Well. It’s officially Summer. My baby boy Roman turned one on June 21, the Summer Solstice. Which means the days are longer and so much hotter. We had a really fabulous celebration. Throwing a one year old birthday party is an interesting experience and I thought it would be fun to share all of my advice because I learned so much through all of this.
Just a simple search on Pinterest for a one year old birthday party will drive any new mom into an anxious panic. It is a LOT and it can be very expensive. Especially for someone who doesn’t like cheesy kid party decorations. A few things I knew that I wanted to do was have a pool party because who wants to be inside on a gorgeous Summer day and what’s better than a pool party? There are so many character themes and I am sure I will cave for these soon but the ‘Wild One’ theme was my favorite. I didn’t want to get too jungle-y or animalistic, I wanted to go with a more Beverly Hills Hotel pool party tropical chic vibe, if that is a thing.
FEELING COMFORTABLE IS KEY
My outfit needed to match the theme of course so I got this palm leaf kimono which I’m telling you was a total hit. Everyone asked where I got it. Thankfully Amazon had me covered because I had no idea what to wear. It was perfect, breezy so I stayed cool yet covered me up so I didn’t feel uncomfortable running around in my swimsuit as I greeted guests. It made it easy for me to go in and out of the pool. I also suggest every woman grab this chic sun hat. It’s a wide brim oversized hat and comes in every color. I didn’t need to wear sunglasses because it covered my face so well. I will be wearing it all Summer long for sure.
KEEP THE DECOR SIMPLE & PICK A FOCAL POINT
I wanted the decor to be simple, chic yet really fun. So, I ordered two of these swan floats a la Lisa Vanderpump and named them Hanky and Panky. I got the 32” gold letter balloons to put behind the pool cave for a fun embellishment. I wanted the pool to really be inviting and center of attention. Roman really loves swimming. I always like to have the playlist match the decor and because it was a hotel pool vibe, I threw on Hotel Costes Mix on Spotify.
CREATE EASY SIGNATURE COCKTAILS
After reading Patricia Altschul’s Summer entertaining tips, I knew I wanted to rent a professional Margarita Machine, (if you are in Austin, I highly recommend Steve at River City) one side was a virgin pina colada which I named ‘Summer Solstice’ and the Margarita was called the ‘Roman Holiday’. How cute is that?
TIP: Go to your local favorite restaurant with a really good frozen margarita machine and ask for their recipe. We had ours custom made with local tequila, nothing fake, nothing sugary, it was DELICIOUS. What they give you to make the margarita mix with is typically filled with sugary things. I wanted them to be fresh, healthy and delicious. Green solo cups with cute neon straws and umbrellas really made them fun. They were a HUGE hit, everyone loved them.
It also makes it easier to be a hostess, you’re not stressing about pouring drinks or what people want. If you make something for everyone and make it easy to access, people feel right at home making their own drink. It really was a focal point of the party and put people at ease. We also had coolers full of gatorades, water and sparkling water so everyone could be properly hydrated.
EASY TO EAT BUFFET STYLE FOOD IS THE WAY TO GO
The food was Franklins BarBQ, which let me tell you was quite the ordeal to get and our cake was from Sweet Treats Bakery. I highly recommend them, they created the cake EXACTLY how I asked them to and they did a fabulous job. A one year old party is interesting because it’s not really a kid party or a full on adult party so its kind of a limbo party. Ensuring things work for everything requires you to keep things simple, which I loved. I don’t like cheesy kid stuff at all, and I am so not ready for that but the cake and the margarita machine and pool floats were plenty for Romans cousin to have a lot of fun.
To protect privacy of everyone, I won’t post photos of the actual party but a big thank you to my childhood bestie for helping me set everything up. Love you.