Tucker Turns ONE!

Working as a Stay at Home Mom means I am on the clock most of the time but I do find that it affords me more time to obsess ponder over many things, such as how we will celebrate our little Tucker turning one year old. At first, we thought it would just be a little family affair, much like Harrison's first birthday however when I did a preliminary head count, several people would be missing and the party would be small indeed. So I decided to invite the families of a few close friends that have kids Tucker and Harrison's age. My dad also decided to fly up to celebrate with us (and thank goodness, I would have far fewer party pictures if it weren't for him!).

Now, where to have the party? Since I was pregnant I have been excited to know that we can have birthday parties outside since August is virtually guaranteed to have mild if not down right sunny and hot weather. The park across the street is awesome but since I wasn't inviting the neighborhood I rented a shelter at another awesome park nearby.

Next, how shall we theme the party? One day in June I walked into a craft store with my sister and stumbled upon really cute circus themed party supplies and, viola, a vintage inspired circus birthday party was born. I even downloaded a circus style font and got good use out of it, especially for this cute banner I made (the "y" tore so which is why it is hanging funny).

Sadly it was really windy, otherwise I had had wanted to hang some scanned images of vintage circus posters I found from the Library of Congress, one even advertised the amazing Houdini in 1914. I also had some striped popcorn filled popcorn boxes to go with the gift bags which had a deck of circus cards, circus style print pencils and bubbles for the kiddos. 

As I was trolling around etsy and pinterest for ideas, I found a cute little 1st birthday onesie that I could make at a small fraction of the asking price, so I did! I made this about a month in advance. Remember, I had lots of time to "ponder" over my ideas?

I also came across this adorable poster on Etsy and had to have it, a totally fun keepsake that is now in his bedroom, which also reminded me of a circus poster in a way.

I even had calliope music playing, which believe it or not I already owned having once used it for a carnival style work event a few years ago. Calliope music is what you might hear on a carousel and it is in parts of "Dumbo", it sounds a little like a pipe organ, but at a much higher tones and blows steam through what are basically whistles. But I digress...

The last piece of this puzzle was his birthday cake. Now, I might spend a lot of time and a bit of money on a one year old's birthday party (and let's face it, that birthday party was for ME to enjoy and remember), but I refuse to spend $100 on a professionally made fondant cake for my kid to smash and let me tell you, people all over the internet are doing this. Instead I bought a Wilton giant cupcake pan and planned to make a smash cake myself when I randomly realized I could turn the top upside and make it look like a circus tent. After some research on using candy melts to make a hardened candy shell to keep it stable and after one trial cake to see if I could pull it off, here is the finished product.

Considering I only used canned frosting, since I don't know how to work with fondant, I was pretty proud of my cake. I couldn't wait for Tucker to smash it, I used store bought cake mixes and frosting full of sugar so I was sure he would devour it (with Harrison I tried to make his healthy, which he loved but I couldn't make it so fancy).

One it came time to smash the cake, we set him on a little blanket in front of the cute birthday banner, put the cake in front of him and told him to have at it. Our little boy, who eats everything, who had even tasted birthday cake at a friend's birthday two months before, wouldn't have anything to do with this cake. At first it was clear he had some stage fright mixed with separation anxiety with so many people there and mom and dad wouldn't hold him. But even when mom and dad tried to put frosting and cake in his mouth he wouldn't eat it at all. I think the thing was too sweet. During the many hours I had spent thinking about and making this cake, it had never occurred to me that he wouldn't eat it because it was too sweet.

Then to add insult to injury, he wouldn't even play with it or smash the cake in any way, when we pushed his hands into it he just recoiled and whined. Any damage to the cake was forced upon it by us. Sigh. In the end the big kids were more than happy to take a stab at it.

I am my mother's daughter and love take pictures, it is one of the few ways to prop up my ever failing memory so I often can't help but visualize photo opportunities. I was disappointed that the sun moved so quickly and half-shaded Tucker's failed smash cake attempt. Even more disappointing was a planned birthday photo shoot I had planned on the boardwalk that runs through a nature preserve at the north end of this park. Great wood planks, seven foot tall grass, water, birds everywhere. I decided that I might not have time to do this the day of the party so we went the day before which turned out to be great idea. No one was stressed, it wasn't too sunny, no distractions... but when we got there the whole placed was fenced off for some sort of construction.

I was beyond disappointed, me and my stupid visualizing had set the bar too high in my mind. In the end I made due with some two foot tall grass and of course my super cute models and it turned out just great in the end. Notice the wardrobe change to the red shirt, doesn't it look circus inspired as well? That was just a lucky find, along with the cute striped shorts at GAP.

Of course the party was fun despite the non-smashed cake and my imperfect photos. Looking back at this I am pleased to have these memories and it's a great reminder that I just have to let things go sometimes, the fun will happen on it's own!