1st Birthday, Vintage Carousel Style

Well, the day finally came. I have a baby daughter, and all bets are off! I must throw a party fit for a princess.

Funny how it reflects so strongly on me. I work on parties all year, for years now, but as soon as my daughter was born, the first few questions were related to her first birthday. “What’s going to be theme?” “Where will you do the party?” “What does the cake look like?” “I bet it’s going to be EPIC!”

The pressure!! Now I know I have no way out of this. My daughter’s first birthday has to be memorable. I have to give it my full attention, and hope I can find a theme that’s not too mainstream, but still classic and beautiful. Et Voila. The Vintage Carousel has been on my mind for quite some time! Check out what we did:

We must start with a cake smash! Obvi. I did this at home and baked the cake. If you plan on doing this yourself, a word of advice. Use very well whipped frosting, and keep the colors light! Dark colors look like your baby has eaten a wild beast and it doesn’t come out well in photos.

Also, make sure you’re prepped and ready once you place her in front of the cake! That means the camera is ready to shoot, lighting is just right (this was mid-afternoon and the sun was coming in from the opposite side of the room), and you have cleaning material handy for when she’s done! I even had a bath running and ready to dip my buttercream covered child in it right away.

We had the tutu especially made from L-Z Bee Embroidery

Now for the party.

First and foremost, I spent hours and hours looking for some real horses to add to the theme. Surprisingly, these are very hard to find, and if you find them, they are incredibly expensive! However, I was able to find these perfect horses here. They were PERFECT.

Aside from that cake that I absolutely loved… we had many many other dessert options.

Strawberry cake shooters are one of my favorite things to add to a table, because they are so posh and easy to eat, portioned, and no plating.

 

These Brownie Bites were so easy and added such an adorable touch to the table. I bought the flowered parchment paper here, and baked the brownies into mini-cupcake size.

And this ferris wheel cupcake holder!!

Our cake pops had chocolate carousel horses attached to them to add to the theme.

 

Here’s a full look at the table!

 

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And a few more photos from the party below. It really was a dream come true, and I had such a blast putting it together! If you have any questions on how anything was made, just send me a quick note here!