Here is a little recap of our son’s first birthday party! I know some people don’t see the point of going big when celebrating their baby’s first year because they won’t remember it; however, I think it’s important to celebrate parenting/postpartum for an entire year! Also, planning a birthday party is fun and brings family and friends together. For Oakley’s first birthday theme, I decided to go with a  space-themed “First Trip Around the Sun.”

Healthy Eats and Treats

As a recipe developer, I, of course, had to create my very own smash cake recipe! This smash cake recipe uses simple ingredients and replaces processed sugar and artificial flavourings with banana and vanilla extract as natural sweeteners. Think banana bread meets carrot cake, with whipped yogurt cream cheese frosting (also sweetened with banana!). The perfect first birthday cake for your newly toddler to enjoy.

If you’re looking for more healthy recipes for your baby, make sure to check out The Baby HealthNut cookbook, which is packed with healthy, fun recipes that your baby will enjoy! It have over 30+ recipes created specifically for babies 6-12 months and beyond. If you have an older baby and are looking for more toddler-appropriate foods, I also have The Toddler HealthNut Cookbook, packed full of healthy recipes that can take your baby into toddlerhood. 

The Birthday Cake

The Birthday Cake, I wanted to keep it simple and clean, with little details. The soft stars and the little astronaut on the left tied in the theme really well. Isabelle Makes Cakes made the cake. I showed her an inspirational image and told her a few things I would like different. She was able to take my suggestions and my inspirational image and make the cake. It turned out good! It also tasted so good too!

Space Juice

I wanted a drink that matched the space theme, so I created the recipe for a “Space Juice.” This recipe includes water, fresh lemon juice from lemons, maple syrup for sweetening, and blue spirulina powder (used to colour the water). It was a huge hit with the kids!

I ordered my favourite donuts, aka “Saturn Rings,” from one of my favourite bakeries in Toronto, Tori’s Bakeshop. They make delicious gluten-free baked goods with real ingredients and natural food colouring. They usually make these donuts with pink icing, but they were able to do blue instead, which ties into the space theme.

I ordered custom space-themed cookies from a local cookie artist, Rose from Sweetest Little Cookie. The attention to detail was beyond amazing. She took my inspo photo and created custom cookie cutouts and colour-matched everything. They were a huge hit at the party and Sage’s favourite dessert.

The Charcuterie boards from Cured Catering (our go-to for parties); every time we throw a party, these cured boards are a huge hit! For this party, we ordered a fruit tray, a meat and cheese charcuterie board, and an appetizer board. I love that they think of everything from mini utensils to use, mini jars of spreads, etc. So you don’t have to worry about getting that ready at the last minute. They were kind enough to share a 10% off discount code with me, so if you order from them, make sure to use the code NIKOLE10 to get  10% off their website.

Eco-Friendly

We like to keep all our parties Eco-Friendly and low waste as possible. Instead of plastic, we used biodegradable bamboo plates, bamboo utensils, paper straws, and recycled napkins. I placed all the cutlery on the turntable. I’ve linked a similar turntable here; having everything on this made everything more accessible. 

Space  Decorations

You can’t have a first birthday party without decorating the highchair! I purchased Oakley’s highchair garland from Jessica from Happily Decorated on Etsy. She was so lovely to connect with, and I was able to custom-pick all the colours, so they tied everything together. I can’t recommend her enough for your next birthday party.

The space-themed balloon garland I purchased from Esty shop is super cute and fits the theme perfectly. However, if you buy one of these DIY balloon garlands, plan a good 1-2 hours to put it together. Luckily, my older sister came to my rescue and put it together for me. The balloon garland set the theme of the party and was a strong focal point hanging above the desserts. Also, fun fact: I believe the balloons are biodegradable, which I thought was pretty cool.

DIY Photo Garland

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve been taking a photo of Oakley every month since he was born. I was so excited to turn this into a little gallery garland to hang up for his first birthday party! My sister put them all on a USB drive, and I took them to WalMart to get printed on one of those instant Kodak printers. I purchased the photo background from Amazon and added pictures to create the first-year birthday garland.

First Birthday Space-Themed Outfits

It’s all in the details, and although it wasn’t meant to be a “costume party,” I did mention on the invites that dressing up was encouraged, and it was super close to Halloween. So 😉 I had so much fun planning our outfits to match the space party! Thank goodness for Amazon because I found some fun futuristic pieces at the last minute that worked perfectly. I also hired a face-painting makeup artist to come in for the kids and adults who wanted a little glitter/dress-up fun.

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