Our boys are ONE! The night before the big party, I was prepping and thinking how first birthdays are kind of silly. The boys are too young to remember and yet the first birthday party is such a big deal. I came to realize that this party was in part for our boys, but more so for all the close people in our lives. And of course for us to celebrate having made it through the newborn and infant stages!
Chase and Caden have completely different personalities. The inspiration for the party came from that difference. We always thought that Chase had very gentleman-like qualities. He is quiet, observant and plays independently. Caden always reminds us of a king. He sits up very straight and almost looks down his nose at others! And he loves when he is the center of attention. Little Man Chase and King Cades became the theme of the party and to make it even more fun, we made it a carnival!
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Color palette: dark and light blues with gold and silver metallics. I wanted to combine top hats and mustaches with crowns and sparkly golds.
My husband and I are big kids ourselves, so when we throw a birthday party for our kids, the fun is for the adults too. As soon as the guests entered, they grabbed a crown and a ‘stache.
My little crepe paper buntings draped the top of every window and sliding door. It was such a simple DIY and I love anything that can be stapled!
TIP: I keep hooks over the slider all year round. They come in handy for holidays and parties.
Over the fireplace, I made a super full but still really easy crepe paper banner. TIP: Did you know that you don’t need any tape or glue with crepe paper tassels? Twist it and it holds!
TIP: Always, always, always try to make decorations that can be re-purposed for another celebration. This paper straw banner was from my daughter’s party earlier this year. I just added some metallic fringe to the ends.
One of my favorite parts of a first birthday party is seeing all of the monthly photos together. For King Caden’s banner, I chose very royal, metallic and bold prints. The shape of the bunting also gave it a medieval feel.
For Little Man Chase’s banner, I chose muted colors and prints that reminded me of a business shirt. The shape of his bunting looked like a tie.
To label each photo with the month, I gave them mini construction paper top hats and crowns and wrote the number on them.
You have probably heard me say over and over that I am not a baker. I wish I was but I’m not. Thank goodness for my amazing market bakery. 
I told them exactly what I wanted and they gave it to me and they were delicious.
Ten minutes on the Cricut machine and I had the cutest little crown and ‘stache cupcake toppers!
For the outside decor, I wanted to keep it fairly simple as all of the games would be outside too. Flowy crepe paper hung from the trees,
dollar store white and blue table clothes mimicked a circus tent around the patio,
and one of my favorite DIY decorations, punch ball balloons! TIP: Those huge balloons are so festive and this is a great way to have them minus the helium. The reason they work so well is because they have elastic on top to hang and a place to tie a tassel on, on the bottom!
The games were spread out on the lawn. All homemade and classic carnival fun. I knew not only would the kids enjoy them but the adults would too.
If you don’t know already, I am the oldest of 16 cousins, I think it’s 16, haha. My mom has 5 sisters. So we have a BIG family. They all came to help with the party and even manned the games and gave out tickets.
Ping pong toss was the first game I thought of, it is my fav! There’s something so satisfying when that ball clinks around on the glasses and then falls in! It was fairly easy to make, the backboard took some brain power and effort.
Can toss was another game that was super easy to put together. We saved our cans and I wrapped them in fun paper, ordered some bean bags and that was it!
Tic tac toe was a little more challenging to make but I ended up finding the perfect square cardboard box, which was not easy to find. I cut the dividers out of foam core and covered them in wrapping paper. 
Maybe the simplest game to put together but one of the hardest to play was ring toss. 
The highlight of the games was the prize table where you could turn in your tickets for all of these goodies!
Okay, I lied. The highlight was the cotton candy machine. Everyone wanted to try it but my cousin Kathy is now named Queen of the Cotton Candy. She was determined to master it and I think she did!
The kiddos loved it!
What’s a carnival without popcorn? These mini popcorn containers were adorable. We popped bags and bags of microwave popcorn and my uncle handed them out to the crowd.
I think the highlight of my boys day though was definitely the cake. They were SO tired at this point but they were such troopers. I barely saw them as they were passed from friend to family to friend. They definitely stole the show.
Having twins is no joke, and add in other siblings and you have a very full life; full of every emotion, activity and feeling that you can think of. Our friends and family have supported us from the beginning and our parents have been there for us more times than we can count. This party was for them and I hope they enjoyed every minute of it.
Inspired Peace
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