Sadie's Pink Lemonade Party, Part 2

Sadie's party was such a fun day of celebration!  I think it was by no coincidence that the day of her party fell on the anniversary of her initial TEF repair surgery.  While her actual birthday was a day to celebrate her birth, her party was such a true celebration of her life and what all she has came through in the past year!

Before the party started, Anna came early to take some pictures of Sadie with Brad and I.  These are some of my most favorites!

 

As everyone arrived, the kids played in the play stations - bouncy balls, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, water table, and wagon rides.  

Then, we ate and got to visit with our sweet family and friends that came to celebrate Sadie Hope.  She is loved by so many dear people that prayed for her long before she was born and the weeks following her birth spent in the NICU.  We have MUCH to celebrate in this little one's life!!

This is one of my absolute favorite pics from the whole day - it makes me smile for soo many reasons.  I adore the 2 girls in it so very much and am thankful for the bond they share.  We love Mrs. Ashley!!!

Then we changed Sadie in to her "Smash Clothes" for cake time!  Brad's Aunt Jamie made her party hat, bib, and bloomers to match the party.  She is so good to us, and Sadie!  We love you, Aunt Jamie!!

And, I have to brag on my sweet daddy for just a minute.  The high chair Sadie used was actually his when he was a child, and Valerie and I both used it as well.  I had wanted to use it for Sadie but wanted it repainted from the original dark walnut stain to bright white.  My daddy took on the task of re-doing the chair, working to make it just perfect.  In between coats of paint and sanding, I caught a glimpse of the chair and fell in love with how it look distressed and not the perfect white chair I first envisioned.  That daddy of mine - what a good job he did to make a very old, loved piece of the past ready to use again for our little Sadie Bug's party and many more days of use!

Sadie with her cousins...oh my goodness, they love her SO MUCH!  She is well entertained and has their undivided attention when any of them are around!   

Sadie's cake was her first real bite of something sweet.  I was completely expecting her to just dive in to it, but she just pinched tiny little bites off.  She's such a dainty little girl!

After we got cleaned up, it was present time!  Everyone was so gracious and kind with so many sweet gifts for our Sadie Hope!

What a perfect day of celebrating our little Sadie!  She has brought more joy to our lives than I could possibly put in to words.  Oh how we love you, sweet girl!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sadie Hope!

Sadie's Pink Lemonade Party, Part 1

I have sooo many pictures to share from Sadie's party, I thought it would be best to divide it in to 2 posts.  (A HUGE thank you to the talented Anna Chambers for spending the day with us and taking all the party pics!)  This first post is all about the details!  

The day after Sadie's birthday, we had her party.  I had came up with the idea of a pink lemonade party and thought that would be such a unique, cute party...turns out that is a pretty popular theme these days!  I loved the idea though, so I wanted to stick with it but put a vintage picnic twist on it.  I absolutely loved how everything turned out and the laid back, sweet theme fit our little Sadie perfectly!  Holly from Hollydays designed the invitations and other paper products for the party and did an amazing job!  

We had the party at my parent's house.  They have a huge yard with big shade trees and lots of room for a party.  I borrowed the lemonade stand from my sweet friend Gina.  We put the food table and cake table on each side of the stand to make it the main focal point since it was all about the lemonade.  We had fresh squeezed lemonade, pink lemonade, and water - perfect for a hot summer day!

All of the decorations were pale pink and yellow, and I used gingham to give it the picnic feel I was going for.  All of the tables were dressed with big check pink gingham cloths, with ball jars filled with lemon slices and pink zinnias.  And I just have to say - mercy, I could not have possibly done everything without my precious mama and daddy.  They helped to make it all happen - mama made all the tablecloths and bunting, and my daddy...well, my daddy ran lots and LOTS of errands and did things I probably don't even know he did to help.  One blessed girl I am to always, always, ALWAYS have their help (no matter what crazy idea I have)!!

I had wanted a stats chalkboard for Sadie, but after looking at them on Etsy and seeing the prices, I decided I could make my own.  I used a chalkboard I already had (that actually was leftover from our Gender Reveal) and used oil based paint pens to do the writing.  I thought it turned out super cute!

I had her monthly pictures displayed as well...everyone liked seeing how much she had changed each month!

Gina also sent me this metal girl to use...I wish I had taken a before picture of her.  She was all rusted and faded out and in desperate need of some TLC.  I gave her a facelift and painted her up to match the party, and she stood beside the food table holding the forks and napkins.

Since it was a picnic, I used lots of my natural colored Longaberger baskets lined with pink gingham fabric and white dishes for serving pieces.  The party was late afternoon, so we had a light supper menu:  build your own sandwich, salads (Asian Slaw, Pasta Salad, and Cucumber Salad), Veggie Dip Cups, Fruit Kabobs, and corn chips with dips (Avacado Salsa, Corn Dip, and Spinach Dip).

I wanted everything about her party to just be very sweet and girly, just like Sadie.  Her cake turned out to be perfectly that!  Tina Cakes in Rainsville did a great job!

One of my favorite decorations for the party were the favors for the guests!  We had sugar cookies (made by the uber talented Telah) in the shape of cups of pink lemonade for the adults, and little baskets for the children.  I got the baskets 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby, lined them with pink gingham parchment paper and filled them with a sugar cookie, homemade bubbles, a yellow and white lollipop, and a baby food jar filled with lemon drops.  

I had planned to have the favors set up on the gift table, and right before we set up the gift table I saw my grandmother's pie safe sitting in my parent's garage painted the perfect colors for the party and convinced my dad and Brad that it would be a much cuter option than just the table.  I'm so glad they were willing to listen and move it outside for me - I just loved it!!  Instead of having a gift table, guests just put their gifts around the bottom so it worked out perfectly.  

Since it was a 1st birthday, I knew the majority of the focus would be around Sadie and her cake, but I did want to have some simple activities for the kids to do.  I set up little play stations that they played at before the party started, and the kids could go over and play throughout the party as they wanted.  I had a large tub of different sized bouncy balls, sidewalk chalk, bubbles with all different types of bubble wands, a water table, and Sadie's wagon.  It was just enough to keep the older more active kids busy, but was also things Sadie could participate in too.  I thought the play stations were just perfect for a 1st birthday!

Stay tuned for pics of my sweet girl and all the fun she had with our family and friends at the party! :)