Pinkalicious Ice Cream First Birthday Party

When it comes to Eden’s first birthday party, Mallory of Crain’s Nest put in a lot of planning and even more work, but in the end she was so happy that she decided to go all out in shades of pink for her big pinkalicious party day.

Mallory wanted the fun to start before the recipients opened their invitations. Of course she could have just written out our return address, but where’s the fun in that? “When I started designing Eden’s invite I really didn’t know exactly where I was going to go with it. I knew I wanted a photo incorporated into the invitation somehow, but I also knew that I really didn’t actually want the photo on the actual invite.” She had already planned on incorporating balloons into Eden’s first birthday photo shoot when she saw the inspiration photo. Even the back of the envelope liner got a little love with a photo of the birthday girl. (See how she created these custom first birthday party invitations here!)

After finding food inspiration to come up with the perfect menu for Eden’s party, Mallory knew she wanted to go with food that made you feel like a child again. Taking her daughter’s dairy allergy into account, she came up with a menu of pizza balls, rainbow fruit kabobs, mini mac and cheese, PBJ sushi roll ups, and snacks like Goldfish. The food sat on a table with an ombre pink crinkle paper backdrop adding to the pink effect.

For drinks she went with pink lemonade served in mason jars and then organic whole milk and natural apple juice for the youngest ones in the group. To ensure each child didn’t get their drinks confused, Mallory came up with the ingenious idea of making drink name tags to go around each guest’s jar. They matched the party (and the straws!) with pink and white stripes.

As Eden’s party was at Mallory’s parent’s frozen yogurt shop, everyone got to go fill up their cups with frozen yogurt and all of the toppings they could want for dessert. “This was such a huge money saver for us and we are so thankful to my parents for letting us do this.” She decorated the shop with pictures of Eden throughout the year on a clothesline banner with clips.

Every baby must have a smash cake at their first birthday party right? “I pondered giving Eden a healthy version of a cake. I was struggling with the idea of just introducing an entire sugar filled cake just because my child turned one. So, I looked for recipes and came to the conclusion that to make one that was dairy/wheat/orange veggie free was nearly impossible. At the end of the day I made a cake. Out of a box. The frosting? From a can. Tinted with pink food coloring. Not my proudest moment, but sometimes as parents we just have to do what works and I am proud to rock that mantra for today.” Like most parents, Mallory thought Eden would dig in face first into her smash cake. But this girl did not even think the cake was a good idea. “In fact, she downright threw a fit in the middle of her party crying, “mama! mama! mama!” and holding on so tight with her cute little fingers wrapped firmly around my neck. I’ll admit, while it was disappointing to not have a baby covered in pink frosting, I wouldn’t trade the feeling of having my daughter need me. It made me feel loved.”

Thanks Mallory for sharing Eden’s special day with us!

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