Books, babies and bows.
Some of Livi’s favorite things 🙂
It was an amazing day to celebrate an amazing little girl. Lots of “Happy Birthday” singing in the morning, breakfast together and then after her first nap, we headed to the zoo. The weather was gorgeous and nana joined us for our adventure.
We had a blast walking around- Liv blew kisses to all of the animals and practiced her animal sounds.
Lunch, back home, and during her afternoon nap, I started to get things ready for a little family get-together at our house.
Her party is at the end of the month, but I wanted to invite her grandparents and my bros (+ Meg and Mich!) to come enjoy cake and dinner with us on her actual birth date.
The decor was simple- some pink streamers and a birthday banner
(purchased on Etsy from this lovely vendor– she did a beautiful job!)
and so was the food:
Pizza! Since Liv first tried and loved pizza last week, it was an easy choice for dinner for a crowd. I made a salad with greens, goat cheese, almonds, dried cranberries and homemade balsamic dressing, set out chips + dip, and ordered 4 jumbo thin crust pizzas from Rosati’s. Mom brought a party pack of eegee’s (thank you again, madre!) and we had beer, sparkling water…
and cake 🙂
Vanilla cake
with buttercream frosting 🙂
For the purple, I used the same purple carrot extract I had picked up for our lava bottles. It wasn’t quite as vibrant as I’d hoped, but since I had it on hand and it enabled me to avoid artificial coloring, I rolled with it.
The best:
After cake, we all spent the evening chatting,
(the girls’ table)
playing Family Feud and watched Liv open gifts.
My friend Cristin is expecting a little girl in the spring, so I was so excited to lend her my Snoogle for the rest of her pregnancy.
I also loved rubbing her belly and talking to my little cousin in there. I’ve officially turned into a creepy belly-rubber (with permission of course, haha).
It really was the perfect way to celebrate. I’m so excited to share all of the photos with Liv when she’s older -my family passed the camera around throughout the night, snapping photos as the evening went on- and to be able to show her that since she’s been born, she’s been surrounded by so many people who love her.
(the labor and delivery cheering squad)
Thank you so much to all of you for her birthday wishes, too <3 We appreciate your kind words, beautiful comments and tweets more than you know.
Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you later on the Fashion page!
xoxo,
Gina
What’s the first birthday party you actually remember? The first one I vividly remember was my kindergarten joint birthday party, with my best friend Hayley. We had a 50s theme and spent the entire party dancing around to 50s music.
New toddler-friendly recipe on the Family page!
75 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
You know what’s funny? I saw the picture of the cute baby banners you had made for Olivia and thought “it’s too bad babies don’t remember first birthdays, but I bet she’ll love looking at the pictures when she gets older” – and then you mentioned that later in the post. I love looking at pictures from when I was a little kid. 🙂
I think the little “1” cake is precious and the violet color is perfect – it matches your fingernail polish too!!
I LOVE the little dress and tights Olivia has on! So adorable! Glad to hear you guys had a fun time celebrating with family. 🙂
What a sweet celebration – Happy Birthday Olivia 🙂
I remember VIVIDLY throwing up on my fifth birthday cake in front of my entire party. I was humiliated at the time.
oh nooooooooooo!
Aww what a fun party!! You did such a beautiful job on the cake Gina! Liv looks like she had a blast. I can’t really think of vivid birthday memories from when I was really little, but as a kid we did have a bunch of backyard birthday parties where my mum would organize all sorts of games with prizes. I thought they were pretty awesome and we always had great cakes!
What a gorgeous family picture! Liv is starting too look more like a toddler than a baby! Why do they have to grow up so fast?!
thank you, friend.
right?! please sloooooooow down.
Gina – Thank you for sharing your special family moments with us! It looked like a wonderful celebration, and you are truly such a special family. Happy birthday Liv!
thank you! <3
Ahhh that little cake is so adorable. Almost as Livi eating it! Glad you all had a great day celebrating.
What a lovely family celebration for little Olivia! You were smart to order the pizza to make things easier :).
I love these pics, what a wonderful Liv-Birthday you had!! You are a really adorable family. My Mom always had the best ideas for our birthday parties, I’ll never forget.The cake looks perfect!!
Aww, Happy Birthday to Olivia! Very sweet!
The last picture of the three of you is so beautiful! Olivia is so precious with her little smile! I think from the nose down she looks like your hubby, but she has your eyes. Happy Birthday Olivia!
thank you! i agree- i see more of her daddy everyday
I don’t actually remember this but I love the picture of my first birthday. I have a twin brother and we were side by side in high chairs and there is a picture of me stealing his cake. His cake was white and mine was chocolate and to this day I pick white over chocolate anyday. Don’t get me wrong though, I’ll eat chocolate any day of the week, hey, it’s cake!
haha i don’t cake discriminate either 🙂
Aw this is so precious! You have me tearing up. You must be such a proud momma. Im excited to start to celebrate my babys first birthday in 3 months. Shes got such a BIG personality im trying to decide if I should play that up with a funny themed party or just go really girlie (which is more my style). Either way it will be fairly simple with just close family. Happy bday to your little princess!
thank you <3
happy almost-birthday to you!!!
