NOTHING BUT THE SWEETEST FOR ANDIE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!

 

When thinking about Andie’s first birthday, the first thing that popped into my head was ‘Andie, Andie Sweet As Candy’ which is something my dad loves to say.

 

So the candy theme was a lock!

 

Her party was just after the first wave of Covid restrictions, which meant only 10 people in the house. No worries! She had her two brothers and two cousins and they had the cutest time.

 

I had to throw a few micro-parties during this season, and after planning so many big birthdays over the years, these teeny ones were a lot of fun. More attention to detail, more craft and less cost.

 

First up was the decorations. I transformed our kitchen hutch by printing out candy shop shelves and sticking them in. I also looked around on Facebook Marketplace for vintage scales and I hit the absolute jackpot with a vintage kids cash register. So adorable.

 

Andie was given an early birthday pressie from her Aunty – the Kmart Market Stall – which I gave a candy-themed makeover creating a cardboard striped awning and candy stripe poles using old wrapping paper rolls and washi tape.

 

I had a local sign artist letter her ‘Andie’s Candies’ sign for me and printed out a big poster of shelves to add to the wall behind the ‘shop front’. Then it was onto stitching some basic felt baked goods like donuts, ice creams and more.

 

The only problem with a candy theme is actually having loads of sugar in the house. But it can be pretty easily avoided by crafting some faux treats, which the kids can then play with for ages after!

 

Our smaller glass cabinets were kitted out with jars of real and faux lollies. Some were as simple as pom poms on baking skewers and others were pieces of felt covered in cellophane to make ‘lollipops’. I whipped up a little backdrop for the kid's tiny but adorable party table. The backdrop was made out of vintage carnival-style tickets that I’ve had in massive rolls since Gabe’s first birthday.

 

The table was hired from JAKS Hire and Events and it was the absolute perfect piece. Their kids’ tables have nice thick, really wide tops. This gives you plenty of room for food, drinks and decorations. Plus, you can swap it all out for craft and then do activities on there too.

 

After lunch the kids painted sweet-themed plaster crafts, did ‘Candy Shop’ mini bricks and decorated their own cookies too. For outside games, we played donut bobbing – yummy and hysterical – as well as ‘Sprinkle Scoop up’, a game I made up. For all those parents who have oodles of ball pit balls, throw them into an inflatable pool and buy some basic scoopers (I found some at Kmart) then get kids to try and scoop just their coloured ‘sprinkles’ into a bucket. It’s as messy as spilling an actual jar of Hundreds and Thousands, but a whole lot of laughs too.

 

I absolutely fell head over heels in love with some gummy bear night lights online and simply had to buy them as favours for the kids! 

 

Then it was about finding sweet-looking paper plates, mixing up lollipop piñatas, tissue paper balls and streamers as decorations, and letting the kids have the sweetest time ever.