Luna's 1st Birthday Party

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Hard to believe it’s been over a month since Luna’s first birthday. Let’s be honest, I love throwing a good party and had ZERO problems going all out for Luna’s first birthday especially since we had to have a virtual baby shower and never did a house warming party (thanks Covid!). And, I mean, we have to celebrate making it a whole year as a parent, right? It was truly such a special day and I am getting all the feels re-living it through these photos. Keep scrolling for all the first birthday vendor details, sugar-free smash cake recipe, and run of show. Party planning is my love language - hah - so I am so happy to be able to share anything and everything that will make it easier for you!

Instead of doing a particular theme I decided to go with a color scheme and overall “summer in Europe” vibe. A lot of it came from the inspo for my recent swim collection. I hired Michelle Rogers to bring everything to life and it came together better than I could’ve ever imagined!

Vendors

• Design + Planning: Michelle Rogers

• Ball Pit: Play Play Zone

• Other Rentals: Create-A-Party Rentals

• Performer: Jason Mesches Music

• Florals: Love Struck Blooms

• Cocktails + Bartender: The Whaling Club

• Photography: Felicia Lasala

• Food: Mendocino Farms

We used most of our own backyard furniture including these Amazon sling chairs that I bought earlier this summer.

If you splurge on ONE thing for your party let it be Jason Mesches Music - he is SPECTACULAR! We are a little biased because he is one of my best friends but I promise that everyone, even the adults was beyond impressed. You can see some of the goodness on Luna’s birthday highlight on IG. Jason is local to LA but he does travel a ton! TRUST when I say he will get the kids and the grown-ups dancing!

In terms of food, I went back and forth on what to get and decided that individually wrapped sammies from Mendocino Farms made the most sense. They have day-of-delivery and everything comes perfectly packaged and ready to be displayed. Easy Peasy! We had about 50 people (40 adults and 10 kids) and spent about $600 on food including delivery. There were some leftovers but not THAT much.

I will say having a bartender was so helpful because I didn’t have to worry about refilling punch bowls or making sure there were mixers/drinks stocked during the party. The Whaling Club makes incredible cocktails and I cannot recommend them enough. We’ve had them bartend many of our parties in the past. For the kids and non-drinking adults I had waters and La Croix.

For the kids, aside from the ball pit + Jason Mesches music, I bought some Crayola magic markers and paper. Also brought out some of Luna’s trucks and toys that they could play with under a dedicated kid umbrella.

This might be obvious but if you’re doing a baby party outside make sure there is plenty of shade! We had 6 umbrellas and a sun sail and still could’ve used more.

We planned the party around Luna’s two naps and it worked out nicely. The party started at 11:00 am and ended at 3:00 pm - the entire run of show is below. If I had to go back I honestly don’t think I’d change anything. A few friends who’s kids only do one nap a day did have to leave before the cake smash but that’s kind of par for the course around that age. And a handful of friends without kids stayed after the party and it was awesome to just have some pure adult hang time. Luna woke up from her second nap totally refreshed and loving life - it was fab!

Run of Show

• 8:00am Rental + ballon set-up

• 9:00am Bar set-up

• 10:30am Food delivery 

• 11:00am PARTY STARTS

• Hang time + photos

• 12:45pm Luna lunch

• 1- 1:30pm Jason Mesches performance

• 1:30pm Sing happy birthday + cake smash

• 2:20pm Luna Nap

• 3:00pm PARTY OVER

• 3:00 - 4:00 pm Vendor breakdown

SMASH CAKE

I ended up making this smash cake from Eating Bird Food and in case you can’t tell, Luna loved it -hah! We added just a bit of whole milk to the recipe because the batter seemed really dense initially and I think that worked well; it basically tasted like banana bread without sugar. GF couldn’t get enough of it! Definitely suggest baking the day of your party - it’s SO easy - and I frosted with Chobani Greek Yogurt about 20 minutes before singing happy birthday. I don’t know if you HAVE to wait until right before to frost but I read something somewhere saying that if you do it tooooo early that the yogurt will just kind of slide off, so I decided to wait. It worked out and the pictures were hilarious!

Solid Starts also has some smash cake recipes on their site.

Is it too soon to start thinking about her second birthday? Hah! I guess Halloween is next so that will give me something fun to look forward to. Slide into my DM’s if you have any Qs - so happy to help. xo - Ashley

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