It’s hard to believe that Piper’s first birthday has come and gone already! We had such a great time last weekend with friends and family celebrating our sweet girl. Several months ago I decided on having a circus theme party for Pipes, inspired by a painting I saw online. Things have been so busy that I did all of the planning super last minute, which was stressful and made me feel kind of sad — that I hadn’t made more time for Piper. I decided NOT to have her party photographed which I thought would take more stress off of me, which it did to some degree! Luckily our friend Tom is a professional photographer and he snapped a few photos of Piper eating her cupcake (you can definietly tell which photos are his!).
We were planning to have her party outside but it was soooo hot that I ended up moving everything indoors. I only decorated a few areas of the house: a wall upstairs to put Piper’s chair in front of (seen above and below), the treat table, a lemonade stand and I made a “1” out of photos to put near the party hats. I also had some balloons outside and on our stairs. It felt festive without being over the top.
I used a sheer chiffon fabric to drape on the wall (we hung it on nails) to create the circus tent. I ordered the little pinwheels online (sources below) and picked up the fringe at Michael’s. I ordered all of the treat containers online and had the cakestands already. My mom made the little party hats for the animals with craft paper and glue dots!
Instead of wasting the whole cake on Piper to smash we just gave her a big cupcake with a giant 1 candle I got at Target. It was so funny to see her expression when everyone sang to her, she just sat in silence but we think she kind of liked the attention!
Piper wore a dress from Zara (that was a little big — ooops!) and I ordered her adorable crown on Etsy from Little Blue Olive.
The party was from 2-4pm so we just served sweets, popcorn and fruit. Everyone gobbled up the animal cracker truffles I made. I just followed that popular Oreo truffle recipe but swapped the cookies and used colorful sprinkles. I made Piper a dairy free cake and cupcake for her to eat. It turned out pretty dry — probably why she wasn’t interested in eating it at ALL! I ordered the animals on Amazon and then we put the hats on with hot glue. I also had a ‘lemonade stand’ with sparkling, still and pink lemonade, lemon slices, mint and vodka if you wished to spike it (no one did!). I didn’t get a photo because when we moved it inside it was just set up on our ugly counter. We also had white wine, beer and shandys.
Piper had to give us each part of her cupcake, since she wasn’t a fan!
Party Supply Sources:
Piper’s 1st Birthday Crown: Little Blue Olive
Metallic Pinwheels, Treat cups, Napkins: Shop Sweet Lulu
Bunting, Festooned Streamers (used on balloon): Oh Happy Day Party Shop
Gold #1 balloon, plastic animals, circus napkins: Amazon
Fringed backdrop, food trays & containers, balloons: Party City
Check out my guide to the best kids party supply stores online!
Such a cute party setup! Happy birthday Piper!