We celebrated Lincoln’s 1st birthday party on Saturday with a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star themed party. I fell in love with the star idea while rocking Linc to sleep in his room – there have been glow in the dark stars on his ceiling since we bought the house. Plus I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he is a sparkly, twinkly baby personality-wise. He’s my little star.

You can check out my Lincoln’s First Birthday Pinterest board for a lot of the recipes and inspiration for all my ideas. I’m putting the post after a jump so all 2 bazillion photos aren’t on the front page for the next month…

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Here’s how it went down:

No, I’m not having a party for Caroline’s 1st birthday. It’s so close to Christmas, people will be out of town or busy with other stuff. I know, I’ll throw a Halloween party and that will get my need to throw a party every 6 months out of my system. I mean, obviously we’ll have a cake. A cake isn’t a party. I’ll make a really nice cake and put up some streamers maybe a few balloons. Let me just check the internet really quick for ideas.* Oooo look at these cute winter cupcakes I saw on the internet! I’ll just start a Pinterest board for Caroline’s First Birthday but it’s not like I’m going to invite a zillion people and make fifteen different kinds of cookies. Maybe just three. Ok seven. And I’ll make just a handful of invitations. Ok ten. Ok twenty five. And sure, Mother-in-Law, you should definitely fly in from Ohio for the party – I mean NON-PARTY – because it’s going to be amazing. Twinkle lights and sparkly snow and silver sequins and doilies everywhere. Hot cocoa bar! Hand cut snowflakes! Sparkles! GLITTER!!!!!!!!

Truly, I’m a little jealous MY birthday isn’t in December because it’s kind of awesome. Everywhere we go there are lights and ornaments and Christmas decorations and as far as Caroline is concerned they are all for her. Our family adventures are all super fun and usually end with candy canes. Everyone is full of well wishes and good cheer and my adorable little munchkin face red-headed elf baby shines where ever she goes. It’s magical.

Here’s a peek at what I’ve been working on for her just-a-tiny-bit overboard first birthday!

*WHOOPS. OBVIOUSLY, this is where things went downhill. Or uphill. Whichever way leads into the pile of magic twinkle lights, glitter and fake snow.

Although Baby Evan will neither appreciate nor remember his first birthday party, I cannot stop myself from going a little overboard. And by “a little overboard” I mean I’ve jumped right off the ship without a life jacket and am struggling to keep my head above the dangerous waters of hand-made crafts and custom Etsy listings. If you thought the wedding industry was full of over-priced, high pressure sales, then you’ve never considered renting a cotton candy machine for a baby’s birthday. It is INTENSE. (For the record, we are not renting a cotton candy machine for a child that does not eat, no matter how much I love cotton candy.)

To keep the cost somewhat under control I’m doing all the decorations and invitations myself, with the help of a lot of craft-store coupons and maybe a tiiiiny bit of creative plagiarizing from other people on the internet. I decided to go with a totally unoriginal circus/carnival theme and have found some really great inspiration thanks to Google.

Caroline at Armelle Blog had an adorable photo booth, an idea I am definitely stealing:

Via @caroline armelle photo's Flikr stream

And Kara from Kara’s Party Ideas threw possibly the best circus themed party ever in the history of the world and I’ve been scouring the internet to find some of the things she used. Seriously, check out her website for the most amazing kid’s birthday party I’ve ever seen:

Via Kara's Party Ideas

My bloggie friend Silence and Noise is about to celebrate her son Bresho’s 1st birthday with a circus themed party of her own and I can’t wait to see the pictures and steal some of her ideas too.

Here’s a sneak peek of what I’ve been doing for Baby Evan’s party:

Part of the invitation. I'm going to order them as photos from an online company like Snapfish.

The vintage tray from my grandmother that inspired my theme plus some homemade confetti and rolls of tickets.

A combination of fancy craft papers and a lucky find at The Christmas Tree Shops means I don't have to create my own circus animals or patterns.

I don’t know how I’m going to keep from going even more overboard in the next month (uh, besides hitting the limit on my credit card) but I cannot wait to have everyone here and show off the final results.