Last month our little guy turned 1! It’s still so hard to believe. I feel like it was just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. Watching him grow has given me the most joy. We had the best time celebrating him all week long, and I’m excited to share all of the details behind his Little Alligator Birthday Party. It truly was the perfect celebration for our little guy.
I absolutely love party planning. It is one of my biggest passions, and I love seeing the joy it brings others. So, naturally I started planning and envisioning Remy’s birthday party months and months ago. I loved the idea of doing little alligators, and the color scheme of it all. I love entertaining at our home, so I knew that I wanted the party to be here. Thankfully Justin was totally onboard with that as well, and just let me take the reins on my vision.
First off, I have to give a big shout out and thank you to my friend Caroline from Sweet Caroline Designs. Caroline helped me take my Little Alligator theme and make it a reality. She is an extremely talented graphic designer, and just gets my style completely! We started with creating the perfect invitation, and from there, our ideas were endless.
From the large welcome sign at our door, to the little favor tags, Caroline helped create all of the perfect details for Remy’s party.
I’ve gotten a lot of questions on this easel from the party, so I wanted to share it here for y’all. I personally love that it’s acrylic vs. wood or another material. I know that this is something I’ll use tons in the future for parties, baby showers, etc. So, I’m glad that I invested in it for the party.
I worked with a local catering company to take care of all of the food for the party. Avalon Catering is based in Atlanta, and I have nothing but great things to say about them. From helping me create a kid and adult friendly menu, to finalizing the details around table linens, a few flower arrangements and the catering staff, they were wonderful to work with. Not to mention, the food was delicious.
The party was from 11 am to 1 pm. So, I wanted to have lunch for all of our friends and family who were celebrating with us. Avalon Catering helped me come up with some great choices: Sliders, Chicken Sandwiches, Macaroni and Cheese, Fruit, Salad and Zucchini. A crowd pleaser for all ages. They also helped me with handling the larger flower arrangements, like the centerpiece on this table.
The color scheme was navy, green and white. Avalon and I worked together on the linens, and I (along with my Mother and Mother in Law) created the smaller flower arrangements for the tables. I actually ordered all of the square glass vases from Amazon, and got all of the hydrangeas at Trader Joes the day before the party.
We had plenty of seating outside for the guests, along with the a bar provided by Avalon Catering.
Details are so important to me when party planning. I have so much fun coming up with cute touches that really stand out, like these custom napkins.
As well as these cute koozies! They are always a nice keepsake to have after an event. Both were done by Caroline.
I have to say, I was most excited about these custom acrylic sticks from Acrylic Sticks. They matched so perfectly to invitations and little alligators. The gator even had a little party hat on!
What’s more important at a 1 year old’s Birthday Party then the smash cake? I had a few ideas of what I wanted, and so I decided to do them all. Thank you, Justin, for letting us have SO much cake, ha! First off, I knew that I wanted a large Gator cake. Funny enough, Justin and I’s rehearsal dinner cake was a large Gator. Only fitting for us Florida fans! But, I wanted Remy’s to be more of a juvenile and baby Gator, if you will. I also wanted to have a three tiered cake to give our cake table some height, and just for additional decoration. Between those two cakes, and the smash cake that Remy barely touched (not a fan so far of sweets), we had cake for days and days. Metrotainment Bakery did all of our cakes, and they were so yummy as well.
Rubi and Lib designed Remy’s ONE banner and matching hat for his smash cake. I’ve been working with them for years, and they have always been my go-to for custom napkins, etc. Caroline designed the large gator banner over our window to match the invitations, which I had printed at a local store. I loved the extra touch it brought to the party.
Remy’s Bib was from Lullaby Set, which I picked up at a local boutique, and then had the custom monogram done based on Caroline’s design to match the invitations and party decor. I knew the cake was going to be messy, so I’m so glad that I was able to change him into this for the smashing of the cake.
Remy’s jon jon was custom from The Bella Bean. They are one of our favorite online shops, and the sweetest ladies to work with. They were so kind to make the perfect party outfit for Remy. If you ever want to shop their website, you can use code LAURENKWILSON for 10% off.
Another simple detail that I included was a candy bar. I ordered all of the candy and jars from Amazon, as well as the scoopers and bags for people to take candy home in. You can really do a lot with space when creating a candy bar.
To help entertain all of the kids we had a local face painter, and a little bounce house. This bounce house was one of the best investments that we made. It’s so easy to put up, was a HUGE success, and I know that we’ll get lots of use of it with Remy. Highly recommend it for little ones.
For favors I decided to give out books and coloring books. They were all alligator themed. I did 5 books, and 2 different coloring books. Each book varied in what age group it was appropriate for, and so I just had the parents and kids pick which one they wanted. On the favor table we had Remy’s monthly milestone pictures. Such a fun thing to look back on, and reminisce about each month.
Along with the books we had custom cookies that a family friend made.
All in all the party was so much fun to plan. I’ll include all of the vendors below, as well as link a few items for y’all. Please reach out with any questions!
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Photos by ShelbyRae Photographs
Credits:
Signage, koozies, printed paper goods – Sweet Caroline Designs
Cakes – Metrotainment Bakery
Drink Stir Sticks – Acrylic Sticks
Catering (food and bar) – Avalon Catering
Cocktail napkins – Rubi & Lib
Cookies – Nancy Duralia
Large Flower Arrangements – Avalon Catering
Balloons – Balloons Over Atlanta
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