Camping Themed First Birthday Party
Post by Melody of Sweet & Saucy Shop
When it came time to plan my son Donovan’s first birthday party, I knew exactly what I wanted to do! My husband and I had a camper van while dating and early into marriage and we absolutely LOVED it and know our outdoors loving baby boy will be equally as obsessed one day so when I saw The Land of Nod’s Camp Wandawega collection and Jetaire Camper Playhouse, I was sold! I didn’t want to do the traditional camping party so the camper was the perfect twist on the parties I had seen all over Pinterest. Everything from the S’more the Merrier Campfire Set, to the Woodsy Floor Cushions and the Great Indoors Sleeping Bag (that is sadly no longer available in red) went along with the party theme perfectly and continues to be used daily in our household! The photo of my kiddos curled up in the sleeping bag will be one of my favorite photos ever I think!
For the cake I knew I wanted to pull in the invitation design from Posh Paperie as well as the adorable wooden Camping Buddies Set from The Land of Nod. I used the toys as accents on the backdrop the Carissa from JL Designs helped me put together and then we made fondant replicas of the toys for the actual cake! The dessert bar was filled with s’mores cupcakes, cookie bundles, candy bar cupcakes, mason jar “dirt” cake, camper van cookies and marshmallow french macarons.
I knew I wanted to go all out for his smash cake so we did a s’mores marshmallow on a stick and it was probably the highlight of the dessert table!
For activities we did a coloring station with camper van print outs, a fishing station, had The River & Bridge photo booth for people to capture their Camp Donovan moment to take home and then for their favors they got to pick the animal they wanted and Korrie Lukei Designs painted them a picture on the spot!
We wanted to create a relaxing, fun, outdoor party to celebrate our little guy and it turned out to be just that! Between snacking on s’mores and trail mix to drinking kombucha & sangria Camp Donovan was one day I will never forget and I hope my little guy can look back on it and know how much of a special blessing he is to us!
Photography by Carlie of Gabriel Ryan Photographers
Melody is the co-owner of Sweet & Saucy Shop, a high end bakery and cake studio in California with two locations, one in Long Beach and the other in Newport Beach. She fell in love with baking and entertaining in her early twenties and continues to be obsessed with it still! She most importantly is a mommy to Donovan and Blake and loves cooking and baking with them, remodeling her house, trying to get a nap in, and a good flea market or farmers market if all the stars align!