WINNIE CLAIRE IS ONE!
I wanted to share a few photos from her birthday party (just us four + my sister who was visiting). It was a really special day celebrating! I’ve shared a lot of times how I was sort of anxious/dreading her birthday because well, her first year of life was not what I wanted or expected. And, her first birthday made me sad to think about because I knew that a big party like we had for Lucy’s first birthday wasn’t going to happen during a pandemic. One thing I’ve noticed is that often these worries and sadness and just feelings of overwhelm happen leading up to the big event / thing I’m sad about missing, but once we are IN IT on the day – I’m fine. That was true for Winnie’s birthday! Leading up to it, I had SO many emotions (as I’ve shared pretty openly on my blog and IG) but on her actual birthday, I was just content and GRATEFUL for Winnie, for our health, for our home and the ability to celebrate together, for our safety. For a year that even though it has had MANY twists and turns and hardships, has also been very good and special because we now have Winnie here.
THEME
Winnie for sure likes two things – blueberries and Emily Arrow’s Narwhal Unicorn of the Sea song! So I decided to go with a made-up ‘blueberry and narwhal’ first birthday theme. I was inspired by this gorgeous cake my friend Kristen made and knew I wanted to do a blue ombré cake. I decided to do another balloon wreath from a local shop and asked them to also do a blue ombre theme. Since we weren’t having an actual party, we didn’t have to worry about anything like food (other than the cake!), party favors, and even other decor. We kept is super simple which was honestly great. I thought I’d be more bummed out that we weren’t having a big fancy party – but the day was perfect the way it was. We played Winnie’s favorite music and ate cake at 10am and admired our special little gal. 💛
THE CAKE
I’ve ordered all birthday cakes from Whole Foods so far and it’s truly a hidden gem! They taste really good, are affordable, and they have done such a good job making cakes creative and really custom. You can see Lucy’s birthday cakes here! For Winnie’s birthday, I asked them to do a blue ombre cake (but not bright blue…more muted/deep blue colors) and mentioned the blueberry narwhal theme and the kind employee asked if I wanted fresh blueberries on top and inside the cake. YES PLEASE! I found the felt narwhal cake topper from Etsy (just messaged the seller asking for the wave to be removed). It was SOOO cute! And bonus – now it’s a cute little stuffed animal to play with. 🦄 🐳
Here’s more photos from Winnie’s birthday!
