harper's 1st birthday party!

on saturday, we had a birthday party for harper! even though she'll never remember it, i still wanted a big party, as it gave us an excuse to have friends over to celebrate the excitement of our first year as parents with a fun little girl. 

i wanted the party to be bright and colorful with all sorts of patterns and textures. call me crazy, but i also thought it would be fun make it an art party! harper had never painted before {as i am quite the neat freak}, so i figured there's no better way to start than on her 1st birthday. i had so much fun over the last few weeks making the party invites and all of the decorations. it's fair to say my house was one hot mess the entire time, but it was well worth it. 

harper wasted no time tearing into this cake! what started with a lick of the frosting turned into a full on face plant. over and over. she ate almost half the cake before we had to take it away from her. 

this is harper's best bud, adele. they are only 8 days apart, so they were destined to be besties. adele was leaving us that day for a 2-week vacation, but was sweet enough to celebrate with us before jetting off to the airport. 

a popular party game in the uk is called pass the parcel. we played it at a birthday party a few weeks prior and knew we had to play it at harper's birthday too! how to play: everyone sits in a circle and passes along a gift as music plays. once the music stops, whoever is holding the gift gets to open one layer. inside that layer is a little wrapped goodie that they get to keep. music starts up again and the gift continues around the circle until everyone has had a chance to open up a layer.

the kids had so much fun painting on their individual canvases, and i could not believe how talented they were! one little girl even drew a union jack flag. harper was beyond adorable hand painting her canvas. i don't know if she knew what to think about everything, but she was a good sport and had fun. i can't wait to frame the picture and hang it in her room. 

it was such a great day, and we had so much fun! thank you to all the friends who shared our special day with us. we were sad that our family and new york friends couldn't be there, but you were there in spirit!

happy birthday harper lu. we love you!