Victoria Schneider

We had such a great time celebrating Cove’s second birthday. Last year, we did a Wild Animal party because it was a big Zoo year for Cove. Animals were a huge hit and he visited the zoo here in Atlanta and in San Diego so we thought it would be fun to remember the year that way. This year, we decided on National Parks theme because for one, Cove was sort of named after a state park, and secondly, he visited more state and national parks this year than Ian and I have in almost six years of marriage. I know – lucky duck. But like I said, experiences are so important to us, so I am so thrilled he had the opportunity and we were able to take him.
We did all our own branding for the party which included Cove’s own national parks adventure sign and little signs for the special trail mix that his grandmother makes. It was special to have something that Cove’s grandmother makes and we eat frequently to be a part of the party. The sign also sat on rocks that we collected from each of the parks we visited. Cove is rock obsessed, so I thought it was a special accent to have those as part of the decor. I also played on the fact that his birthday is in December and we had live Christmas tree scrappings for table decor along with indoor snowballs. We also used our new Airfort upstairs in the playroom to create a tent with tiny trees and a campfire for the kids to play in.
We did a chocolate cake since we are big chocolate lovers and I put powdered sugar for snow, little trees to make it look like a forest along with tiny wildlife and a sign that said “Entering Cove’s National Adventure.” The cake was probably my favorite part, and Cove’s too. We did brunch foods – quiche, hashbrown casserole, fruits, and smore’s bars along with some coffee and juice and it was perfect for a morning celebration.
 
I hope you enjoy the images and smile a little bit when you think about this ray of sunshine blowing out the candles and diving into some chocolate fudge cake!

When it came time for us to start thinking about a theme for Cove’s first birthday, I knew I wanted it to be from something we experienced together as a family during his first year of life. We were able to take Cove to both the Atlanta Zoo and the San Diego Zoo this year and he loved it. Since we had such great memories there together as a family, I decided to do a modern jungle theme. We have always used #gocove since before he was born, so we played on that to theme the party GO COVE, GO WILD.
We tied together modern themes like geometric patterns and African Mudcloth patterns to build out the branding and design. My husband and I did the logo and invites ourselves, and then had them printed. We also crafted handmade geometric photo frames to hold the Polaroid’s that we had people take at the party as party favors. Then we added jungle greenery and tiny zoo animals to the scheme and it pulled it all together.
It was a day of pure bliss being able to watch Cove dive into his cake and seeing his loved ones there. And it will always be a special memory for us.
You can view more photos and details of the party on The Southern Trunk here.

Some of our very best friends were expecting a baby, but were waiting to find out the gender. Although some would think this made it difficult to throw a shower, my friend Lily and I felt the complete opposite. There is so much you can do with neutrals. We decided to go with a boho dip-dyed theme since our friend loved indigo.
We made little dyed onesies and invitations to keep the color theme and my friend lily made gorgeous paintings to hang above the mantle. We also hung little square prints that documented the couple’s pregnancy.
 

When I was putting together Cove’s nursery I knew I wanted to have meaning behind every piece. We are lovers of the west coast and the beach, so that was a huge part of our inspiration. It is even where we named our baby boy after (Crystal Cove in Laguna). The photo that hangs above his crib is from one of our recent trips to California. I also decided to use very light and bright colors to make it a happy place. Indigo, grey and a muted coral were the other touches I added.
The door stopper came from my parents who bought it for Cove when they were in Nova Scotia. The little train set came from Ian’s parents and the books on the shelves are both vintage books from our childhood. Having pieces like this made the room even more of a happy place.
I think a lot of people get really excited when decorating and think they need to spend a lot of money on everything. I make an effort to only spend money on pieces that stand out the most and that make a statement. You can get everything else very reasonable. That is exactly what we did here.
It is by far one of my favorite rooms in our house, and where Cove and I frequent the most.