Monday, April 5, 2010

K is for Kinley

I am so excited to finally post all the pictures from Kinley's ABC-themed first birthday party! The reason we chose the ABC theme is because for her entire life Kinley has loved to sing the ABC's. When she was a baby and in the car and crying, I would sing the ABC's over and over and she would calm down. I don't know what it is...but, she just has always loved it. I got very excited about the theme and just went with it. The invitations kicked off all the creative juices!
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I decided that I wanted the walkway to our front door to lead people in with the theme so I cut out A through J of the alphabet from poster board that led to a giant 'K' on the front door. The 'K' is just poster board and tissue paper and made a great first impression!
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I cut out giant letters out of cardboard that I primed and painted on both sides and hung from the ceiling in the garage. I also used a cricut to cut out letter after letter to hang around the house from clothespins.
Picnik collage
Picnik collage
Picnik collage
I printed out 12 5 x 7 black and white pictures of Kinley for each month of her life and matted them on purple cardstock to use as a mantle garland. It was so cute to see how much she has changed. I got the ABC-filled '1' from the invitation blown up and framed it for a mantle centerpiece. Kristen also got me 2 alphabet collages that I framed and used around the house too.
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I also wanted all the food to be ABC theme.
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So, for A - I had Alphabet Soup (really just pink lemonade with floating letters), these amazing mini caramel Apples that Allison had at Ella's party, Assorted Veggies, and ABC cookies that my mom and Allison's mom made for us! For B - I had Birthday cake, Berries and Beer, C - Cupcakes and Chips and D - Dip and Drinks. I had small water bottles that I put in the shape of a K and I made special water bottle labels for Kinley's party. I just did the labes with Flickr and Microsoft Word and laminated them with packing tape so they would be water resistant. I set up paper mache A, B, C, and D letters that were painted in the party color scheme (purple, pink and a splash of lime green) near all the food and printed out small labels for every item.
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Kinley's Birthday Cake was amazing! Mendy made it especially for her. A small cake for her to have in the shape of a 'K.' She made all the icing from scratch and dyed it to match the party colors. She spread the icing perfectly and the piping job was fantastic! We are so thankful that Mendy is such a talented baker!
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In addition, to the food labels, I also had other labels around that fit with the theme. The 'B' is for Books table had an ABC Photo Book that I made Kinley as a birthday present from Inkubook. I LOVED using Inkubook. Every page has a cute background and one or multiple pictures with text to reflect something or someone Kinley loves for every letter of the Alphabet.
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I made a label for each goody bag that had an ABC saying and they goody bags had ABC stickers, a mini boggle alphabet game, bubbles, candy and a bouncy ball inside. I got everything for the goody bags from Oriental Trading.
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For every occasion I love matching T-shirts and it was essential that Kinley and I have matching T's, and flowers in our hair, for the party. So, we dyed some white t-shirts with purple RIT dye and used white screen printing paint to stencil letters on the front of our shirts using the freezer paper technique. Allison created a screen for the back of the adult shirts and we screen printed the entire alphabet on the back.
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I had a craft table set up in the garage for the kids (and adults) to do some alphabet related crafts. There were stick-on foam letters that could be used to decorate some cardstock paper or wear on your shirt for your initial. There was also purple duct tape for anyone to tape an initial on their shirt. I also had alphabet beads that could be strung as a bracelet!

Of course, no first party could be complete without a fabulous bounce house! And, we got a hot pink and purple princess castle to match the party! It was the biggest hit of the party for SURE!
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We were so thrilled to have all the friends and family that were there to celebrate with Kinley!
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Picnik collage
Picnik collage
Picnik collage

After the party this sweet angel was still just so excited about all her friends and presents that she couldn't even nap! It was a perfect evening just to chill on the backporch and be thankful for it all!
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Happy 1st Birthday Kinley!

5 comments:

Honey said...

I've been waiting all day to see this blog! It was a fantastic party and Kinley was perfect. Everyone had a great time! It's going to be hard to top this #1 birthday celebration!!! Love you~

Allison said...

I too have been checking all day for this post and it was well worth the wait! You got such great pics and I love getting to see it all again! It was such a great party, you did an AMAZING job! SO creative and such great details. It was perfect!

kristen said...

the party was amazing!! just amazing. you did such an incredible job!! i love it. so so creative with so many details that you thought of! i just loved it. soooo glad we got to be there with her on her sweet bday. miss yall already!!!

Nina said...

It was so cute and fun! You amaze me with all the details and creativity - I loved her ABC book!!

Kristi said...

Linds, you thought of EVERYTHING for this party. Your creativity continues to amaze and excite me. It was such a fun party and a great time to celebrate Kinley's 1st year with family and friends. Your post really does capture the day so well! I am feeling very inspired for Aubrey's 2nd birthday party! I will be picking your brain for details. Love you!