Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

Max’s birthday party went off without a hitch. It’s amazing to me that when you decide to not stress about something, and stick to your guns, how much that can change your perspective.

We have a large circle of friends and family. Large. I feel so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love me and my children immensely, however planning events can be daunting, especially when over half those on the guest lists are kids who are coming to a swim birthday party and they are calling for a chance of rain and everyone may end up in our small-medium-sized home. Thankfully the rain stayed away and with my mom and mother-in-law to help with last-minute prep, my decision to not stress about his party was rewarded by everyone having a great time, myself included.

This is the banner that I made and will keep and use for their birthdays from now on. I read about a woman who made one for her children when they were babies and puts it up every year for the whole week of their birthday, and the kids gets so excited when they wake up and see the banner, signaling that their birthday week has begun. I found the paper at Michael’s and fell in love with the color pattern, which happened to match the plates and napkins. Again, something I decided not to stress about and it all just fell in place. Then I used my handy-dandy die-cutting machine, added some chipboard letters and voila.

And to everyone who may or may not have broken a tooth on the cuppie sprinkles, my apologies. I was obviously going for aesthetic appeal over comfort and those bad boys were hard. Next time, only the soft ones, pinky swear.

And true to my southern roots, tons and tons of food. Don’t know what I was thinking when I kept thinking over and over, “Will we have enough food?” And the answer is always yes. Take me by the shoulders next time, shake me and say, “yes, woman, YES!” Or bring tupperware so you can take some of it home because we still have spinach-artichoke dip sitting in our fridge.

Those are the cookies that the fabulous Kelli Tripp made, who has just started her own cookie company and as soon as her website is up and running I’ll post it so you guys can order from her. I’m pretty sure she’ll be offering to ship them, which is good for those of you not in the ‘burg. She does her own homemade fondant which is WORLDS better than the store bought. I give this chicka and her product two thumbs up!

Max didn’t quite know what to think of all twenty-something party guests singing at him. I’m actually surprised he didn’t start to cry because he is not a fan of loudness. Just ask his big brother.

And when it really came down to the cuppie, Max was way more intrigued by what it was, than what it tasted like. The icing ended up everywhere, in his hair, his eyelashes and his ears. But hey, it’s his birthday and I had to calm my OCD down by reminding it that these are the few moments in life where wearing your birthday dessert is perfectly acceptable.

All in all it was fun and made me realize that while I am so saddened by Max’s first year of life being over, it’s only going to get better and more fun as he gets older, birthday parties included. If you want to see the whole set of pictures from his party, head on over to my flickr.

Update: Some of you have expressed interest in purchasing a banner. I will custom-make one for you, but will not stock them in my esty shop just yet. So if you’re interested, email me or leave a comment and I’ll get back with you to work out the details.