On Sunday my inlaws, grandparents and brother all got into town for the party. They all live in Rapid City so the drive wasn't too bad and I was so glad that they were willing to make that drive to celebrate Jayden with us. They all made the day sooo special and I will remember it forever.
Before the actual party, my mom, mother-in-law and grandma helped me finish up the food prep. Surprisingly I still had a TON to do even though I had been preparing for weeks prior to the party. Next time I will definitely choose more foods that can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. I had done some of that but not near enough! Thank goodness for all the help!
I went with a Dr. Seuss theme which was so much fun to plan and decorate. I tried to plan a lot of the food around the Dr. Seuss books and the colors were largely based off the Cat in the Hat with the red and white stripes. The other main color was teal/turquoise.
Roast Beast Sandwiches from The Grinch
Pink Ink Lemonade from One Fish Two Fish
(Foreground) Green Deviled Eggs and Ham Pinwheels from Green Eggs and Ham
(Background) Cheese Trees and Crackers from Fox in Sox
For Jayden's cake, I didn't want to do a full sugar, white flour cake so I made a "healthy" carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and Jayden seemed to enjoy it too!
I was so glad he dug right in and had no fear of enjoying his cake while everyone watched and laughed and snapped pictures. We all enjoyed it just as much as he did!!
For everyone else I made full sugar, white flour cupcakes and they were oh so yummy too.
I asked everyone that came to the party to bring something to put in a time capsule that we will then let Jayden open up on his 18th birthday.
The basket was just to hold the items for the day. I'll actually keep the time capsule in a Rubbermaid container so it'll hold up for 17 years.
We tried to get everyone's picture with Jayden so I could finally put pictures in this little photo album book that Jayden has (Jayden already loves the book even with no pictures in it).
Nana and Poppa (My parents)
Grandma and Grandpa (DJ's parents)
Uncle Chace (My brother) - Not the best picture of Chace with Jayden but one of the only ones from Jayden's actual birthday weekend. We'll use a different one for the book!
Nicolette (Jayden's nanny)
Grampy (My grandpa) - this was taken the next morning after the party
Grammy (My grandma)
A couple of my friends whose husbands work with DJ also came over and brought their kids. I was glad to add some more kids to the mix because that kept things lively.
I made Jayden a special hat for his birthday. I personally loved it so I'm glad I didn't listen to others' opinions who may have been against the idea! I think it was perfect for a 1 year old's birthday. I probably won't get my 10 year old to wear such a hat!
I also finished Jayden's baby book up to his 1 year birthday and made a photobook on Shutterfly of his first year. I was so glad to have those done since I know I will treasure those so much in years to come.
After cake, we did presents. Holy moly, any child that has 6 grandparents will never ever want for anything.
Jayden didn't really know how to open the presents obviously so DJ helped him. I was really impressed with how the other kids were so good about helping Jayden and didn't insist on opening the presents themselves. They were very well-behaved for 2 and 3 year olds! Jayden received so many great toys although I will rotate them out so he doesn't get bored with them all at once (or overwhelmed!)
All in all it was a great day and such a fantastic way to celebrate Jayden's first birthday. Everyone ate a lot, laughed a lot, and most of all, enjoyed Jayden and all he does to entertain us!
Here are a few more pictures from that day...
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