I’m still in shock that our little man turned one last week. The last year has been the greatest and most transformative year of my life. I feel incredibly blessed and can’t wait to see what the coming year has in store for our family. Anyways, onto sharing all the pizza-themed first birthday party ideas.
Deciding on a theme
I scoured Pinterest for first-birthday party themes. There are tons of great ones, but nothing seemed to fit the bill for Benny’s party. I generalized my search to just “kid’s birthday party ideas” and “Pizza Party” came up. I fell in love with the old-school Italian Pizzeria theme. We frequent Arthur Ave in the Bronx as we are huge Italian food fans in our house. If you’ve followed me for awhile, you know I affectionately refer to Benny as ‘home slice’ quite often. That was when our official theme was created- Home Slice is Turning 1. I ordered these invitations off of Etsy and starting planning the party.
Party Logistics
We knew we wanted to have an intimate family party at our house and time it around Benny’s schedule. Our house is tiny, so I drew a map to figure out how we would reconfigure some furniture and fit everyone. We had about 30 people consisting of mostly family members. I am so glad we decided to have the party around Benny’s schedule. After the party was over, Ben and I tucked him into his crib for the night, cleaned up, and enjoyed the night together. It was incredibly low-stress!
Food and Drinks
Since I’m back at work and life is a bit hectic, we knew we would order all of the food. We kept things light in terms of appetizers and ordered antipasto platters from a local deli. They also made a pasta dish and large salad with grilled chicken for us. They delivered everything to our house right before the party started. We ordered pizzas from our favorite spot. (Local friends- food came from A&S and Colony Pizza) Drinks were on-theme, too! There was Pinot Grigio, Chianti, Peroni, and lots of sparking water.
The cake was next level. My colleague is a physical education teacher and a trained pastry chef. Absolutely incredible, right? He made both the cakes for Benny’s party. We also served cupcakes and cannolis using these fun toppers.
Decorations
I saw a picture of an accent wall on Pinterest, and that was my inspiration. I use “better than paper” to back bulletin boards in my classroom and ended up ordering a roll of brick paper to back one of the walls in our living. Then, I ordered this tapestry from Etsy, and decided I would build a balloon arch around this wall. Thanks to my incredibly savvy friend, the balloon arch was a breeze. I built it in about 2-hours a few days before the party. You can click here to see a tutorial I made on Instagram! I had the most fun ordering these posters to hang around our house. I also ordered these 3D cardboard letters to go on the milestone photo table. The gingham tablecloths, paper plates, and flatware all came from Amazon.
Outfits
When there is a theme, I really commit to it and this occasion was no exception. I ordered custom-made t-shirts for myself, Ben, and all four grandparents. Benny’s onesie and crown were also from Etsy. Although he kicked them off as soon as I put them on his feet, Benny wore a pair of my (ahem, I mean his) favorite loafers from Elephantito.
All photos in this post were taken by Sydney Sheehan Photography
