For my daughter’s first birthday party I wanted to throw her a party in a beautiful local park that took advantage of the lush greenery and serene atmosphere at the park. We had already hosted a Party in the Park there before, and it was one of my favorite birthdays to date.
LOCATION: BOOKING THE PARK
The benefit of hosting a party in a pretty place like a park is that you don’t have to do very much decorating, and instead just let the natural beauty of the place do its thing. For Elsa’s 1st birthday party, we reserved this little park that is surrounded by trees and trails. In the center is a clearing with several benches and picnic tables and a picturesque gazebo. There’s even a babbling brook located off to the side of the picnic area.
This space is perfect for parties, as long as you are prepared to bring all of the supplies you will need with you. Our park is maintained by the local city commission and is free to use for events, but you must reserve it ahead of time.
Once I had the park booked, I sent out invites via a Facebook event I created with all of the details. Since this park doesn’t have a covered pavilion, I let guests know that in case of rain, we would have the party at our house instead. With outdoor parties like this, you really should have a plan B just in case!
DECORATIONS
Once I had the location taken care of, I didn’t have much else to do in the way of planning, because like I said, I didn’t do much decorating in the park. My mom made some cool paper flowers which we hung off of the gazebo, and my mother in law brought these nice wood cake displays leftover from my sister-in-law’s wedding.
BIRTHDAY OUTFIT
I bought the cutest lavender colored ruffled romper off of Amazon for Elsa’s birthday outfit and a “mommy and me” flower crown set from Hunter Bowtique on Etsy. If you will be doing a smash cake or something else messy, make sure to pack an additional cute outfit for your little one.
FOOD
For the most part, I focused my creative efforts on two areas of the party: the food and the special fairy craft.
For the food, I ordered fried chicken strips from the local deli and arranged it so that they were ready for pick up an hour before the party. I made the very best homemade Potato Salad for a side dish, along with some Fluffer Nutter sandwiches and potato chips. We also served lemonade, water, and juice boxes for the kids.
CAKES
For the cake, I went with a naked layer cake with buttercream frosting, topped with a pretty arrangement of berries with mint leaves tucked in for a little greenery. My dear friend Sam is a pastry chef AND just happened to be staying with me that weekend for Elsa’s party so she really made the cakes look gorgeous. My advice for any non-bakers is to use a good quality box mix for the cake but make the frosting yourself. It’s so worth it.
We made a mini 6 inch layer cake for Elsa’s smash cake using a boxed cake mix and more of Samantha’s buttercream frosting. A small grouping of berries brought the simply frosted cake to life.
FAIRY HOUSE CRAFT
While the party would have been just as nice without a craft, I couldn’t shake my dream of making little Fairy Houses as a craft (click here for the full tutorial and links to supplies). I was hoping to source some small undecorated craft bird houses for cheap in time for the party and low and behold my local Walmart came through for me. I was able to track down more than enough small craft bird houses in the Walmart craft aisle for about $1 each. Score of the century.
Then I collected some cute fairy-like decorations like five types of moss. I went moss crazy and just threw all the mosses in my cart. I also grabbed some itty bitty Aleene’s Tacky Glues for about 60 cents each and some inexpensive craft paint brushes. I already had a pretty decent selection of craft paints at home and threw in a few bottles of flitter too. For the paint palettes, I just use small paper plates.
A few other decorations I offered were realistic (bird-colored) feathers, little ribbon flowers and bows, and these gorgeous paper flowers I found on Amazon.
The Fairy House craft was a big hit at the party, with both kids and adults joining in on it. The designs people came up with were super creative and I honestly think these little houses will be proudly displayed in our friends homes, at least for a little while!
SETTING UP THE PARTY
For a play-by-play timeline of setting up a party in a park, check out my post for “How to Host a Party in the Park.”
In addition to my tips in that post, a few items to add for celebrating a baby’s birthday are a high chair for that perfect smash cake photo and a picnic blanket or quilt for your little one to sit on if your party is outdoors. That blanket is also nice to sit on when unwrapping gifts.
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