Rose Themed Birthday Party

“There might be millions of roses in the whole world, but you’re my only one, unique rose.” -The Little Prince

This year has flown by, and our precious little Rosalie Belle has turned one. The first birthday is such a monumental occasion, not just because it is a huge milestone for your baby, but maybe more importantly so parents can proudly say “we survived the first year!” Which, in my humble opinion, is a very exhausting experience.

First off, a quick thank you to some dear friends, mom, sister and of course my hubby for helping me make this party so beautiful! I love you all.

With that said, lets move on to the fiesta that we planned for the sweet princess. I knew right away that I wanted to do a party themed around her name. She is, of course, our one and only, unique Rosalie Belle. So we decided on a rose themed 1st birthday party. It all started with the invitations which I had custom made by Delight Invite. I used them for my son’s third birthday and had such a wonderful experience that I wanted to use them again. They are so great to work with and always get the product to me very quickly. They are a local SoCal company and I also like supporting local, American businesses. For an added personal touch we printed a picture of Rosalie in her special birthday outfit and attached it on the back.

Once I had the invites I knew that I wanted everything to be vintage, shabby chic, feminine with lots of pink and accents of gold. First up on decorations was the entrance to our home. I made a wreath using a styrofoam circle, tulle, tissue paper flowers and the letter R. I wrapped the tulle around the circle, painted the R with gold glitter paint then stuck the flowers right into the foam. It was super easy to make, but turned out great (all supplies I found at Hobby Lobby).

I also used a large chalk board, draped some rose ribbon at the top and made sure to welcome everyone to Rosie’s First Birthday Party. Chalk boards are such a good investment and can be used in so many different ways.

As soon as you walked in I wanted to have a statement, so we decided to hang fabric to look like regal banners. We used sheer white curtains then layed pink tulle over to make it two-toned. I found gold glitter tulle at Hobby Lobby and used that to tie the banners. The main focus on the wall was the large number one that we cut from cardboard, outlined with gold glitter paint, then filled in with the tissue paper roses. These roses are not difficult to make, but are a bit time consuming. I’m attaching the tutorial I used to make them (although she used dyed coffee filters and there is no need, tissue paper works just fine).

On the table in front of the one I had pictures from the birthday photo shoot we did with the amazing Eyelet Images along with the flower crowns we used for that shoot made by SydnieLynnCouture.

As you walked further into the house we did a major overhaul on our mantel. I ordered a new canvas print of our family and surrounded it with the tissue roses. I convieniently had a beautiful rose fountain that fit the decor along with a chalk board, a rose case, more pictures and tissue flowers.

On the dessert table we ordered rose cupcakes and a pink ombre rose smash cake. These were all ordered from Ralphs to save on cost, but they did a fantastic job and looked just as good as a fancy bakery that wanted to charge me $3.50 per cupcake! Ralphs only charged me $7.99 per dozen and only $5.99 for the smash cake, I don’t think I could even make them for that cheap! This is really the best deal around!!! Thanks to a girlfriend of mine for telling me about them, it seriously saved me so much time and money! I added some rose ribbon around the cake stand to give it that extra little touch!;)

Also on the dessert table we had some of the lollipop roses that we made for favors. I had some extra help one night from two lovely girlfriends and we had a lollipop making evening. All you need is a giant roll of crepe paper, scotch tape, lollipops (I liked the smaller dum dums) and some time. Once finished, I stuck them in some green styrofoam to look like they were really growing in the ground and then put the styrofoam in a little flower box. Here is a link to the tutorial for the lollipop roses.

Throughout the house we had small flower boxes filled with the tissue flowers or filled with gold and pink glittered sparkling apple cider. Here are the gold bottles on the gift table.

Outside was more fun. We hung more white sheer fabric on the patio covering, giving it a soft, delicate feel. We also made tissue paper balls (yes, we used a lot of tissue paper for this party) and hung them from the lights over our grass area. I threw out a large rose quilt for people to sit on along with a container of dolls and books for the kiddos.

One tradition I wanted to repeat from our son’s first birthday was an outline of a number one filled with all of the pictures of the first year. I made sure to include the monthly photos as well as first holiday’s and any other “first” experiences; like first time swimming, first time to Disneyland, etc…We hung pink crepe paper behind the poster for more color and also had some balloons. I decided to place the high chair right in front of the one to make it a cute backdrop when she had her cake. On the high chair my crafty friend used some tulle around the bottom, tied a big bow in the back and we also taped some rose ribbon around the top. I think it was a super sweet spot.

For things to do I wanted more old fashioned type games for the kids. So we borrowed a game of corn hole from our friends and had that on the grass. In addition we had a ball game that you had to kick the ball through the arches (kind of like croquet but without the clubs). I made sure the playhouse had lots of little pots, pans, pretend fruit & veggies for the kids to play house. Finally I had sidewalk chalk, bubbles, a table for coloring and other miscellaneous things for the kiddos to play.

For food we kept it pretty simple. I wanted something that looked like a rose (that I didn’t have to spend hours on cooking) so we actually just ordered turkey and cheese roll ups from Costco. Simple, but yummy. We also did lots of cold watermelon and a variety of chips. I obviously didn’t go crazy on the food, but made sure there was something to eat.

Lastly, for favors, besides the rose lollipops I had an idea that I wanted everyone to be able to plant their own roses. So we went on eBay and bought rose seeds (which were fairly inexpensive). I had Delight Invite make me favor tags that matched the invites, I then backed them on gold glitter paper and glued the medallion on a pink envelope. Inside we placed the rose seeds and instructions on how to grow your rose (thanks sissy for helping me with this one). I think it turned out super cute!

I can’t forget to mention the adorable onesie that I had special ordered from Etsy from Couture Flower. She was extremely nice to work with and was able to customize exactly what I wanted. The crown is from SydnieLynnCouture, who is another amazing Etsy shop owner.

Everything was coming up roses for this beautiful first birthday party for our sweet baby girl. I’m off to start writing all the thank you cards to all the wonderful people who helped make the party such a success. Hope you all loved this party  as much as I did! One last photo of all of us together!:)

Don’t forget to Pin the picture below!;)