We celebrated Gwen’s birthday with a colorful family-only party here in Houston, and these were her first birthday party ideas…
We may not be a lot of things, but at least we’re consistent when it comes to not knowing when to stop on a birthday party!
In this case, Gwen’s first birthday party ideas seem a lot more than “a chill party with family” that we were going for.
But in our defense, we can basically just shop the things we already own from the Sugar & Cloth studio and still be over the top. A perk of the stylist trade, we guess?!
We also had no cutesy theme for her party, just all things colorful!
So here’s what we actually got/bought for Gwen’s birthday party:
The Birthday Party Location
The cafe that we rented for her party also played a pretty big role in making it seem like we tried a lot harder than I actually did.
Honey Art Cafe is full of colorful rainbow walls, cute cushions, paint palettes, etc. So really all we did was move some of their crafting supplies out of the way. (You can order food and craft there on the regular!)
They closed the store down for us, and the rental also included a food credit for unicorn macarons, etc.
Renting a venue was a non-optional even though we only invited family and family friends to the party. Jared’s side of the family is massive and our townhouse wouldn’t have fit that many!
Not to mention that our 3-story townhouse isn’t even close to being safe for multiple kids running around!
Birthday Party Venue Cost = $300
First Birthday Party Food
We ordered Chick-fil-A nuggets for our light bites option. To spruce it up, we casually displayed them in a gold bingo bin that we already owned. Because we clearly have hoarding problems.
Medium Nuggets Tray Cost = $50
Mint Green Mini Cupcakes from Celebrity Cupcakes Cost = $25
Our Custom Shag Cake
We ordered a custom mini colorful shag cake from Whisk Bakery to go with the rainbow them. However, we ended up dropping before we even gave it to Gwen.
Whoops!! See that hiccup here.
Birthday Cake Cost =$50
Party Table Decor
Insert shameless plug for pimping out our Sugar & Cloth products that we used for her party!
To recreate the birthday party look, we used —
Everything else we brought for the party came from what we had at the studio.
Balloon Arrangements
Our balloon arrangements were gifted from our friend, Glamfetti Co. This is another perk of the trade! However, she has SUPER reasonable prices.
You can actually buy Gwen’s exact high chair balloon garland kit to DIY one yourself.
Gwen’s Birthday Outfit
Our friend Esther from Cuteheads gifted us with a custom color block romper. (Again, a perk for being a blogger, but we also trade industry favors!)
Gwen’s confetti shoes are not new. They are actually gift from our friend and blogger, Oh Joy!
We ordered this hair clip party hat from Meri Meri to complete the outfit.
Birthday Party Entertainment
Our only form of entertainment for the kids was the rainbow bounce house that we snagged on Amazon Prime for $225.
We noticed that the price keeps on fluctuating online though. It is definitely a big purchase, but after some research, we found that we almost cost as much for a rental.
Plus, the bounce house was our only gift to Gwen. So we will be forcing this purchase on our kids until they go to college to make up for the cost!
Rain bounce house cost = $225
Considering how you look at, this is super chill for a mom who makes a living by throwing parties right?!
And special thanks to our friend Alyssa Renee for all of the pretty photos!
More Birthday Party Ideas
- DIY Cake Stands — Unique ways to display your cakes
- Faux Balloon DIY Letter Garland — A personalized balloon garland that will never inflate
- Jumbo DIY Confetti Poppers — To celebrate the big day
- Fairy Bread — A popular Australian birthday treat
I would love details on your top… I love it!!
Hi Lana! You can find the ASOS Bohoo Top here.
https://shopstyle.it/l/Zfuk
Dying over the beautiful balloon arrangements and the cake! Who knew a shag cake could be so chic! I cringed when it dropped, but the silver lining is that it’ll be a fun memory to share when she gets older. Can’t believe you put all of this together so quickly. That’s amazing!
I love your shirt! Do you have a source?
I absolutely love my mom, but if you want to adopt a slightly older (32) kid I would love for you to throw all of my parties and pick out my clothes! I don’t even mind if you drop my cake on the floor 😁
Lol. Kaylyn, that was the best internet comment of the day. We’ll keep you in mind if we plan to adopt. :)
THANK YOU for this resource list. Planning my daughter’s first birthday soon and definitely pulling from your blog for inspiration. :) Hope Gwen had a great birthday.
No problem! First birthdays are always hectic because you want it to be “perfect”. Hopefully, the next ones aren’t too crazy. Good luck planning yours!