Drew's First Birthday

We decided to go with an "ABC" theme, since he's one, and well, he likes alphabet blocks (mostly to chew on). The idea was spurred from a photo I found on pinterest of an ABC block cake. Originally, I wanted to copy EVERYTHING about the party that this superwoman of craftiness posted from her son's first birthday: http://meandmyinsanity.com/2011/08/is-for-alec-abc-1st-birthday.html

After starting by trying to imitate the invitations, which included a hand-drawn portrait of her son, I knew I was stretching my talents a little further than they were able to go. Also, I'm currently in a wheelchair and recovering from surgery, so I wasn't able to do as much as I would have liked. Granted, I'm VERY happy with what we came up with and am thankful for the inspiration that her blog provided!

My wonderful sis-in-law, Liz, is a master baker and she made this lovely cake. Instead of doing ABCs around the cake, she spelled out "Drew," for my son. It was perfect!

Had I known I was going to start a blog, I'd positioned the cake better - you know, not in front of a toaster oven ;) I'll do better with future photos. This cake didn't have the fancy layers from the blog I shared earlier, but this cake was made JUST for Drew to tear into. It was his own personal cake and it didn't stay this pretty for very long.

For decorations, we used wooden blocks on the tables to spell out fun things like "BIG BOY" and "DREW IS ONE." The blocks were purchased from Walmart.

I can tell you that, at least in my area, there were no ABC-themed party items. I wish I had taken a photo of his invitations, but I didn't. I bought some really cool layered invitations from Hallmark and on the front layer I attached a round photo of Drew's face. On another layer, I added some scrapbook ABCs and glued them.

Also, I had some "thank you" notes printed with his photo for guests to take home with them. This takes care of the "thank you" and gives them a cute takeaway photo to tack on their fridge :) I ordered these from Walgreens. They were about $18.00 for 20 of them. I took this photo with my camera phone and it's the best I have.

We also added in some Dr. Seuss books as an extension of the theme. It's also why we chose a red-striped shirt for our birthday boy :)

All in all, it was a great party and we got tons of compliments on the theme and decorations. I couldn't be more pleased with how it all came together and I hope this helps with some ideas for an ABC party for your little one!

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