finally...

i'm really excited to finally be able to share some of the photos of lucy's first birthday party with you. lots of work went into this party, though the ultimate goal was to make it simple, beautiful, kid-friendly and eco-friendly. we did our absolute best, and were thankful to be blessed lots of help from family and friends, and with gorgeous springime weather. the end result was a bash that will be remembered fondly in lucy-history. enjoy!

ready to greet her guests... the party girl wore a 1950's vintage sundress and sweet bare feet.

with best friend dollie... 

our handmade party hats & crowns were a true hit with parents and kids alike--i'm so pleased with how they turned out and hope to have some in the etsy shop soon!

indoor decorations were simple at best (as in, i scrawled this note on the chalkboard 5 minutes before guests began to arrive).

instead of water in plastic bottles, we offered organic lemonade and ice water in big jugs... compostable cups were close at hand.

other beverages (all in glass bottles) included pellegrino, orangina, tejava iced tea, and mexican coke (made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup). and don't forget the keg!

outdoor decor included this handmade banner, made by my mom & i. i love this thing and wish i could keep it up year-round, but i don't want it to get sunbleached. i absolutely love the idea of reusable party decorations--we made sure to buy fabrics that were fun but not babyish so that we can get many years of celebrations out of this thing!

lucy's cake, made by your loyal blogger. it's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it fit with our simple theme. the cake, and the rest of the yummy desserts, is displayed on a vintage, tiered side table. it was also used to hold the cake for our wedding. 

the paper banner i made to hang in the studio where food & desserts were being served. the full banner read "happy birthday lucy."

the menu, scrawled out quickly on an old chalkboard... 

a quiet moment with daddy... did i mention she loved wearing the hats?

"so this is what a birthday party is, mommy! i love it!"

the party took place back in the days when crawling was still "cool."

jeremy and his brother went to town recreating a vintage beanbag toss clown that we saw at the alameda antique fair. at $80, it was out of our price range for lucy's party--but those talented guys made it happen anyway! "eric" the clown is another party item that we hope to get lots of use out of in coming years. 

i got the task of making the beanbags--it was a quick, fun project. prizes included bubbles, softballs and organic fruit roll-ups. 

lucy's retro pedal car was a big fun for all of the kids... 

her new "birthday sandbox" was fun, too... 

we brought out her wagons so everyone could have a ride (the rustiest wagon held birthday presents)... 

and of course, it's not a party without a few chickens to feed... 

time for cake! a vintage bib saved lucy's party dress from all that icing... 

good enough to share!

time for all of those great gifts (still a few more to be posted to the blog)!

and a cuddle from mom & dad. happy birthday, baby!

we used compostable plates, cups and napkins for the party, and had enough real silverware to go around, thanks to a few donations. we kept 2 large bins out for garbage--each was labeled clearly to let guests know what to do. we ordered from world centric  and were very pleased with their competitive pricing and fast shipment of high-quality product. we had the pleasure of attending two 1st birthday parties this weekend and both used compostable tableware. looks like the idea is catching on!

treat bags for the kids were also handmade--though they sat in my living room for 2 weeks i never thought to take a photo. anyhow, each child got a reusable snack bag with snap closure. girl bags were stuffed with reusable cloth wipes/napkins and handmade hair clippies. boys got the same wipes and homemade playdough. older kids got a kid-sized gardening trowel and packet of sunflower seeds, along with a box of jelly bellies, cause what kid doesn't like jelly beans? plus, they are made locally--the factory sits only 20 miles from my house!

well, i suppose that's it! we're officially done with birthday #01... on our way to birthday #02!

a party was had...

we are still coming down off of our birthday party high--lucy's first party party was an absolute blast and i am thrilled with how it all turned out. over the next week, i'll be sorting though pictures to post (we're waiting to get over 1,000 photos back from our wonderful photographer--yikes, i see a lot of scrapbooking in my near future). 

we made it clear on lucy's invites that we did not expect gifts, but of course received a few presents here and there that were greatly appreciated. i'll be posting our favorites over the next few days as i sort though photos, just to keep you all entertained in the meantime. thanks for hanging in while we were so busy with party planning!

here's an amazing gift from my brother's super talented girlfriend jaime:  

a set of 10 alphabet blocks, knitted from wool and then felted. i cannot imagine the time and effort that must have gone into this project. i was literally astounded to hold this set in my hands. that little lucy is a very lucky girl! she enjoys stacking (and knocking over) her brand-new blocks. i just like looking and them and marveling over jamie's ambition!

no peeking, lucy!

i'm so excited about part of lucy's birthday present that came in the mail last week--just had to share. how cute are these from lucette on etsy?




i originally purchased only the cupcakes, but this kind seller threw in the breakfast goodies as an apology for shipping a mere 1 day late. talk about great customer service! the quality of these crocheted treats is excellent, and the price was right--only $6 for the set of 3. score. i hope lucy loves them as much as i do--i see tea parties on her green toys tea set in our future!

i hoped to make something for lucy, but i am super running out of time. i might issue her a rain check for some felt letters like these, (though for the work involved, i think i'd rather just shell out the $30). as consolation for my procrastination, i am also trying to take into consideration the smart words of my own mom, who, after hearing me say "i haven't even made anything for lucy's birthday yet!" said, "honey, you're making her a party." hmm. is that why i'm so tired?

