Celebrating Birthdays: When My Valentine’s Day Twins Turned One

We made it a year and there was so much to celebrate!

Even though I was an emotional wreck, it was truly one of the happiest days of my life. We got to celebrate with twice the love, hugs, kisses, cake and presents, and I loved every second of it.  I still can’t believe my babies turned one, and they were both walking already too! Where does the time go?

So much happens the first year for a baby and new parents. It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come and what we’ve created together. I wanted this day to be all about the unconditional love I felt since the day I saw those two flickering heartbeats on the screen. What better day to celebrate that love than on Valentine’s Day?

We decided on having family and a couple of close friends over on Valentine’s Day to celebrate with us. It was during the middle of the week so we kept it small and simple. Honestly, it was for the best. I don’t think I could have handled a big weekend production given my emotional state. I was able to handle the preparations myself and actually enjoy the girls all day. It’s also a great holiday to have a birthday because the theme and decorations are already figured out. Soon enough they will be asking for their own birthday themes so why not take full advantage.

I started prepping about a month before with the high chair tutu skirts. They were so easy to make and so much cheaper to DIY. All you need is tulle, 1-inch thick elastic spool, scissors, ruler/measuring tape, and Velcro stickers.

These are the steps I followed:

1. Measure and cut the elastic to wrap around your high chair.
2. Measure from the high chair towards the ground to see how long you want the skirt to be. Double that and cut the strips of tulle this length. For example, if you want the length to be 12″ then cut strips of the tulle 24″.
3. Tie the strips to the elastic. Gather in the middle, slip under the elastic, pull through the loop, and tighten. You can make the knot as tight or as loose as you want. Play around with it!
4. Continue tying until you can wrap around the high chair as much as you want.
5. Use the Velcro stickers to attach to the high chair.

I made the cakes and cupcakes myself using Simple Mills and Miss Jones Organic cake mix and frosting. I baked the cakes in heart-shaped cake molds of course. The cookies I bought from this amazing bakery out of Trinidad, CO that ships! Colie’s Cake and Pastries can make any design you want and the cookies are so adorable and delicious. They come individually wrapped in clear bags. I put some thank you stickers on them and gave them out as party gifts.

For decor, I bought a Valentine’s Day decor kit, heart-shaped and #1 balloons from Party City, and a LOVE banner. I used my letter board and a wooden frame from my baby shower to hang and display their monthly pictures. For apps we served cheese & crackers, popcorn, and chips & salsa. Chad grilled some flank steak, and I made a Cesar Salad and some sweet potato fries for dinner. Super simple right?!

My mom got them their dresses from Gap Kids and their red bows are from Zoey Elephant Boutique.

I had so much fun throwing my babies their first birthday party. It was THE BEST DAY EVER!

Hope this gave you some inspo and tips on how to make celebrating birthdays easy and less stressful.