Celebrating Townes' first birthday was so normal - most about having Townes has been so normal really - and his first birthday party was adorably average. We had friends and family, cake, and a pinata. However, the same can absolutely not be said about Hondo.
For those of you that don't know, Hondo's birth was a totally insane experience. Long story short, he was born at home, on our floor, and just barely caught by a fireman who just walked in the door. I had been sent home from the hospital, being told I could have all night ahead of me, and about an hour and a half later Hondo arrived on our floor about 45 minutes after we arrived back home. All the while, Townes sat downstairs in the living room with his grandma watching Finding Nemo. The firemen were even able to pull up to the house without their sirens on, not scare Townes, and sneak up the stairs without him noticing.
#babyonthefloor
It's the kind of thing you don't really believe happens, until it happens to you. In any case, we don't have many photos from his birth the way we do of Townes. Aaron was prudent enough to step back and take just one photo - he was even scared to tell me later because he thought I would be mad, but he also thought if he didn't do it, I'd be upset I had nothing to remember it by. When I saw it, I was really glad he did, I chose to announce Hondo's birth the next day with this photo and the hashtag #babyonthefloor was born.
Suffice it to say, since that day, nothing with Hondo has been ordinary, including his first birthday party. I planned it just the same as T's - we invited family and friends, I planned a kid-friendly menu, it was a simple brunch with a fun activity and a smash cake. But of course, that wasn't going to be enough for this kid.
Hondo being re-introduced to the men who delivered him. Rodger (bottom left) was the first face little Hondo ever saw.
I had thought a truck theme would be fun for him - firetrucks, construction trucks, garbage trucks haha - he loves them all, so it seemed to fit. It seemed even more perfect when I reached out to the firemen who delivered him (who have stayed in touch with and are the most wonderful men, in my humble opinon) and invited them to join us, they all happily accepted. And on top of it, their home station (AFD Station #10) said they would bring him a birthday surprise in the form of a real FIRE TRUCK.
If all of that wasn't enough, when the heads of the fire department found out that all five of them would be coming to his little birthday party, their Public Relations department reached out and asked if they could do a press release about it and I said sure - those men deserve all the kudos in the world for doing what they do!
What I didn't anticipate was the news crews that showed up at the party too! Four of our local news stations came to interview us, and film Hondo smashing his cake and seeing the firemen. Someone even told us that the story made the news in Houston - I'm not kidding when I said this kid does not do anything average.
Besides all of that craziness, the party was great! So lets get down to the real business at hand here: the party itself. Now you know where I got the theme from, trucks, of all kinds. I didn't want to make it all about the fireman, he has enough stuff that's all fireman related, and he really seems to love any truck he comes across anyway.
The Invitations
So lets start with the invites: as usual, they were printed through Minted.com. These are the Party Trucks design that I paired with the Persimmon envelopes from Paper Source and a hand stamped yellow and white polka dot wrapping paper for a liner.
I addressed the envelopes simply with a white paint pen which contrasted really well against the darker envelope. I liked the color scheme that the invitation led us to, so we stuck wit that for the rest of the party (red, yellow, orange and blue).
The Decor and Activity
Again, this is a birthday party for a one-year old, so I wasn't super concerned with needing a crazy exciting type of entertainment, however, he does have a big brother and our friends who were coming had kids ranging in ages from newborn to four, so I had to do something to keep all the kids happy.
We decided to let trucks do what trucks do best and put a bunch of sand out on a tarp and made a temporary sand box right in the middle of the backyard and set out all the trucks we had for the kids to play with.
To give the kids a favor to take home and something that felt special for them, Chanel (who happens to be Hondo's very special godmother) and I personalized some $1 construction hats from Party city with a black oil-based paint Sharpie and oval labels from Paper Source that we printed with a cement truck and "Hayes' Party Crew."
Chanel even decorated the back yard with life-size fire hydrants and traffic cones (you can see them by the play set)! She drew them onto red and yellow poster board with black paint pen, cut them out, and taped a wooden dowel to the back and stuck them in the ground to line the play area and the front walkway outside the house.
Finally, we had the cutest photo booth for people to take photos! Chanel, again, made the most fantastic kid-size cardboard bulldozer for the kids to pose in and snapped the pics out in the yard! You can find a tutorial for how to turn your old boxes into cars and trucks here.
Oh yeah, and there was a FIRETRUCK! So in the end, I think the kids were well entertained.
The Menu
Finally, to the best part of the party - the menu! This being a party celebrating my sweet baby boy, I decided to shape the menu around what he likes and what would be a brunch food that functioned well in this setting.
I needed to choose foods that would travel well - kids this age move fast, so I didn't think most parents would be sitting down and enjoying food that required a plate and utensils, and neither would the kids - so everything on this menu meets three requirements: easy to grab and go, a breakfast food, and Hondo-approved.
I started with a homemade granola/snack mix of oats, shredded coconut, raisins, pretzels, etc. (recipe to come) that we divided up into individual paper bags so that kids could grab one and carry it around with them. Then there was a double batch of lemon-ricotta-blueberry bread (recipe to come), cut into bite sized pieces.
For the main "meal" I made two dozen mini-bagels using my regular bagel recipe (just using half the dough per bagel). I pre-sliced them and set out butter, cream cheese, and even the toasted right there on the bar. They were the perfect size for the kiddos to carry around and nosh on. I also made mini english muffins and served them as a breakfast slider with a sausage patty and cheese in the middle. I rounded it all out with some of Hondo's favorite breakfast food: sweet potato hash. I diced up some peeled sweet potatoes small, diced some onion, seasoned them and sauteed them on the griddle in the leftover sausage fat.
Of course, for dessert we had some very normal offerings (something had to be regular at this party)! I made basic vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate buttercream. I used the same recipe to make him a tiny four-layer vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream to dig into on his own. We even found some cute semi-truck cupcake decorations at Party City!