FIRST BIRTHDAY - UNDER THE SEA

March 26, 2011, a Saturday,  Maddox turned one. The weather this day was absolutely beautiful, just a bit windy.  As most moms can say, I went a bit overboard with this birthday.  My creative mom and her sweet friends came over the morning of the party to help me get ready for his big day. I scheduled the party from 2-4 just to make sure that a good nap was taken after lunch but before the party. We had the party at my parent's house in their garage and in the backyard. The garage was set up to look as if we were "under the sea". I went to Arny's in Houston to get most of the decor.  I found a huge mural that I was able to hang on the wall and use as a backdrop for the gifts and photo booth. A co-worker (at the time) was sweet enough to draw and paint a big submarine that the kids were able to stand behind and take pictures in as if they were riding in a submarine. We were able to print these out as the kids took pictures so every kid could go home with their picture, along with their goldfish. YES, every kid got to take home a goldfish as part of their party favor (such a shocker for parents and the children); the children were so excited about this! I also had party favor boxes made to state Maddox's name and birthday. I had the goldfish sitting in a treasure chest individually bagged.  The boxes I pre-packed with a fish sucker, fish bubbles,and  gold chocolate candies (to represent gold from the treasure chest). The smash cake and larger cake was made by Shelly, an amazing baker in town, while the sheet cake shaped to be a fish was made by the amazing Mrs. Landry. Nana bought Maddox a chair with his name on it that he sat in while opening his gifts. The background of his cake eating pictures was very simple. I strung different color streamers from a rod and hung it from the ceiling in the garage; we added some plastic fish and sticks to give it a little pop. Outside we had tents set up with tables and chairs. On the tables I glued pictures of Maddox from birth to one year on different paper fish as centerpiece decor. We had a large bounce house for the older kids and a small one (I bought at HEB for my niece) for the babies. I had a picnic table built for Maddox; I personalized it by branding his name and boots on the top of the table (thanks Dana and Travis for the help). We had such a wonderful turn out. There is nothing about this party that I would change; it turned out exactly how i pictured it.

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