AJ’s First Birthday — Skybox Event Productions

Feb 12

Feb 12 AJ’s First Birthday

Everyone knows that little boys are both a blessing and big mess! My son, Austin Jeremy (AJ) Lay turned one year old in January. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I wanted to throw a party for our dearest friends and families. For many parents the first year of their first baby’s life is a huge milestone and completely worthy of a celebration. You could obviously see the excitement in my son’s face. “What’s with all the people and this big cake…I rather just nap!” ~ AJ Lay

The inspiration for the party was a modern twist on a classic idea: Boys will be Boys! This was such a perfect theme for my little rascal, being that he is such a boy; dirty knees and a ball in his hand all the time!

We held this party at Chubby Cheek Café, and its modern-yet-whimsical décor added perfectly to our theme. The indoor kid’s playground was such a hit with kids of all ages, and the food was amazing!

Our dessert table was a masterpiece by Lovely Jubilee. It included a three tier cake on a sandbox cake stand, and mini desserts all placed around vintage milk jars. This special cake and desserts were made by Final Touch Bakery.

I love to look at the details of an event, so I made sure that there were plenty of them!

The goody bags were a throw-back to old-school milk and cookies; all places in a paper bag.

One of our activities for the party was paper airplanes and newspaper boats folding station. It was so great to see both kids and adults having so much fun making and throwing the airplanes. We also displayed photo albums of AJ's first year for all to enjoy!

Our centerpieces were a simple mix of yellow mums and blue mason jars-nothing too girly for this manly-man’s birthday! We also created paper place mats with the lunch menu printed directly on the mats.

We had a game for the guests to predict AJ’s future profession. There were 6 jars, each representing the different professions. Each guest had an opportunity to vote for one. We laid out the items and let AJ crawl to one. Dad wanted the basketball but like all little rebels he went for something else, the microphone.

a first aid box for a career in the medical field
a notepad for a journalist
a micophone for a career in entertainment (AJ’s selection)
a basketball for a sports career
a hammer for a builder/architecture
a calculator representing a future entrepreneur

My son, the future star!

To round out the party, we had a viewing of the highlights of AJ’s first year, created by the talented Mike of Rainbow Fish Cinema. The pictures and the anecdotes brought me to tears, and I can’t believe that my Little Rascal is one. At the end of the day, I really just wanted to have something for AJ to look back on when he’s older. I want him to know that there is no love deeper than the one I have for him, and I cannot wait to spend many more joyous occasions with my messy little boy!