Baby Bear’s 1st Birthday Party

As Cole’s first birthday approached, we began talking through ideas for his party. We always try to plan parties for our kids that are reflective of their particular interests or life stages. We started calling Cole “baby bear” shortly after he was born, so working with a theme around his nickname seemed like a perfect fit. It was so much fun pulling together all of the details and prepping for the party with our family (a huge thanks to Grauntie and Gruncle for allowing us to host at their house, and to Nana for all of her help!). We had the BEST time celebrating our baby bear’s first year with a tasty end of summer BBQ, balloons, and an epic cake smash.

Keeping with the bear theme, we created a menu that was inspired by a bear’s diet: salmon, berries, and greens. Whatever didn’t fall into that category was cut into bear shapes. Ha! I’ll include recipes at the end of the post. They are so good!

One of the hardest things for us to do when we’re planning a party is use pre-made decor and stationary. I know, it sounds silly. We just really love the creative process of making our own designs, but we had so much going on leading up to Cole’s birthday that we decided to outsource our invitations and paper products. It was the best decision!

We purchased these adorable watercolor bear themed goodies from Prints for Events and loved them! I loaded the two 5×7 designs into the card designer on Paperless Post, so that we could send the invitations digitally. The bear with the party hat on the left was the front of the invitation and the bear face with all the details was the back of the invitation. This is the second time we’ve turned our custom designs into digital invitations on Paperless Post, and we love being able to manage all of the details, questions, and RSVP’s in one place!

We tweaked a few of the paw tags to make menu cards and signage for the food table.

The kiddos were welcome to the full spread, but we also put together a few basic options, like turkey and cheese sandwiches, goldfish (labeled as fresh fish- ha!), and pretzels, for the little mouths that didn’t yet appreciate salmon.

These cocoa crispies bear treats were super easy to put together and so tasty! We just used the recipe on the side of the box and cut out the treats with the same bear cookie cutter we used for the sandwiches.

I used Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe (so yummy!) and topped them with fresh berries and these sweet little “Feed the Bears” topper.

All the decor was centered around a palette of black, white, and burlap, with some raw wood details. We picked up a few sunflowers and white hydrangeas for the larger arrangements, and found most of the remaining greenery and flowers around my mom’s house, and my aunt and uncle’s property.

We had nearly 100 of our favorite photos from Cole’s first year printed, and displayed as many as we could at the party. We are putting all of these photos in a keepsake box for Cole to have.

Before a party, we’re always up late the night before finishing one project or another! For this party, it was the chocolate almond bear paw favors. My mom and I had such a fabulous time together creating these tasty little treats. We lined a sheet pan with wax paper. On the paper, we sketched the outline of the paws using pencil. Then we melted chocolate chips in the microwave, put them into a ziplock, and piped a layer of chocolate over each bear paw outline. Mom carefully laid the almond “toenails” onto the ends of each paw, and then I piped another layer of chocolate over the top of the paws (to help secure the almonds and add more of a 3D shape) and smoothed it with an offset spatula.

We blew up black and white balloons and scattered them around the yard. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with balloons and kiddos! We also set up a little craft table where the kids could make necklaces (twine and honeycomb cereal) and a little nature scavenger hunt sheet with these darling wooden pencils.

I made this simple baby bear shirt with my silhouette machine and an iron-on vinyl transfer.

Cole enjoying his birthday dinner with Daddo.

Sweet friends!

I used the same vanilla cake and frosting recipe for Cole’s cake as the cupcakes. Cole has not had many sweets before, so he wasn’t really sure what to do with the cake.

He did, however, recognize the berries on his cake, and quickly went to work picking some strawberries off the cake and eating them.

It didn’t take long for Cole to get in to smashing his cake. It was SO hilarious to watch!

After exerting all that energy on obliterating his cake, our baby bear decided the remaining bits were the best place to lay his head down for a little rest!

After a quick bath and wardrobe change, we gathered together with all our friends for presents. Cole received so many fun and thoughtful gifts!

Isla did chores to earn money so that she could buy Cole a birthday present. She was so excited to have this opportunity, and was constantly asking what she could do to help. After some deliberation, Isla decided she wanted to buy Cole his first teddy bear, and literally looked at dozens before deciding upon one that was both cute and huggable. Watching The joy spread across Isla’s face as she gave Cole his bear may have been the best thing we have ever seen!

Cole’s reaction to his new bear was pretty darn precious too!

Our baby bear’s birthday was such a sweet and joyful day. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to celebrate our ONE year old with so many of our nearest and dearest!

Additional Resources and Recipes:

Black and White Gingham Table Cloths

5×5 Square Prints (we used our professional printer, but similar prints can be found here)

The Best Grilled Salmon (I double the marinade recipe. I use half on the fish and put the other half in a small sauce pan and reduce it. Just before serving I drizzle some of the reduction over the salmon. This recipe is seriously amazing! Not one bite of the three giant fillets we prepared was left!)

Corn Pudding (one of our go-to favorite side dishes. We serve this with salmon and also alongside tacos!)