An All-American Birthday Party

 Adalyn's birthday is July 5th, so naturally, for her first birthday party, we went with an All-American theme! I knew that our family is typically at the lake on the 4th of July, so I asked DJ's dad and stepmom if we could host her first birthday party at their house. I was so thankful when they obliged, especially because I knew I wouldn't have to do much- his stepmom always decorates for the 4th, so I only had to pick up a few things here and there. 

We had a very simple hot dog BBQ for dinner. We also pulled out leftover corn on the cob, baked beans, and chips.

I placed a large red plastic table cloth on their dining room table and then on top, I placed an aqua color checkered table cloth. We used solid red square plates, ombre polk a dot napkins, and in the center, I stuffed a mason jar with blue tissue paper and a few small American flags. 

I found red and aqua dot hotdog bun holders at JoAnn's, and the napkins were bought at Wal-Mart. Because of her outfit (which you'll see in tomorrow's post) I went with more of an ombre color-scheme, combining pink and red, and aqua and blue. 

I found the paper bags in the party section at Target.

Inside the paper bags were wooden chevron forks and spoons that I purchased on Group Deals. I just placed all of the bags of silverware in a blue bowl.

We filled a blue bucket with ice, and I found glass bottle Cokes at the local grocery store. They were the perfect All-American touch.

I bought the star paper straws from an online shop and found the cups, which matched the napkins perfectly at the Dollar Tree.

I covered the "cake table" with a checkered tablecloth and placed her hat (that my mom and I made), smash cake, and cupcakes on it.

I ordered her cake and cupcakes from Cakes by Cindy, located in Hardy, Ar. I honestly had no idea what I wanted her cake to look like and I didn't want to spend countless hours browsing Pinterest for cake ideas, plus, I didn't really want it to be a 4th of July theme cake. I simply let her know that the party was an All-American theme, and that we were using pink, red, aqua, and blue colors, and I sent her a picture of her birthday outfit. She created the perfect little cake for Adalyn!

I didn't know what I wanted on the cupcakes either, so I told her to do whatever she wanted, and the stars and dots were perfect.

We pulled this little table outside, and put the girls' birthday plate and bowl on it, along with a little sparkler decoration that Grandma Dee already had, and I put her candle out here.

I made my mom bring the wooden high chair that I had used when I was a baby, and DJ and I weren't too sure where we wanted to put it. If I had the lake behind her, the sun would've been in Adalyn's eyes, and DJ suggested that we put it up on the stairs leading in to the hot tub, so it would be a little stage. It was the perfect place. We added paper lanterns, a flag, and left the American themed wind chime that grandma Dee already had. 

Grandma Dee already had the tablecloth down on her picnic table, so I left it and added a matching mason jar. On the stairs, I hung a banner that I made. 

Along the side of the hot tub, I added our party favors in red and blue containers. Grandma Dee already had the flag birdhouse, and I placed it with our party favors. Most of the containers came from the Dollar Tree. I had bought them for Gretchen's 5th birthday party, and re-used them. 

I found star shaped sidewalk chalk in Target's dollar section.

I also bought two packages of 4th of July tattoos from the dollar section at Target, and just tore them apart, so there would be more.

We bought sparklers and placed them in a mason jar.

And glow stick bracelets that I bought in the dollar section. (Are you noticing a running theme?)

We bought snap dragons and poppers.

And star bracelets that again, were bought in the dollar section. 

Everything came together perfectly! I bought everything just hodgepodge and as I found it. I wasn't really sure how everything would come together, but with what Grandma Dee already had and the few things I purchased, everything was perfect. I wanted her party set up as stress free as possible, and it was. I didn't spend hours cleaning up, I didn't spend hours cooking, we simply took about an hour and a half before the party, put everything out, and transformed the space into a birthday party perfect for our little one year old!

Come back tomorrow for all of the birthday & party pics!