I am starting a series of posts about Alexis’ First Birthday celebration.
I was going back and forth between doing a party and celebrating small with just family and then finally things started falling in place for a party, so I decided to go for it.
We both felt like the first year needs to be celebrated. It was a trying and a joyful year for us an one of the most important years for Alexis and that needed to be acknowledged.
Slowly I came up with a theme I wanted to have: French. I didn’t have a clear idea on whether it was going to be Paris or Poodle (ok, definitely not poodle) or countryside or shabby chic. It was kind of a mix of everything…but that’s for a later post.
The morning of January 31st, we woke up bright and early with Alexis while it was still sort of dark. Her grandma USA was visiting and my mom is staying with us, so they promptly came out to congratulate their adorable granddaughter and watch her open presents. For the gift opening, she wore her new dress, a birthday gift from Nosilla Organics and a matching diaper ( so cool that we had a teal BG to go with it)
We specifically indicated on the birthday invitations “no gifts please” for many reasons. We have more than enough toys, I didn’t want our guests to have to worry about gifts and just come enjoy the party, I find the whole opening gifts in front of people awkward.
So  we designated the morning of her birthday for gift opening from family and a few friends who were sweet enough to order from Lexi’s Amazon Wishlist that I keep for tracking purposes unbeknownst to us.
Her first gift was a doll stroller I had ordered her from Amazon. She absolutely LOVED it! I had not expected a reaction like that, since I figured she was too young for a doll stroller. She refused to go open other gifts. I handed her a new teddy bear  and showed her how to sit him in the stroller. My girl didn’t skip a beat before she started pushing the stroller along. {note: she still absolutely adores her stroller and uses it daily more than any other toy. I would recommend it to any 1 year old)
We spent good 20 minutes laughing at her and with her and watching her enjoy the gift.
Then came many more gifts: more of her favorite flashcards, pop-up books, Melissa and Doug sound puzzles I was very excited to have bought her ( which I have decided I don’t want to continue using due to my own safety concerns based on some healthystuff.org ratings)
Then it was time to play while mommy, daddy an grandpas frantically try to finish all the decorations before the guests arrive at 1pm.
The  whole series
1st Birthday Part Part I
1st Birthday Party Part II
Smash Cake
1st Birthday The End
I am hoping to be as detailed as possible about the whole planning, decorating and hosting part, because it was a completely new experience to me when it comes to kids’ birthday parties. I’d never gone to that extent to plan a party, so this was a fun learning experience I am looking to share with you.
I love reading all of the updates, and seeing all the photos! Lexi will surely enjoy looking back on these as she gets older! Thanks so much for sharing!
I love her dress! I myself would wear one like this, to be honest :))
Can’t wait for your party decor post!! I have 1st birthday coming up in May and I so-so hope to learn something from your experience, Elena. Knowing you (from your blog) you had everything just perfect :)))
I love seeing your updates! I think Lexi will love being able to look back at such small details of her childhood. I also started a blog for my pregnancy and it has since turned into sort of a scrapbook for my daughter and family. Anyway, Lexi is so cute and, Oh that hair!
She is just so adorable!!!
Just curious, but why do you refer to your mother-in-law as grand-ma USA? Is your mother referred to as ‘grand-ma’? Couldn’t your mother-in-law by grammy, mi-mi or something?
There are two grandmas, Grandma USA and Grandma Russia. That’s what we call them. I think it came from GrandmaUSA but I don’t exactly remember. She also calls herself grandma SHOPPING 🙂 lol
That’s actually really cute! My husband and I refer to our children’s grandmothers as Grandma Crazy and Grandma Crazier…. We keep that to ourselves though! : )
OMG that is adorable! I’ll have to remember that!
I’m confused about the M&D issue. I dhow that it’s listed as low on the website:
http://www.healthystuff.org/product.details.php?bcmode=search&getrecno=8134
HS doesn’t list the other puzzle we have ( the zoo one IS fine according to them), but one of M&D sound puzzles has high amounts of lead (http://www.healthystuff.org/product.details.php?bcmode=search&getrecno=7699), so it makes me very uneasy to be using a different sound puzzle that isn’t rates in HS from a company that I know has not done much to be non-toxic. Which is too bad because they have awesome toys.
Did you have her party on a Thursday afternoon??
Yup. Why?
I just couldn’t imagine many people being able to make a party in the middle of the day in the middle of the week.
I thought of that. 95% of the guests invited were SAHMs or self employed or retired or had the day off 🙂 I’m lucky. It also worked out well because Lexi’s best friend had hers on a Saturday, which means we wouldn’t have been able to attend each other’s parties.
Yeah that is lucky about your guest list. I’m lucky my daughter’s birthday is on Sunday this year so I can have her party on her birthday. But super sad that my 2 very best friends have to work and won’t be able to make it
:[
Lexi is SOOO adorable! Just beautiful! She looks exactly like her dad.
Aww, she obviously loves the stroller. This would be a perfect present for my niece. I can’t find much in the way of details on the Amazon page though….do you know about materials and where it is made?
Metal frame with plastic components and fabric seat, basket, and canopy. Outside of wheels is EVA. Inside of wheels is PP. Foam rubber handle.
Not sure of where it is made.
Alexis absolutely won’t part with the stroller. Plays with it every day.