Jory’s 1st birthday

Description

We had a (modern) whale theme. I first found a Gap whale sweater, then a Polen O Pyret tee shirt and then a sailor hat on diapers.com. Banner, invites, thank yous, signs, cake, cupcakes - all handmade. I made mini whale tail cupcakes as favors, along with a blue candy bar, blue macarons & blue/dark chocolate covered pretzels. I had blue Jello centerpieces with plastic whales and shells in them. The crowning achievement for me was my cake!

Design Inspiration

I was watching Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Big Ben the Whale came on & then I knew it had to be a whale theme!

Decorating Style

I love mixing vintage with modern. Bold accent colors with neutrals - nothing too busy.

Project Details

I scoured the web for inspiration. There's not a lot of whale parties/ideas that are modern & not too cutesy. As a former graphic designer, I started with my whale shape & made the invite.

I made everything by hand - except the banner letters, the monogrammed napkins & candy bags (ordered those from Oriental Trading). I got blue candy locally & from nutsonline.com. 

I've recently become interested in macarons, so I knew I had to make blue ones for this party. I also made my own dark chocolate covered pretzels that I drizzled with blue white chocolate.

Favorite Items

My cake! I've always been a baker, but this was only my second time using (homemade) fondant and rice krispie shaped objects. Everyone loved it!

Growing up, my Mom always made shaped & themed birthday cakes for us so this is a very important tradition for me to pass on to my son.

Advice

Get ideas & tweak them to make them your own. Nothing is better than your own creativity - it will make it that much more special!