Since I’ve been blubbering on and on about my baby turning one, I thought I’d at least share a few photos from his whale-themed party (see what I did there?). We decided to keep the party small, but I still wanted to have some fun with the food and decorations.
My starting point for party decor was this Nautical Whale Party from RVParties, my favorite party planning shop. I let Rachel and Victoria (the R and V of RVParties) do most of the work – I just had to cut and assemble. Because throwing parties stresses me out, I didn’t go crazy with the decorations. As difficult as it was, I gave my perfectionist, type-A self a break and didn’t stress (too much) about having everything match.
I did try to put some effort into the food, since that’s always the best part of a party anyway, right? In keeping with the whale theme, I served the following dishes:
-Whale Eggs (AKA meatballs – I used this recipe)
-Sea Snails (pigs in a blanket)
-Ham & Cheese “Seaweed” Wraps (seaweed = spinach tortilla)
-Turkey Hummus “Seaweed” Wraps
-Plankton (Chex Mix)
-Ocean (Funny story, mixing Swedish Fish into partially set-up blue Jello is a good idea in theory, but the resulting bloated, purplish blobs swimming around the gelatin sea were less than appetizing. Live and learn.)
-Cupcakes – the chocolate and white (box mix) cupcakes with (homemade) buttercream frosting got a pass on the cheesy naming
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In addition to a special t-shirt (see my post on that here), Jona got his very own smash cake. I baked white cake in a round pan and cut it out and frosted into a whale shape. No, it won’t be gracing the shelves of any bakeries, but for a cake whose purpose is to be pulverized by tiny little hands, I think it turned out pretty cute. Jona’s reaction was a mixture of awe and horror. Once he figured out that it tasted good, there was more going into his mouth than into the air at least.
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I’d say the party was a success. Jona had fun seeing friends and family, and I didn’t shed a single tear thinking about how my baby isn’t a baby anymore. (I’m not saying I won’t, but so far, so good.)
