Jackson's Cowboy Birthday Bash!

Tomorrow is my baby boy's first birthday! So, we had a party yesterday. I LOVE planning parties and this was especially fun! Everything turned out exactly how I wanted it to. The theme was fun, decorations were cute, food was delicious, everyone had a good time, and Jackson was happy the entire time! I took about a million pictures and I am having a hard time deciding what to post. So, this is a LONG post, but it is mostly pictures:).

I decided to do a cowboy theme for the party. These are the invitations:

The Front


The Back

We had the party at our house. I wanted everyone in the same room, so it was a little crowded, but it worked! Here are some pics of the decorations:

Red dishes with red bandana napkins


One of the table centerpieces. We just got these pictures taken by Sweet Yesterdays Photography (I will post more on that later). On the other side of the table was a different picture of Jackson and a cow instead of the sheriff star.


The long table


The entire decorated area


I have this board hanging in my living room/dining area. It normally does not have just pics of Jackson. The top three pics are birth to 2 weeks and the rest are one pic for each month up to a year.

Now for the cake! I had seen this adorable cake on The Sweet Tooth Fairy website and I just LOVED it. Problem was that their cakes start at $100. I was showing the cake to my lovely friend Jen at work and she claimed she could make it. So, she did and it honestly turned out cuter than the original! I absolutely loved it! It was definitely the cutest cake I have ever seen! And not only was it cute, it was delicious as well! Thanks so much Jen for going to so much trouble to make his cake!










I also made these horse cupcakes to go around the base of the cake. I had seen them in Hello Cupcake! and had planned on getting the book from the library. Well, all of the copies were unavailable so I ordered it online, but it never came. So, this was from memory and a small pic I found online! They didn't turn out the best, but they were okay.

I didn't take any pics of the food, but for dinner we had chili, cornbread, seven layer bean dip and chips, and some salads. Everything tasted delish. While everyone ate dinner they also filled out a questionnaire about Jackson. After everyone was finished I read off the answers. My mom had the most correct answers (just one more than Kaitlin!) and got a prize! After dinner we watched a slideshow that I made. It was just pictures of Jackson's first year. It turned out really cute! The songs were Baby of Mine by Alison Krauss, Somewhere Over the Rainbow (the hawaiian sounding version), and Upside Down by Jack Johnson.
Then came time for the presents! Jackson obviously didn't realize what was going on, but he did like ripping the paper! Then, after everyone left he just wanted to play and play with all of his new treasures! He got a tricycle, a big carpet with roads and cars, a dump truck, a Mickey Mouse phone, a farm, books, movies, blocks, clothes, and a stuffed animal! He was very spoiled!




After presents came time for singing and birthday cake! Jackson got the entire top layer of the cake to himself! I took the fondant off so it wouldn't totally stain his little body and then he just went to town! He loved eating it and playing in it!

Singing Happy Birthday! Don't worry about my cheeser face!


Before. . .


After!




For take home gifts I made these cookie jars that I found on Bakerella. They turned out really cute!


And finally, to remember everyone who came to the party we made them get their picture in a wanted poster! It was really fun and I think they are fun pictures to have!

The party was definitely a success! It was the perfect number of people and I loved that it was just our immediate families. Jackson knew everyone and was happy the whole time! Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a fun night!