the theme was a primary color scheme.

several dozen cupcakes, a handful of balloons, a whole bunch of fun, and now our baby boy is one! we had such a sweet celebration with our family.

take a peek at hunter's party through pictures!

daddy with his one year old.

mommy and her little handsome.

silly expression.

we had cupcakes...

and cupcakes...

and more cupcakes!

the set-up.

hunter's very own egg-free cupcake. it was huge. and lucky for mom and dad,

he didn't eat hardly any of it. : )

hunter is one!

happy birthday hunter!

party favors. since our party was made up of family, i figured all the guests wouldn't mind taking home a picture of our little boy. i got pictures printed from our smash the cake session (thanks amy prikazsky photography!), and then bought acrylic frames to frame them. on the back of each picture it said:

dear: "family member's name"

i enjoyed the cake, and gifts too, but my favorite part was seeing you! thank you!

love, hunter

here are all the frames:

the best part about these party favors is that they all cost $9.81.

so, i ended up spending $35 on this lil' bash (i thought it would be more! but i added it all up and it was way less. yippee.). want to know a few tricks i discovered to keep the costs low? i think i'll call them "cheap party tips from a newbie mom."

1. instead of choosing a specific theme, i went for a primary color scheme. this way, nothing had to be matchy matchy and i could pick up an assortment of plates, cups, etc., here and there when i caught them on clearance.

2. have the party at a time of day when people aren't hungry. that way, they won't even realize that you didn't feed them anything besides cupcakes.

3. as far as the cake/cupcakes go... make your own! you can even use betty crocker's help if you so choose. i gathered cake mixes and frostings for less than $5 to make 48 cupcakes. i cheated on hunter's cupcake and bought it.

4. make your own decor. it is so fun and then it will look exactly like you want it too. i used my computer, scrapbook papers, twine, ribbons, scissors and double stick tape.

apparently, since my baby boy is one, he is now a toddler. but, i'm still allowed to call him my baby while he's still the baby around here. and that isn't going to last long so, i'm taking full advantage of it! we are beyond thankful for such a wonderful year of fantastic memories. we love our hunter!