I Planned the Perfect Party For My Son’s First Birthday!

PersonalBaby

Oct 4

Bruno and I obviously both have a history in the music industry — he was a punk guitarist and frontman for years, and I toured the country with bands as a photographer — however, I want to be clear that we never tried to push Atticus to like music. He just really enjoys it!

It may have helped that we’ve been playing music for him since he was a newborn. And then I had to play instrumental music for him to get him to fall asleep (he still uses a little music box every night). We know his favorite songs because sometimes, they are the only thing to calm him down. Our lifesaving toy for meltdowns on the go is a battery operated rattle that plays classical music.

At 8 months old, his favorite activity was clapping two solid toys together to make a noise. He tried all different objects to discover new noises. When he heard a new sound, he would look up at me and smile so big with pride. I could see the pure joy in his eyes.

When he was 9 months old I signed him up for a mommy & me music class. Honestly, it was because I was going back to work and this was the only mommy & me class that worked with our schedule. Atticus was immediately drawn to the gathering drum and knew exactly what to do. He figured out he could hit the drum with other instruments — like shakers or sticks — and it made even louder sounds! He was thrilled.

Atticus took music class on Saturday mornings all the way up until his birthday. He was one of the only babies who consistently had a fun time, was social with the teacher, actually played the instruments and danced! He jammed so hard one day that he punched his hand through a tambourine! (You can imagine how mortified I was handing this back to the teacher).

And that is how Atti Fest was born.

I knew I wanted to do something big for this first birthday, but I didn’t want it to be copy & pasted from every other first birthday party I saw on Pinterest. I spent months deciding on a theme that I felt fit my son’s personality.

I can’t remember how I finally came up with the idea to do a music festival theme, but I do know as soon as I mentioned it to my husband, it was set in stone. I had already started brainstorming a different theme at that point, but Atti Fest just seemed too perfect for my music loving boy.

The Planning Process

And so it was time to execute this grand idea I had. I knew I needed a main focal point at the party, but since I’m working with limited space, I wanted it to be multifunctional . The stage was the first thing I thought of and frankly, the only thing that makes sense in this situation. It pulled together the whole theme of a music festival — of course there’s going to be a stage! The plan for the stage was to make it a cute spot for photos and a place for the kids to play during the party. When it was time for cake, we would pull Atticus’ highchair up on stage.

My father-in-law helped me build the stage out of pallets I got from my work. We only needed 2 pallets for the stage, so he used the excess slats to make the floor extra sturdy. Then he wrapped the floor and edges of the pallet stage with cardboard so it was safe for babies to climb and play on. He went above and beyond when he built the cardboard speakers and little microphone — the perfect height for Atticus to stand at!

I came up with a color scheme, but I felt like I needed a logo to help “brand” the festival. I really wanted it to be more of a colorful, groovy/70’s festival theme vs. dark/rock n roll style, so I came up with this happy little sunshine boy, who became the second face of Atti Fest (after Atticus, of course!)

My sister gave me the idea to make a merch booth and festival t-shirt, which I think ended up being one of the coolest things about the party! My sister in law has a Cricut, and she was so cool to lend it to me and give me some tips on using it and iron-on vinyl. I made all the shirts myself, which was one of my biggest projects. I ended up making about 30 shirts, ranging in colors and sizes from 2T - 2X. I did a pocket sized design on the front, and a full size image on the back. The shirts were a total hit, so the tedious work definitely payed off! I’m also thrilled I learned how to use the Cricut (I used it for a couple other projects at the party too).

And since it was a party for my baby and other kids would be running around, there should be plenty of activities for them (and the grown-ups) to have some fun with. I gathered up Atticus’ musical instruments from home — hours of fun for the babies, especially Atticus, who sat on the stage and made music for the majority of his party.

For another activity and party favor, I decided to make my own guitars out of foam core for kids to decorate with markers and stickers. I ended up making four different styles of guitars (Bruno found me reference images, of course). I am so happy with the way these guitars turned out, and I was thrilled that they were appreciated by both the kids, and the adults!

And the final activity I planned for everyone was a custom tattoo booth! I still can’t believe what a great hit these were, considering how easy it was for me to make them! I ordered 5 sheets of tattoo paper on Amazon and simply printed my designs on the sticky paper, applied the protective sheet, and cut them out!

I also made sure Atticus’ aunts, uncles and grandparents got VIP passes to the event, and “general admission” got a custom wristband! I placed a bulk order online with Wristband Bros and the quality is amazing! These wristbands used to be all the rage when I was younger, so it was a fun and nostalgic feeling to order a bunch. I was even able to add an embossed message on the inside of the bracelet! Each one says “Thank you for celebrating Atticus’ first birthday with us!” So they are perfect little party favors if you didn’t grab a t shirt.

For lunch, we served Costco pizza, fried chicken, & salads. My friend and coworker, Sally of Mosaic Charcuterie made beautiful boards for lunch and dessert. We served a Strawberry Shortcake from Ruby’s Bakery for the party, and Atticus’ smash cake was a homemade chocolate cake with white icing (I figured why not go all out). Everything was delicious and we had leftovers for days!!!