Rob and I agreed that we would throw a one time grand party for each of our kids to mark their 1st birthday. It probably isn’t memorable or fun for them but we figured keeping them alive for a year is a huge achievement in itself. Totally open to throwing them large parties for their 16th, 18th or 21st birthdays but this is it for their childhood. Of course there’s the annual small family gathering (and photoshoot, of course) for each year that passes. For Brandon’s 1st birthday we had decided on hosting it at Zoomars nearly 6 months in advance. Why? For the value you’re paying, you get a lot out of it compared to other places. We had the place from 9AM to 5PM, got to serve alcohol, invite up to 250 guests and it included 20 pony rides, 20 train rides and 20 feed baskets. There was just plenty of things to do to keep everyone entertained and happy. All our guests offered positive feedback on the experience saying their kiddos enjoyed it all so much. A single family trip to Zoomars could be quite pricey but with a party package, in my opinion, makes it so worth it. We hope more of our friends will now host parties here for their children so we can in turn enjoy it since we were so focused on hosting duties. Check out all the details below!!
We made our own signs and got balloon pets for all the kiddos to adopt. You can’t see it but each animal has a name tag on their collar. I thought it’d make for a great adopting experience with each one already named.
Many people wandering by the party area stopped to admire the balloon pets. I felt a teeny bit bad seeing so many children wanting one. Sadly they are reserved for Brandon’s guests.
I saw these super cute puffy tissue animals on another blog and had to recreate them.
Cake and desserts were all made by my cousin, Jenny, of Intricakes. She’s so awesome at what she does–book her for your next event!
Yep, we made that gigantic B ourselves.
Check out the detailing on those fondant animals! We painted the #1 candle to look like a cow.
Each kid received a tin pail that included farm animal figurines, stickers, an animal mask and a treat. We paid only $.30 for each tin pail at Target’s after Christmas sale. This may be a grand party but we’re always looking for ways to keep costs low.
Robert designed the farm theme that’s seen on the bottle wrapper, toy bag tag, drink sign and photobooth template.
I already had these vintage soda crates in my own collection for decorating.
We also made the gigantic #1.
Corner Bakery pasta + salad! Mr. Hot Bunz tacos!
Wiki Wiki Shave Ice was on hand to keep us cool with some of their yummy goodies. Fresh hot dogs and quesadillas also by Mr. Hot Bunz.
Nolan and Lorelai on their much anticipated pony rides.
Feeding basket at the ready to treat the animals.
Guinea pegs to pet and feed.
Some shots from the photobooth.
Only decent family photo we captured that day.
Singing “happy birthday”. Nolan blew out the candle for his little brother.
Tony brought out his nifty 360 camera. Use the joystick toggle or your mouse on the video to move around to see the entire scene. If on your phone, rotate your body up, down, left and right to see all around you or use your finger to rotate the video. It’s so cool!!
Cake smash it, Brando!!
Here’s the 360 view of the cake smash moment.
At this point it is now around 2pm and Brandon has not napped since waking at 8AM. He is super tired!! At least he got in one photo with some of his older buddies before knocking out.
Cousins with their balloon pets and masks.
Super happy to see the kids playing with their newly adopted farm pets.
Got in a photo of the entire Dang clan on their way out.
We’d like to thank everyone who was able to make it out to celebrate with us and especially to our family who came early to help us set-up and stayed late to help us break-down and clean-up. We appreciate your time, all the wonderful gifts, but mostly for the beautiful memories made!