Zachary's 1st Birthday Party

I can't believe my little baby is now 1 year old! We celebrated with a barnyard birthday party (as all my children's first parties will be) and decided on a sub theme of chickens because Zachary's favorite food is chicken!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE planning parties with themes! I've been planning this one since Mikie's party got over in January. So, imagine how disappointed I was when my Backyard BBQ was rained out (it had stopped raining by his party, but the backyard was flooded) and we ended up with an inside/outside (garage) party. We still had a great turn out, even though our family members ended up getting stuck on I-95 in parking lot conditions for over 3 hours, but it felt more chaotic and crowded. It just didn't flow that smoothly.

Zachary cooperated and took his regular morning nap, waking up right as the party started at 11:00. He loved all the balloons and kept pointing & making cute noises. He wasn't feeling all that well, with a reoccurring ear infection probably flaring up again. Poor little guy!


Here we are with the backdrop in the garage. Notice Mikie is missing...he wouldn't let us take his picture.
His cute little outfit is one of a kind. I purchased the romper and then had it embroidered with "Old MacDonald Graphics". It turned out SO cute! My mom made shirts for the rest of us with cute barn scenes on them. She of course flew in to help with the party and turned into SUPER BOAGIE once again saving the day with her brilliant ideas, exuberant energy, and amazing multitasking. THANKS MOM!

Zachary's favorite part of his party has to be the ball pit. He loves to throw the balls out (much to Michael's angst) and crawls around in them like he's swimming. He's too cute!

The Food:

Bovine Burgers & Piggy Hot Dogs (buns decorated accordingly), Chicken fry hay (Zach's favorite food), corn on the cob, vegetable garden pizza, hay stacks, shoe string potato hay, deviled eggs, berry baskets, cheese ball in a mooing cow bowl, duck pond punch, farm animal shaped cheese cut outs & chicken biscuit crackers, and melon in an actual chicken feeder trough.

Activities:
When the kids arrived they needed to pick and name a stick horse and then place them on the hitching post. Later we used them for horse races. They loved it!
The chicks flew out of the chicken coop: The kids had to get all the chicks (feathers and beaks on yellow balloons) back into the hen house. Here's Mikie putting one in through the roof instead of the ramp and door.

Hay Hunt: They had to search for candy and toys hidden in a pile of hay. Zachary wouldn't do it, but all the other kids enjoyed it.

Zach's favorite game was the duck pond. The kids were suppose to pick the lucky duck out of the pond to win a prize. They just had more fun splashing!
Other games (picts not included): Horse shoes, bean bag barn toss, horse race.

Here's his cute chick cake with a little white egg. This one was really easy to make and it turned out very cute. This was his individual cake...everyone else got cupcakes. When we told the kids to come in for cake, Michael's 7 year old nephew saw this one and said, "That's the smallest cake I've ever seen." I think he was worried that there wasn't going to be enough to go around.
Zachary didn't mind getting messy (just as I suspected) and I wish now I would have taken a picture a little later on when he was messier.

Here are the cute chicken cupcakes sitting in a nest of butterscotch chowmein noodles. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the ice cream in the shape of eggs that was sitting next to each one (courtesy of Boagie of course)

Overall, the party was a big hit and the kids left with a lot of prizes. I owe a huge thank you to my mom for all her hard work (and my dad for letting her come!). There is no way I would have been able to get it all together without her! I'm glad my boys' birthdays are 6 months apart. Now I just need to find out what theme Mikie wants next year so I can start planning that one! (LOL)

It was hard to choose just a few pictures to put on here, so I'm adding a link to Zachary's PhotoShow. (click the word photoshow...thanks for the tip, Amber!)