3 Easy First Birthday Ideas: birthday outfit, decorated crib and smash cake

Hands up if you’re obsessed with mom life!

In case you were wondering, I’m over here wildly waving my arms in the air.

Elle transformed our world the moment she entered our lives, so it only made sense to do something extra special to celebrate her first birthday.

My husband and I had a birthday party for her – but that isn’t necessary! Here are three fun-filled ideas to commemorate your little’s big day. They’re easy (I’m talking real mom schedule) and won’t break the bank!

3 Easy First Birthday Ideas
1) Birthday Outfit

Ummmm, yes. You bet – go ahead and jump on this socially acceptable opportunity to dress up babe like a miniature prince or princess. Cozy sleepers and comfy leggings are fair game for the other 364 days in the year, sure. But picking out a special birthday outfit will make your mushy mom heart melt. Plus, it will make for the perfect photo opportunity!

My Mom was vacationing in Las Vegas when she came across this cream and gold sequined Mud Pie outfit for Elle. I found a complimentary pink birthday crown and tulle skirt online. But there are no shortage of adorable outfits to chose from! Here are a few of my favourite girls’ outfits:

And because we can’t forget about the boys, here are a few outfit ideas for the little dude in your life:

2) Decorate baby’s crib

Elle LOVES her crib. It’s literally one of her favourite places to be. So on her birthday, while my husband played with her downstairs, I completely decked it out with balloons and a tassel banner.

She LOVED the transformation and had the best time playing (while I took a million photos). I removed all the decorations before nap time, of course, but her excitement was well worth the effort!

3) Cake smash

Have you ever witnessed a first birthday cake smash? It can be quite the riot! Nothing says ‘party’ like a baby covered in icing and a mom desperately trying to figure out how to clean up the ensuing mess.

Although many moms choose to order a custom cake and have a studio session with a professional photographer, I decided to take the low-cost route and just do it myself!

I knew Elle would only eat some of her cake and the rest would end up on the floor. When it came to baking, I saved myself some time and used a Betty Crocker cake mix. I still wanted a bit of wow factor, though, and tried my hand at piping rosettes, or rose swirls, for the first time.

I used this fantastic buttercream icing recipe, which was delicious and the perfect consistency for piping. If you’re like me and are thinking of trying out a rosette cake for the first time, I highly recommend this YouTube piping tutorial.

Make sure you don’t make my rookie mistake, though. Before starting, check that you have the right piping tip! For a rosette cake, you’ll need a jumbo tip like a Wilton 1M open star or Wilton 2D closed star (I used the 1M).

Before presenting Elle with the cake, I repurposed some of her birthday party decorations to glam up her high chair. If you have time (unfortunately we didn’t) and baby is in the mood to cooperate, you could use a blank wall as the perfect backdrop for taking photos. Or you could set up a little corner with some props to mock a studio session.