eloise {first birthday party!}

eloise turned ONE & we had such a fun time at her party! we were surrounded by family & friends to celebrate the first year of our daughter, & it meant so much to us that everyone came over. surprisingly, I wasn’t as emotional at all about eloise turning one (even on her actual birthday!) & I really thought I would be a mess. lots & lots of people have been asking for party pictures, so here you go. {warning: there are a lot of photos!}

{we had lawn flamingoes & a dot garland to welcome guests (to our very dry lawn!). I meant to get the big flamingoes, but ended up ordering miniature ones instead (no longer available)!}


{this was a time capsule that I am doing for eloise’s first birthday. I asked each guest to fill out a card to include in the box. more details to come!}


{eloise’s smash cake & other birthday cake.}


{just brushing her teeth & playing with mama’s phone at her party.}


I didn’t take the words of advice to really limit the guest list because we wanted this to be a celebration that included all of the family & friends that are important in eloise’s life. however, I did want to keep things casual & not have a strict schedule of events, so we just did two things: a fortune telling & the cake smash.

in the Korean culture, first birthday parties are a very big deal – traditionally & in the modern day. one of the birthday traditions – the Dol – is that a child is set in front of objects & picks one. the object that is chosen is supposed to be representative of that child’s future. since eloise is half-korean, we thought it would be fun to do at her party. we also incorporated a voting portion & each guest put his or her name in a cup to vote on which object eloise would pick. once she had picked an object, I drew a name from that cup & had a little prize. I tried to stick to the traditional objects & keep the number minimal so she didn’t get overwhelmed. needless to say, she was overwhelmed & got upset at the beginning! (funny thing is that another kiddo who had a Dol at her party also cried when she had to pick!) at first eloise went for the thread/yarn, but after getting some reassurance from her papa, she ended up choosing the book. big surprise! so, eloise is going to be a scholar in her future!


{we had the objects set out so guests could see them & vote for which one eloise would pick! you can also see a shot of the slideshow we had going on the TV – all of eloise’s weekly & monthly pictures.}






{she set out for the thread first, but before she grabbed it she stopped, looked up at everyone, & started to cry. aaron gave her some snuggles & then sent her back on her way. she picked the book & was pretty happy with her choice in the end!}

after the Dol we decided it was time for some cake. I got a simple vanilla cake from Whole Foods for the guests to enjoy, but aaron & I didn’t want to introduce eloise to sugar, especially in that quantity, on this occasion. {sidenote: I realize that I won’t be able to keep eloise away from sugar forever, but I might as well while she has no idea what it is!} so I made a sugar-free banana & blueberry cake (it was similar to a banana bread) with a whipped coconut milk frosting. the recipe made two 9 inch cakes which was way too much & I ended up cutting two small circle cakes out of one of them & stacking them on top of each other (& I froze the other cake). in hindsight, I should have made a whipped cream cheese frosting instead since this was the first time eloise had coconut & she didn’t seem to be a fan. she wasn’t super interested in the cake (which was a huge surprise to us all) & I think it was because of the coconut. I gave her just the plain cake later & she gobbled it up!











{these smash cake pictures are like the many faces of eloise!}


{I am not sure which one of these family photos I like the best. & I love that eloise’s feet are blurry because she was wiggling!}

& a huge THANK YOU to our friend jess & my brother-in-law ben for taking pictures at the party! I made sure to leave our camera out (thanks for getting some snaps jess!) & asking ben to bring his camera to take photos so that I didn’t have to worry about taking the photos during the party. plus, it means that aaron & I are in them which is really special!

happy happy first birthday eloise!

M

14 thoughts on “eloise {first birthday party!}”

  1. Cute pics and looks like a very nice birthday party. Great job Mommy and Daddy. Love you Eloise.

  2. Hi I love everything you did for your daughter birthday! Can you tell me what the questions were for the time capsule? I tried to read them on the picture but couldn’t make them out. Thanks!

    1. Thank you so much Rebecca! It was such a fun party to plan for. The time capsule cards say: How I Know You; Words Of Wisdom For You; When You Grow Up; and Love (signed by the person). Thanks for reading!

      1. Hello, I loved all your ideas and photos too! I was wondering if you offer PDF of the time capsule cards? I only have “word” on my computer but love how you set it up. I would be happy to reimburse you. 🙂

  3. Hello Cynthia! Thanks for reading! I would be happy to set you up with a printable for the time capsule. Will you send me an email (aaronandmisha@gmail.com) and we can figure out details! Thanks!

    1. Hello Peggy. I apologize for the delay in my response. I am currently looking for the old file so I can update it and send you the card template, but I am having trouble finding it… In the meantime, could you send me your email address and the name that you want on the card? Thank you!

  4. Hi. Do you still have the PDFs for the time capsule cards? My son’s first birthday is coming up and I loved your cards and would love to use them.
    Thank you.

  5. Hi, loved your idea of time capsule…. wondetif you have questions file? I would like to use for daughter’s first birthday.

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