Mallory's Buggy First Birthday!

About six months ago I started planning for Mallory's first birthday.  I wanted it to be special and something memorable.  My mom always did special things for our birthdays, and I want Mallory to feel the same way I did growing up.  So, I pinned some thoughts on Pinterest, reached into the recesses of all my Food Network, TLC, and HGTV memories and created a buggy birthday for Mallory's 1st Birthday!



I started with ideas for banners.  I did not want to make one out of fabric, because let's face it, I haven't sewn anything besides a button since 7th grade.  So, I made two banners out of paper.  In addition to the banners on the mantle, I picked up a large butterfly balloon and had a few bugs and bug nets strewn around the living and dining rooms.  I made sure to bring her butterfly in a jar downstairs, and that kept her occupied most of the afternoon while I finished things up around the house. 

The next phase of planning involved food.  Where do you find bugs?  Outside.  When do you eat outside?  PICNICS!  So I delved into picnic food.  We had baked "fried" chicken, macaroni salad, chips, veggies, and of course a few bug treats.  I did not take a picture of my ice bucket.  But, I stuck some gummy worms into ice cubes and froze them the night before.  They added a little bit of color to the lemonade.  I also cut a few butterflies out of watermelon with a cookie cutter and stuck them in a vase with some fruit skewers.

The majority of my bug dishes were dessert.  I made some chocolate chip cookie brownies (totally a box mix from Nestle Toll House that got rave reviews!) and covered them with gummy worms. 

I made Mallory a carrot cake.  With the extra batter I made a few cupcakes and turned them into a "caterpillar" with my bug cupcake stands that mom and I picked up at World Market during one of our North Carolina trips.  Mallory's cake was a baby food carrot cake recipe from Paula Deen covered with buttercream frosting. I piped grass up the sides and stuck a fake ladybug on top. (Scroll down to see her reactions to it.)

Once the food was set up, guests started to arrive.  We had dinner, and then moved on to presents.  And there were a ton of presents.  She is one spoiled little girl!

She opened a few, and then had to take an energy break.  We fuel up with puffs and cheese curls in this house.  :)

And then it was on to round two of presents. She regained her strength and tore into her paper and tissue paper like a pro.

Her final present was her trike.  We ripped off the table cloth that I had covered it with, and she immediately went over to the seat.  By her pantomime we knew she wanted to go for a ride.  So, before cake we took a ride around the cul-de-sac.

Uncle Aaron and Addie walked down the street with her.

Gma also got Mallory a caterpillar to crawl in.  We set it up in the front yard for Addie, but Mallory played with it after she had her trike ride. 

Then, it was finally time for cake.  We probably should have done it earlier, as she was a little sleepy, and so I'm not sure we got the full cake effect that we could have gotten if we'd done it earlier in the day.  But, I have to say it was a priceless moment.

I think the icing may have been a bit sweeter than she thought, and she realized that she was getting pretty messy.  She didn't really dive into the cake that much, but she did enjoy the cookie part of my chocolate chip cookie afterward.  Regardless of her love or disgust of the cake, she thoroughly seemed to enjoy her birthday.

Happy 1st Birthday Mallory Paige. Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!