How to plan a birthday party for your one-year-old

When your day starts like this:It's not hard to go up from there, especially when it's your birthday!

Dad came home with a lifetime supply of blueberries for our little girl, and let's just say it was a good day after that!

In order to appropriately plan a child's birthday party, you need to start with a theme. The theme we chose was "She Won't Remember It Anyway," and we proceeded accordingly.

I slaved over the hot stove for hours to make some cupcakes and then honed my decorating skills. Obviously I've studied, practiced, and taken classes on cupcake decorating, which is how I was able to make them so thoroughly compliment our theme.

I find that a table knife is the perfect tool to give those cupcakes a certain je ne sais quoi. I could make a whole tutorial on how to decorate cupcakes, but a girl's gotta have her secrets!
We spent the day at grandma's, where Penny dug through the tupperware cupboard. You might notice how absolutely crappy the cupboard finishing is. Well, it's okay, since the kitchen is in the middle of being remodeled. The cupboards are coming out any day now. It will be a day of much rejoicing!
Now, I know some people have fancy cameras and/or pay for fancy photo shoots. Well, we found that if you want some cute pictures, the easiest way is to just put cute kids in them. So we invited our friends with the cutest kids (the Skidmores, Bakers, and Carrolls-- even though the Carrolls didn't make it).

And yes, that is Penny eating sidewalk chalk. No heartburn for that girl!

And no first birthday is complete without the mandatory cake mess. Behold: Penny holds her own. And it was all of her own doing. Yeah Penny!Well, hope you picked up some tips. I think we'll always do birthday parties like this-- until she figures out that most kids get presents, party hats, games, and favors at their parties.