My little peanut isn’t a peanut anymore — he turns one year old tomorrow. We chose to celebrate his birthday the weekend before to avoid adding one more event to a holiday weekend. The theme was sock monkeys, an easy choice since one of his favorite toys is a sock monkey and it even prompted his very first giggle.
| Invitation designed by Designing for Peanuts |
My parents kindly offered their home for the party since our apartment would have felt cramped with extra guests and our dogs likely would have gone crazy — our trainer jokingly calls our pit bull’s nature an “over-abundance of friendliness.”
We purchased the invitations and party printables (Happy Birthday banner, “I am one!” high chair bunting, food tent cards, and favor tags) from Designing for Peanuts on Etsy. Her designs are adorable, she was responsive and easy to work with. I had the invitation printed through a photo service, bought envelopes and matching sock monkey wrapping paper at a paper store, and had the remaining files printed on 110# cardstock at a local office supply shop.
For tableware and paper goods I ordered sock monkey plates, cups, napkins, thank-you cards, Mylar balloons, and party hats from a party supplier. The items arrived promptly and matched the theme, though the paper plates were thin and the prices were on the higher side. We found coordinating red, cream, and chocolate brown latex balloons at a local dollar store, and they also inflated the Mylar balloons for us.
My mother made most of the food. I baked the main cake, crafted a fondant sock monkey topper, prepared Liam’s smash cake, and made cake pops. I drew inspiration for the cake, topper, and smash cake from a baking blog, and adapted cake pop ideas from a photography and lifestyle blog. The baking process was enjoyable and matched the theme nicely.
For the cake smash, I didn’t want Liam to get buttercream all over his birthday outfit, so I ordered a coordinating diaper cover, necktie and party hat from a small seller. The items matched the theme, were well made, and the seller was easy to work with — I highly recommend her products for milestone celebrations.
The main cake was my favorite chocolate cake, iced in Swiss meringue buttercream. Liam’s smaller smash cake was a sugar-free apple spice cake, also iced in Swiss meringue buttercream. Everyone enjoyed the desserts and the homemade touches made the celebration feel personal and heartfelt.
We were so happy to have all of our family and friends together to celebrate the first year of his life. It was a joyful, memorable day filled with laughter, good food, and plenty of sock monkey charm.
[gmc_recipe 1092]