Eliot's 1st Birthday

Eliot turned a whole year old on Thursday 26th June, I thought I'd share how we celebrated!

 

The day started off with poo! We went into his room singing happy Birthday, when the OH opened the blind and we were greeted by Eliot and a nice lump of poo next to him! Typically that is the first time his nappy has exploded in the cot, I'm just thankful he didn't get his hands in it and smear it everywhere!

 



We'd got his presents all ready for him the night before, along with a few balloons. He didn't have a clue what was going on when we brought him in to the living room and kitchen. Still he didn't waste any time and got into the ball bit to play and had a quick go on his trike which his Nana and Grandad bought.

 We opened some of his other gifts over breakfast but he didn't really get the whole 'open and discover' aspect and ended up pushing them on the floor.
After breakfast we got ready and headed out for the day, Eliot rode his new trike and first stop was modelling an outfit for  When We Were Little. It was for their Spring/Summer 2015 collection. He looked adorable in the clothes he wore and I can't wait to see the photos! 
Next we went for a spot of lunch at a chain called The Banana Tree. Eliot was starting to get tired as his nap is usually before or after lunch, it was at this point I realised I'd made a huge boo boo! Napping would be difficult/near impossible on his trike, which meant we were going to end up with one cranky little birthday boy...massive fail! However we decided to carry on with our plans and headed to Battersea Park. My poor boy kept failing asleep in his trike, so we thought it would be a good idea to park up the trike and get him out to sleep in my arms. He woke straight away and refused to go to sleep. Admitting defeat we went into the play area and he spent a fair bit of time on one of his favourite things, the swing!

After that we popped into Battersea Park Zoo, Eliot loves animals so we thought it would be an ideal birthday visit. It was very quiet which was perfect for us to stroll and around and get a good look at  all the animals. Eliot enjoyed watching all of them apart from the pigs who were grunting noisily. He started crying so we had to move on swiftly. The zoo hosts a huge sand play area, Eliot hadn't experienced sand before so when we plonked him down he was a bit unsure. However it wasn't long before he started crawling around to explore. It was then time to start our long walk home! (see the video at the bottom for more animal antics!)

Watching the Meerkats with daddy



Squirrel Monkey

Back at home we had dinner and celebrated our boys special day with a cake.

 

A couple of days later we had a small  bee themed party at home with some family and friends. I made a simple yellow and black dot '1' cake which turned out ok and everyone said they liked it, although my dad did comment it was 'a little dry'. Pah! I'm just pleased it turned out alright. Getting the icing over it was the trickiest bit and it wasn't anywhere near perfect but it just about passed if you didn't look closely!

 

Food Table

 



I made my own extremely simple party bags to fit in with the theme, I got the idea from good old Pinterest! All I used were yellow paper bags, bee themed stickers and washi tape, all purchased on ebay.

Overall I think my little bee thoroughly enjoyed his celebrations, even if he did have no idea what was going on.

How did/will you celebrate your little ones 1st Birthday?



 

 

1st Birthday Plans

Eliot's 1st birthday is fast approaching. In less than a month we will be celebrating. I still can't quite believe it, it feels like yesterday I was walking around with my baby bump and now my baby is turning 1!

For his birthday we have a couple of things planned. Luckily it falls on a Thursday when I'm off work so I didn't have to try and swap it. The OH has booked it off so we are looking forward to spending this special day together as a family. On the actual day we have something quite exciting to do (more on that at the time), then we will probably have a picnic and then we are going to Battersea park zoo. Eliot loves animals so hopefully he will really enjoy it. I'm sure we will see a couple of relatives too!
Present wise I have been buying stuff for ages, as far back as the Christmas sales. One thing we do need to get is a toy washing machine as he's absolutely obsessed with the real thing.
My mum has bought him a Little Tikes trike which I can't wait to get him on, he'll love it (I hope!).

A couple of days later on the Saturday we are having a little gathering of close family and friends at ours. We have gone for a bee themed party after I was inspired a few months ago by Hannah's (from Make Do and Push) Pinterest board most of which I added to my board.  Eliot has a cuddly toy that he used to love that I named bumble because it resembles a bee and he is a summer baby so the bee theme seems perfect.
I have been buying party bits over time, Now I think we're just about ready with party decorations.
I am planning to make a cake myself in the shape of a 1 so I do need to buy a cake tin.
We of course have to do a cake smash (with a shop bought cake) and I will be following Hayley's tips from Sparkles & Stretchmarks. I will also be following some of the food tips from Kelly's from To Become Mum post. If you haven't checked those posts out and you're planning a 1st birthday I def recommend having a read!
I am super excited about his Birthday and all the new things to come but at the same time sad my baby will not be a baby for much longer.

Some of the party bits

What are your planning for your little ones first birthday?