This is beyond precious! Everything looks perfect. Beautiful family!
Oh my goodness what cute birthday party decor! Happy Birthday to her and one year of being a mama to you!
Olivia is such a cutie!!! Looks like a wonderful party! Everything looks great girl!! She has such a cute personality!!! love you both!
xoxo
thank you, friends! we miss you <3
xoxo
So jealous you have a Rosattis! They have gluten free now right? I’m from Chicago now living in Texas. Whenever we go to az to visit my Inlaws we always hit up Rosattis for our Chicago pizza fix!
it’s SO GOOD 🙂
Oh my goodness, Livi is too cute! Such a sweet little girl! Glad you guys had a wonderful birthday celebration with the fam!
Looks like the perfect first birthday for Olivia! Family time is always the best!
I just love that family cheering picture..melts my heart! Happy 1st little Livi!!
That looks like a fun party. I haven’t been fortunate enough to celebrate little birthdays since I was a little. You guys are a sweet family.
The earliest birthday I remember is my third birthday. I remember opening the presents and going around giving hugs and kisses to my aunts and uncles. We also have it on video.
As for Liv not remembering her first birthday, we’ve got mine on video, and it’s one of my favorite home movies. I’m not doing much, just sitting there, but it’s still fun to watch my family laughing and joking together.
aww i’m so glad to hear that! we took some video last night and will take some at her party later this month- i always loved watching home videos too
This, to me, is how a first birthday party should be! Special and celebratory, but totally informal and with only close family and friends. Looks like Liv loved her cake 😀
Looks like so much fun!! Great job
on the cake. You and Liv look so pretty! By the way what gray sweater dress are u wearing?? Love!! I’ve beenooking or something similar for a while. It looks super fashionable but also comfy.
Adorable party, and lots of sweet goodies! What a special birthday, especially for Mom & Dad!
What a sweet little party! Happy Birthday Olivia!
When I was two, my parents hired Big Bird to come to my party because I was OBSESSED with Sesame Street. Well, apparently Big Bird live (all six feet of him) was a little more intimidating than on my TV. I had an absolute MELTDOWN, and I remember it vividly. Big Bird didn’t last very long ; )
hahaha! i love it!
You have a gorgeous family!!! Happy Birthday to Liv!!!!
thank you- i’m lucky to have them <3
Happy Birthday Olivia!!!! 🙂
Oh my goodness, Gina! The last picture of your beautiful family is super gorgeous!! I’m glad Liv had such a sweet and fun family birthday! xo
thank you, it was so much fun, especially having everyone (like her daddy!) here
Purple carrot extract!? Why don’t I know about this?! I see a Whole Foods mission in my near future!
Happy first birthday, Livi!!!
yep, i got it at whole foods- they have a great selection of natural food colorings
Aww- looks like a great birthday! What a difference a year makes 🙂
Time flies, doesn’t it!
Happy Birthday to the little one. 🙂
Happy birthday to Livi! It looks like you had a great time, and it’s so hard to believe (even for us readers!) that it’s already been a whole year.
it went by wayyyy too fast!
What a gorgeous little girl! Happy Birthday to Liv!
Happy Birthday again to little Livi 😀 It seriously looks like it was a beautiful day.
thank you, it was a great day 🙂
How cute..I love the baby bash cake 🙂
Looks like a lot of fun. Our almost 4 year old liked the banner, he wants one for his birthday in 2 months.
awww! is he a huge elmo fan, too?
Can I just say that every time I see that picture of your family cheering while you were in labor, my eyes just well up with tears. What a special momento of the love, support and encouragement surrounding you all! And a pretty sweet husband that thought to take that picture! Happy Birthday to your little love! I know it was a special day for your family.
it makes me tear up, too. i’m a very lucky girl <3
thank you for the birthday wishes for liv!
Looks like you had a fabulous day celebrating your little princess. She is adorable, and I love how the smash cake turned out. So cute!
What an incredible day for y’all!!!
She looks so tentative with the cake! I’m sure that changed!!
I can’t believe its a year already- she is absolutely beautiful. What a beautiful family!! (side note: i love your salad bowl!)
Happy Birthday, little one. Can’t believe she’s a year old now! I started following/enjoying your blog shortly before you became pregnant with her. How time flies 🙂
Jealous of the snoogle. All my pregnant friends have one back in Canada. When we moved to Australia in September, I asked at prenatal yoga class if “anyone knows where I can purchase a snoogle here.” They all just kind of looked at me strangely… 😉
Happy birthday to Olivia! Looks like absolutely wonderful day! <3
I love the banner! Happy birthday to such a sweet little lady! So glad you could enjoy the day as a family!
Happy Birthday to Liv! What a wonderful day, can’t believe she is already one!
Your cupcakes and little cake are ADORABLE!! And all the decorations are precious!! Looks like a fun birthday! Congrats on your little girl 🙂
She’s so adorable – and look at her go after that cake! Baby girl has excellent taste. 😉 Happy Belated Birthday to Livi!
what an awesome family pic. worth framing for shizzle!
Happy Birthday Olivia! It looks like she loved her cake! Too precious!