Your baby’s first birthday, some may say it’s crazy to make a huge deal out of it and throw a big party because the baby won’t remember, but not us. At Love Jac we believe a first birthday is one of the best reasons to show your baby as much love as possible. Your child might not remember the day like you will, but they will definitely feel the love. Just like most of the memories you have, your child’s “memory” of the day will be dictated by the photos and memorabilia that you save. And for that reason, we were extremely honored when our friend Lauren asked us to design the invitations for her daughter, Maisie’s, first birthday party. Knowing that the card we made will be forever kept in the beautiful scrapbook that Lauren’s sister helped her make means so much to us.
We first met Lauren through two of our best friends and we immediately hit it off. Don’t you love when that happens? Lauren is one of those people who is so comfortable in her own skin that you can’t help but love her for just being her. Plus, she has a great way of keepin’ it real and saying what she thinks as no one but Lauren can. I can vividly remember walking down Broadway on the Upper West Side while on a bar crawl talking about how we couldn’t wait to be moms. It feels like it was just yesterday, and now we both have baby girls – crazy.
As we do with all our custom designs, we first found out what Lauren had planned for the party so that we could set the tone with our invitation. Lauren wanted this day to be a big deal because “you only turn one once.” It will be the first time Maisie eats a piece of cake. She’ll be surrounded by all her family and friends who have watched her grow over the past year. Lauren also made a good point. One year in the life of a baby is a HUGE amount of time. Lauren was inspired by a photo she saw online and decided to make Maisie’s birthday a rainbow theme.
How much fun! We couldn’t wait to get started. Knowing Lauren’s fun loving personality we knew we could create something above and beyond. We spent one afternoon waterpainting, coloring, and sketching hundreds of rainbows. Our favorite was our crayon rainbow. We colored it 80’s style – with a darker border and lighter middle for each color. This made the colors stand out and would resonate with all of Lauren’s friends.
We wanted the whole invitation to look like something Maisie would draw herself. We gave it a blue sky and added clouds and a sun to finish the drawing. We chose a font that reminded us of the doodling you might find in a high schooler’s notebook.
When it comes to children, what people want to see most is a photo of the baby so we had Lauren send us one of her favorites. Lauren admittedly says, “Maisie is actually really adorable. I know I'm her mom, but there are times when she smiles at me or does something cute and I literally want to squeeze her. I can't help it! Her face!!!”
As a time capsule reference we included an “OMG” inside a thought bubble over Maisie’s photo. To play into the rainbow theme we also included a “ROY G. BIV.”
Since the party was outside, Lauren wanted to include information for their rain location. To accompany it we drew an umbrella and galoshes. Unfortunately it did rain and their rain location had a leak, so in less than two hours Lauren had to relocate the whole party. Fortunately, she has one of the most positive attitudes and was able to pull it off flawlessly.
Because we opted for a single flat card, we had the opportunity to add an extra burst of surprise on the back. We duplicated a smaller rainbow we drew using crayons to make a wallpaper type pattern.
Since Lauren is, in her words, “pretty much obsessed with thank you cards,” she also asked us to design a coordinating custom card for Maisie to send to all her guests. Lauren understands that it’s important to thank people for the things they do, say, and give and she knows a card expressing your gratitude can really make a person’s day.
We know Lauren will tell Maisie stories about all the fun everyone had at her first birthday - that it was so special because Maisie is so special. We can’t wait to read about it in her amazing blog. We admire Lauren’s dedication to recording all the precious moments – big & small- that seem to be flying by. What an incredible gift she is giving to her daughter. We can only imagine what that baby book looks like. We couldn’t be happier to help Lauren & her husband celebrate their little rainbow girl – Maisie B.
So, no matter if you have a theme, rent a bouncy house, or bake a cake for your immediate family, taking the time to appreciate and celebrate your baby is the most important thing. Snapping photos and saving a few meaningful mementos will help you tell the story to your child once they are older. And don’t forget just twelve months ago you were bringing that little one into this world. You have accomplished a lot over the past year. Congratulations are in order to you as well.