Flamingo First Birthday Brunch

This past weekend we had quite an event! Saylor Capri turned one! Unlike other moms, I hadn’t planned anything until about two weeks prior. Our lives were busy, Christmas was a month before, so I actually almost forgot to put something together. Plus I’m a new mom, I’ve never had to plan a kids birthday before. However, since it was only her first birthday, I made it more adult friendly!

I sent invitations, made a brunch menu and started creating a few decor details that would make the day special. The theme was flamingo garden so I went to our garage and dug our old pink flamingos out from a pile. These are typically bright pink lawn flamingos I sent Husband as a joke because our house was pink. He set them up and we had them displayed for quite some time. Once we painted the house this past summer the flamingos got a new habitat in the garage. I found them, cleaned them and spray painted them gold. Next I went to the Dollar Tree, which has tons of great stuff recently and I glued on a bouquet of flowers around the body and head of the flamingos. Needless to say these little guys turned out way better than I imagined! They are even prettier in person. I highly recommend this project.

Behind the flamingos on the mirror is Saylor’s silhouette I made from using the Artistic Edge machine! I took a picture of Saylor’s profile, altered the lighting to make it have high contrast and then used a program to trace around the face. Then I uploaded the file into the Artistic Edge software called SimpleCut. It was very easy and I liked how personalized the cameo turned out. I didn’t particularly want some other child’s profile, which you can find on Clipart for example.

I also made an adorable sign for the mantle. I used adhesive vinyl for the letters but the flamingo is an appliqué. I used the Artistic Edge again and this time I added an adhesive stabilizer to the pink fabric and cut the flamingo out. Then I saved the file as an embroidery to a USB, which basically configured the file into a format that would speak with my embroidery sewing machine. I then plugged in my USB to my embroidery machine, put a hoop on with the white fabric and let the embroidery machine stitch automatically according to the saved file. I placed the pink flamingo on the white fabric and adhered it with an iron, then the embroidery machine continued to stitch around the edge of the flamingo- which we call appliqué. It turned out lovely!
I also made Saylor’s “One” on her shirt using the Artistic Edge and iron on vinyl. I bought a plain onesie and ironed it on, very easy!
The flower crown was a fun and simple project to do too and I’ve already written the tutorial so take a peek! I purchased the flowers from a florist literally down the road from me. We took an afternoon walk and picked up a few different types. I just stuck with baby’s breath for her crown and I used the others as mini centerpieces for the bistro tables. I previously bought a few mini flamingos too from Amazon, which I stuck inside tea cups.
Along with getting the flowers on our afternoon walk, I brought my balloons with me and got them inflated with helium from the grocery store. The balloons which I bought from Amazon could get as large as 36″ once inflated, so I opted not to drive but just walk. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get them and the baby in the car! They only cost me $2.50 each to blow up and then I got a few white ones for a $1.00 each. I just love balloons for a birthday. It’s an inexpensive way to make the day feel special and I love the perfectly round balloons I found. These ones are blush color and were under $8.00 for two. I added them to the front corners of the table and used a couple of my cranberry glass baskets as weights.

We used our living room as the venue. I added our old nightstands as bistro tables and wrapped a little ribbon around them so they would hug the tables and not get caught in people’s feet. This was also a nice, spacious area for the kids to roam and adults to congregate. Flow is always an important element when staging a party. Place your tables and chairs how you’d like, then try walking through each area and visualize bodies in the space. Then make adjustments. You put so much effort into all the details of an event, you want to make sure your guests can enjoy it and notice all you did!
As this was a brunch, I’ll share with you the menu. Although I did run out of time and didn’t make a banner like I wanted and I didn’t get to making food labels or menu card. Oh well. Can’t do it all. Sometimes you have to pick and choose and I felt those two details could be last resort. So here is what we made for our guests…

Peach Scones with Devonshire Cream

French Toast Bake

Ham, Bacon and Sharp Cheddar Mini Quiche

Watermelon and Grape Kebobs

Deviled Eggs

Pesto and Avocado Bowtie Salad with Chicken

Chicken Parmesan
When making any kind of kebob, make sure you leave room for people to hold the skewer! Same goes for shot glasses of pudding for example; make sure the spoon you offer fits inside the glass.
The silverware I found was a pink metallic color. I tied vintage handkerchiefs around each bundle so my guests weren’t fumbling with too many things to hold.
The drink station was opposite of the buffet table. I placed our drink station over our tile near the kitchen that way ice was easily accessible and if anything spilt it wouldn’t harm our light carpet. We offered a mimosa bar with cranberry juice, orange juice, and Pellegrino for those who don’t drink. And of course we had soda too. I also placed my Keurig near the station for those who wanted a warm up or pick-me-up!
I made her cakes. The small one is a 6 inch by 3 inch pan used three times. The large one is 8 inch by 3 inch.We used floss to cut the big cake for everyone!After everyone left, Husband and I took Saylor outside for some more fun birthday pics!

• What People Ate

  Peach Scones with Devonshire Cream French Toast Bake Ham, Bacon and Sharp Cheddar Mini Quiche Watermelon and Grape Kebobs Deviled Eggs Pesto and Avocado Bowtie Salad with Chicken Chicken Parmesan

• What People Drank

  Mimosa bar and Coffee/Tea

• Desserts

  Birthday Cake!

• Party Favors

  No favors...just memories!