-cake ever. In a shape of a drum with two edible drum sticks, it was just too beautiful to let my son smash it.  We made a last minute decision (literally, as he was about to smash the cake) to not do it! Instead, we rushed out to the grocery store and bought a chocolate cake for him to smash.  I’m glad we did because the cake was too delicious to not be enjoyed by all. This actually wasn’t our first experience with Imagine Custom Cakes, they made my oldest son an amazing Angry Birds cake for his third birthday so I couldn’t wait to use them again.

Photography

Of course, no first birthday is complete without a smash-the-cake photo session.  I invited Joanne from Kaianne Photography to capture the day.  She took Ryan’s newborn pictures so I thought it’s only fitting that she takes his one year birthday pictures as well.

The party was a lot of fun, and Ryan loved all of the food we served. His birthday also served a higher purpose of helping others. Donations were made on Ryan’s behalf to Sick Kids Hospital, the Zoo and some money was put towards his RESP’s.