Pumpkin Patch Birthday

My little pumpkin turned one last week, and before we get too far away from that day I wanted to share some memories of the day itself.

Since we had a little party in Mississippi the weekend before, and we’ll have another little celebration with my parents later this week, the actual day was pretty low key. I made a few decorations and tried to say “yes” to everything Amelia wanted. Which, for this particular one year old, included: Toddler Rock at a local church to watch the big kids run around, conking out for a long nap, getting super messy in the high chair, a midday bath with ALL the toys, a walk around the neighborhood, FaceTime with the grandparents, rice AND ice cream at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and staying up late (past 8 PM!) to open presents – AKA ripping up lots of paper, inspecting boxes, and trying to eat all the packing materials. It was a fun day for all!

I treated our dining room window like a bulletin board and channeled my long-gone Elementary Ed days with a couple banners and posters. I’ve been collecting pumpkin-themed stickers and foam shapes every time I visited JoAnn’s for the past few weeks, and used what I had on hand. It’s nothing fancy, and Amelia certainly won’t remember her first birthday or care what decorations we had, but making something is always a good way for me to spend some time thinking and processing my feelings.

For the banners, I printed wallet-sized photos of her monthly pics and used mini clothespins (these, actually!) to hang them with stars and pumpkins on a string of baker’s twine. I punched holes in the foam shapes to string them on the twine and used stickers to add “ONE” to the pumpkins on the lower banner. They’re both hung up with washi tape which held up better than I hoped.

 

 

 

 

While I was printing the photos at CVS, I also made a collage of all twelve monthly photos together. I impulse-bought some poster boards with glitter borders and held it all together with more washi tape.

Speaking of impulse buys… maybe I could’ve made this chalkboard-style poster myself, but for $6 I’m pleased with how cute this custom printable from Sparkle and Glisson came out! I provided the stats, she sent a hi-res image in a couple days’ turnaround, and I got an 8×10 print. It’d be cool to do a matte finish or an even bigger poster-size or even engineer print, but I figured this size would be easier to store as a memento.

The only other DIY craft I made was a little Jack-o-Lantern from the coffee filter suncatcher craft we made a couple weeks ago.

And of course: the crown! It came from Amazon, and after wearing it for her party and photos, I used it to adorn the Happy Birthday cube I made. It makes me happy to think about pulling this out every year to celebrate another birthday, and remembering her very first one.

I still can’t believe our pumpkin is ONE!

 

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