jeremy has built lucy a sandbox (which she won't yet touch with a 10-ft. pole... uh-oh!), which will be her big gift. and we've asked guests of her party to bring only themselves. it'll be interesting to see how many listen to our wishes! 

how good does this look?

check out this trailer for tapped, an upcoming documentary that will "illustrate the impact of the global water crisis on america and what we can do as individuals to enact change sooner rather than later. tapped [will] examine the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil."



watching this trailer made me think of 2 things:

first, i think i forgot to mention that we won't be serving bottled water at lucy's party. instead we'll keep pitchers of ice-water available near the other beverages.

second, my latest three-to-four-times-per-week-indulgence has been lime-flavored sparkling water from trader joes. i used to buy the brand in the blue glass bottle (forget the name at the moment), but trader joe's is now offering their own label of the stuff (in a plastic bottle) for .25 less. this trailer made me want to switch back to my old brand. like, immediately.

let's play catch up...

someone's been MIA for a moment. oops, i guess it was me. here's a catch up post to get us back on track:

we had a fantastic easter. lucy was in the greatest of spirits all day long, and looked simply adorable in a vintage dress and bed jacket with little embroidered bunnies on it. her hair is finally getting long enough for little pigtails. they stuck right up, but kind of resembled bunny ears--perfect for easter. babies can pull anything off...

lucy's easter gifts were small and sweet: shoes, socks and a book from grandma, more tub toys from me. instead of plastic easter grass, one of lucy's baskets was filled with scraps of organic bamboo velour leftover from diaper-making. the other was filled with crumbled strips of paper kept from a previous year. i have to say, the scrap filling didn't quite work out the way i envisioned--it wasn't fluffy enough or something. no matter, lucy didn't seem to mind. i wish i'd gotten a better photo, but she tore everything apart soon after laying eyes on her baskets. 

we did happen to get a real easter egg this year, thanks to porter, our brown-feathered hen. those girls have never yet failed to deliver us an egg on easter!

if you look carefully in the background of the above photo, you'll see that lucy's party banners are starting to take shape! thanks to my mom, we have nearly 30 feet of colorful little flags we'll use as decoration for her birthday in years to come. now they just need to be sewn to a piece of binding (they're currently hanging on my clothesline w/ clothespins).

in other party news, i have to thank you all for your suggestions and other comments regarding our party utensils! i'm happy to say that my wonderful friend (and diaper-making business parter) molly has volunteered to bring 60 sets of flatware to the party. this is saving us money, not to mention resources, and i am incredibly thankful for her generosity. 

in paper towel news, we have used up a few more. here's the breakdown: 

sheet #11: compost bucket

sheet #12: used to dry off a colander full of fresh berries for fruit salad. in retrospect, a clean dishtowel may have been just as effective. 

sheet #13: used to drain bacon grease for eater brunch. i can't believe we only used one, for 2 boxes of bacon? no wonder i am feeling large... 

sheet #14: compost bucket again

sheet #15: used to clean up teeny bits of broken ceramic off of the floor (lucy dropped her dish of blueberries). i have always used a paper towel to help pick up the teeny fragments left behind from shattered glass, as an extra measure to sweeping and vacuuming. with little hands and knees all over my living room, i want to make extra sure i get every last splinter of sharp stuff. 

one more thing to report. it's time for old navy's stuff and save promotion again, and i did receive a card in the mail instead of a plastic bag. if you've followed my blog for awhile, you'll recall that i wrote old navy asking them to "green up" their promo. not long after,  a friend told me that she'd gotten a card in the mail from old navy, good for a reusable tote in-store. i was excited and called to company to find out more detail, their customer service team told me that this improved promotion was demoing in select markets. it seems that they're making another go-round with it. good news. i only very rarely shop at old navy anymore, but i have to applaud them for their continued attempts to improve their stuff & save promotion!

i think that's it. for now. 

we're planning a party...

a first birthday party for the girl. it's going to be a backyard kind of shindig, pretty mellow, with lots of food and drink and hopefully good weather. we had really high hopes on making this a super-eco-friendly party: seeded invitations (which grow wildflowers when planted, and are made from 100% post-consumer waste), handmade fabric banner-style decorations that could be used year after year, compostable plates, cups, etc. and a mini pony, which is not exactly eco-friendly one way or the other, but it sure would be fun. 

then i realized that i don't have a jillion dollars. we're now looking some alternate ideas. 

the seeded invites turned out to be the most frivolous-seeming expense, so we're currently searching for 100% recycled cardstock to print our own invitations on. the stuff that big chain stores like staples sells is made of 10% post consumer waste, which to me is not really that good. so the search will go on tomorrow at a few local paper stores. i'm at the point where i have to buy something... invites need to go out this week!

decorations. we're definitely doing a lot of balloons (did you know that ALL latex balloons are compostable... not just trader joe's ones?) but i really wanted to do something a little more permanent that i could pull out every year. kind of like this. and so i ordered a ton of this adorable fabric during a half-off sale at an online quilt shop. i was so excited. the bad news? the quilt shop tanked and most orders were cancelled. including mine. so now i'm trying to pull together scraps that i have that will coordinate well as decoration. we'll see how it goes. 

we're sticking with compostable plates and things, even though it's a bit more expensive than regular throwaway stuff. one step better would have been to get a full set of bambooware, but again, it was super cost-prohibitive. 

oh, and the pony, the pony. everyone told me to hold off on the pony, at least until next year. i am very begrudgingly heeding their advice. humph. 

more to come from the planning front as things unfold!