There is something so sweetly special about a first birthday. I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate. Elle has brought nothing but pure happiness to my heart, so a yellow beach party was very fitting.
Not only did we have a beach dinner party to kick off summer, but all three of my children along with myself celebrated birthdays. You could say I am partied out. The thought of another party kind of made me want to faint but I didn’t want to shortchange my baby, so, I mustered what energy I had left into this party and am so glad I did.
During the planning of Scarlett’s birthday party, I noticed a pair of white woven chairs and scalloped yellow umbrellas from Adore Folklore and KNEW I had to have them for Elle’s party. The whole party was based largely around the umbrellas – can you blame me?!
My creative juices were feeling low so I logged on to Paperless Post for an invitation. I knew I had one filed away from Jonathan Adler that had an Italian beach club feel to it. I resurrected that invite and a party was born. The colors were perfect- pink, YELLOW and orange. These happy colors with the blue water in the background, I knew would be a sure win for all involved.
Assembling the dream team to carry out my Italian beach club vision was of the upmost importance. I called Jacquelyn from Beijos Events and immediately sent over my Pinterest board of ideas. Jacquelyn comes in and gets things handled, executes like a mother and she also offers ideas I hadn’t thought of, which at this stage in the game was VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
Our rentals consisted of a lounge under the umbrellas. I didn’t need or want to set a table because I wanted it to be relaxing and less formal. Every guest got a matching yellow and white striped beach towel. The towel had their family’s name on a piece of acrylic mimicking the invitation. The idea was to roll out the towels under the umbrellas with the babies like an Italian beach club.
I wanted this to be very BABY focused. It gets tricky inviting families with toddlers to a baby party because the toddlers run amuck and can easily command the attention of the party. I did not want this so I only invited our friends that had babies born within the year Elle was born and their families. At this stage in life, surprisingly, that was a lot of our friends. We are all procreating like there is no tomorrow which makes for a very, very fun baby party. We had the matching beach towels for everyone to hang out on and put the babies down to play and we also had a ball pit with (of course) matching balls in only orange, yellow and pink. The babies + kids loved it!
The playlist was crucial as all playlists are for parties. This time, I had to include Italian classics to really make the guests feel like they were on the Amalfi Coast. Dean Martin crooned his way into our hearts that fine Sunday afternoon along with some Brigitte Bardot and my favorite songs from the soundtrack, Amelie. The song, Les deux pianos, is my song to Elle… makes me think of exactly her. The yellow happy scalloped umbrellas swaying in the (perfect 75 degree weather it was that day) ocean breeze – to this song. It was perfect, I must say. At least to me it was. All the babies and children were happy, frolicking, the parents alike. It was dreamy and idyllic.
We served a nice charcuterie board, fruit skewers and lemons stuffed with raspberry gelato. We had a naked cake big enough to feed an army it seemed but we made our way through it piece by piece. Lemon cookies, cake pops and cupcakes were also in abundance. The flowers were an obvious fit- lots of greens littered with lemons because, as you know, lemons are incredibly indicative of the Amalfi Coast.
Miraval rosé along with pink, orange and yellow Ballast Point beers were served at the house (there is no drinking allowed on the beach). We also had a photo booth for guests upon arrival. My sweet friends Lori and Christina created such fun inside the house with props that color coordinated with the party making for sweet memories for the guests to take home. Love that the photo booth also created gifs (moving pictures) of the four shots taken that could be uploaded to social media.
These kinds of efforts are the ones that will be sweeter with time. I love that we have these photos of our friends capturing the moments in time where we are all working our brains out to raise our families. The video will be one I replay over and over as time passes. My baby will never be one again, it will only progressively get faster and faster from this point on. I’m trying very hard to enjoy it, especially on days like this where it counts. Makes all the effort worth it.
Thank you to all of the vendors involved to make these soirees possible!
Design/Styling – Jacquelyn Kazas of Beijos Events – www.beijosblog.com – @beijosevents
Photographer – Alison Bernier – www.alisonbernier.com – @alisonbernier
Mama to Baby – Alatheia Hart of Art of Being Female – www.artofbeingfemale.com – @artofbeingfemale
Calligraphy, Acrylic Cut Outs and Signage – Poppy Jack Shop – www.poppyjackshop.com – @poppyjackshop
Florals – Bliss Fine Florals – www.blissfineflorals.com – @blissfineflorals
Rentals – Adore Folklore – www.adorefolklore.com – @adorefolklore
Catering – Colette’s Catering – www.colettesevents.com – @colettescatering
Desserts – Great Dane Bakery – www.greatdanebakingcompany.com – @greatdanebakingco
Videographer – Tahnei Roy – www.tahneiroy.com – @tahneinei
Invite – Paperless Post – www.paperlesspost.com – @paperlesspost
Photo Booth- Lori Epner- Foto Vibe Photo Station- linktr.ee/fotovibephotostation @fotovibephotostation
Abby Guido + Jacquelyn Kazas + Leah Carriger
Beijos Events
Owners/ Creative Directors
www.beijosevents.com
instagram @beijosevents @jacquelynkazas @abbyguido @leahdsc