Sam's FIRST Birthday Party - Elephant Theme

This Sunday morning was different.

Instead of waking up and making pancakes (our Sunday morning tradition), we had more exciting things on the horizon...like someone's FIRST birthday!!

So, we started out the morning with:

BALLOONS!  Always exciting stuff for the morning!  You can't see it in this picture, but I had special 'First Birthday' balloons....

After breakfast (and a morning nap for Sam), we headed over to our neighbor's house to celebrate ANOTHER birthday!  Owen, Max's little friend across the street, turned 4 on the SAME DAY as Sam (I had a pretty valid excuse to be absent from his party last year...LOL).

While the kids took their afternoon nap, we got the house ready for the big party:

Balloons galore, and homemade tissue poms....

A homemade felt birthday banner (reusable for Max as well)...

another view of the banner...

Homemade cupcakes with elephant-themed cupcake toppers (big Max even helped assemble these!)

The kids woke up and were in awe of all the decorations.  Guests started arriving at 4pm sharp and the house quickly filled up.

 

Everyone had a great time drinking, talking and eating.

Our menu for the party included:  homemade meatballs, wienies, potato skins, fruit, veggies, spinach dip, cucumber tomato salad (yummy, Mom!), cheese and crackers and chips.

Everyone wanted a chance to hold/snuggle with Sam.  He was completely content to be passed around and be loved on (and he got LOTS of loving from everyone).

There were also lots of friends for little Max to play with...like his girlfriend, Payton...

and his OTHER girlfriend, Nina...(she is seriously adorable).

There were lots of NEW(er) guests as well....like Connor and Matthew....

Mark was trying to entice Connor with a cold beer... 

Here is Sam sporting his handmade Elephant birthday shirt and his handmade felt Elephant birthday hat....ok, so yes I got a little carried away with the crafties, but it was TOTALLY worth it.  Everything I tried making this year TURNED OUT!  And, the number on the birthday hat is attached with Velcro...so I can reuse it again (at least as long as the boys LET me reuse it...LOL).

Granna made the MOST BEAUTIFUL elephant cake I have EVER seen (not that I've seen a lot of elephant cakes in my lifetime).  Isn't this SERIOUSLY ADORABLE???  She gets an A+++ for making this cake and for all the help (emotional plus more) support she provided.  LOVE YOU MOM!

Sam had some cake-eating practice on Saturday during his cake smash photo session (pictures forthcoming)...so he was no stranger to cake on his birthday.  This meant that the ENTIRE PIECE of cake made it to his mouth at once...

And boy did he think it was Delicious!!

Post cake milk break...

People were overly generous with the gifts...and Sam got a LOT of great new toys, books, clothes, puzzles, etc.  In fact, little Max has already tried stealing many of the new toys (the most coveted toy being the Toy Story ride on)...

Overall, little Max did REALLY WELL considering it was one of the first times that ALL of the ATTENTION was blatantly pointed at Sam, rather than him.  I'll have to upload the video of us singing Happy Birthday to Sam and presenting him with the cake...it was SO  OBVIOUS when I went back and watched that video how much Max was struggling with the lack of attention on him.  And, it explains a lot of the 'over acting' during the birthday party.  Still, he did remarkably well (for a 3 year old sharing time, attention and new toys).  I was proud of him.

Granna and Grumps were smart and brought him his own present to open up.  He was SO excited to get rain boots and a rain jacket!

He wore the rain boots to school every day this week.  :)

All in all, I'd call the party a TOTAL SUCCESS!  I can't lie, the preparations nearly killed me, but in the end, I don't regret a single thing...and I wouldn't have done anything differently (except maybe have a little bit more food because people were HUNGRY!!).  It was fun to plan, prepare and MAKE fun elephant themed things for his birthday...

And again, a BIG THANKS to ALL our friends and family who took the time and made the effort to celebrate Sam's first birthday with us.  After all, you only get ONE first Birthday!!  I am so happy that all the important people in Sam's life were there to celebrate this milestone with him.  I look forward to when he is older and we can look back through his photo albums to talk about all the people who are in his life and who came to celebrate with him!!  It was a ONEderful Day!  :)