this sweet girl had her 1st birthday party last weekend. we ended up doing a rainbow (not an actual rainbow, just the colors) and book theme party. i tried not to get too overwhelmed with all the colors, because well, it’s a lot of color, but i loved how bright and, of course, colorful it was. since her birthday is so close to Christmas, she didn’t need any more toys so i asked for books in lieu of toys. this girl loves her books (and now we have an awesome collection!!) the goal was to make as much of the decor as i could and use stuff around the house that i already had. i think i did pretty good. :) there were some things that i didn’t get a chance to do…so i will save them for her next birthday! (yes, i already thought about her next theme…too soon??) ;)



*my canvas portraits were very fitting since they are all about miss P.
*i made some circle garland with wonderful construction paper. :)
*i hung up this awesome vintage lace table cloth as a background, and threw up some finger knitted garland i made a couple years ago.  then i pinned up this paper doily garland (thanks katy!) with the tiniest/cutest clothes pins ever. i loved how cute and handmade this turned out. :)


(don’t hate on my super creased table cover. didn’t have time to worry about that) ;)
*here we have the DIY table. kept it simple with balloons and streamers on the wall. (simple, but how cool does it look?) :) inspiration table here. (thanks mom!)
*to go along with the book theme: decorate your own bookmark station and decorate your own colored book (made from paint swatches. thank you home depot!)
*and DIY painted initial goody bag




*my favorite party decoration! it’s still hanging up too. i guess you can call these accordion paper flowers. even though it took awhile to do all of them, they were fun to make! (thanks M&D and husband for the hanging advice) :) this was my inspiration. super easy to make and hang up. (perhaps a DIY post coming up?)


*made this tent/reading nook for her. i followed this tutorial which was super easy, but there are tons out there. i made it with the vintage sheet that i’ve been wanting to use for something special but never knew what. :) and i love how it’s easy to take down/set up and put away when we’re not using it. i would keep it out all the time but we don’t have that much room.

*more paper circle garland over the window. so simple but looked really fun. i might have this up still too… :)


*i used some of her vintage golden books to display her photos by month. this was an easy and super fast way to show her year’s worth of pics. i simply used some hole punched circles and added stickers for each month..and of course used the cute, tiny clothes pins to hold them up on the books.


ahh the cake(s)! my sweet friend katy, who is mastering her baking skills, made P’s cake and smash cake (first time attempting this kind too!)
*i made little matching accordion flowers for the cake toppers.
*it looks like P is really loving the cake…but she’s really screaming in that pic. haha. she gave some to her daddy instead.

*LOVED how the rainbow cake turned out. (watch out martha stewart!) :) looked pretty AND tasted great too! you’re the best katy!

she didn’t care for the cake so much, but she went to town on her ice cream. it was her first taste of sweets! i think i was more excited for her to try it than herself.

*made just a few mini cupcakes for her play date buddies too. :)


*had a little something for the big kids too. printed out this fun “Alternative Names” children’s book titles quiz over here. some of those i didn’t know. i need to work on that.



well there ya have it folks. penelope ruth’s first birthday! yay! i can’t believe it’s already been one year since THIS! :) thank y’all for everything! she is so blessed and loved by many! *i have waaaay more photos from her birthday party, but i felt like this was plenty for now. ;) (any questions on how to’s or anything, feel free to ask!)