Don’t ask me how we got here, but our sweet little Franny is one! We definitely wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate her on this momentous occasion, but considering her circle is primarily made up of family at this point, we planned to keep the celebrations very simple and sweet. Literally.

Our sweet Frances loves ice cream and shrieks as soon as she sees someone nearby eating some, insisting that she is entitled to a taste. Mabel thought it would be fun to celebrate Franny’s first birthday by throwing an ice cream-themed affair, featuring - you guessed it - ice cream. Celebrating Mabel’s first birthday in the early days of 2020 lockdowns proved to be a blessing because it forced us (I should say me) to keep the celebrations simple and focussed. I knew that we’d do the same with Frances. We simply hosted some cousins and other family at our house on a Sunday afternoon for some pizza and build-your-own-sundaes.

The party was laid back and easy, but I did pull together a few simple details to make it special. As a quick note, I know the topic of kid birthday parties can be a little contested these days and I’ve personally had plenty of moments where I’ve had to reign myself in to remember that the joy of the celebration doesn’t come from perfectly chosen napkins and coordinating balloons. But that being said, I truly do enjoy planning little events like this. We value celebration in our family and it’s one of my love languages to make moments feel special for the ones that I love. The celebration isn’t contingent on a picture-perfect affair, but the preparation brings me joy and I think there’s beauty to be found in that. I truly do it because I want to, not because I have to.

Since the party was intended to be low-key with only a few guests, I decided that I could use the opportunity to support small businesses. We needed a smaller number of items, such as plates, napkins, food, and decor, so I wanted to try to buy from all small online or local shops. There were a few exceptions, but generally I was able to find everything we used in this way. I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight a few of the shops and/or platforms that I purchased from.

The Invitations

This is maybe not the best place to start on this list since I didn’t actually buy invitations (I made them myself), but the invitations feel like a natural place to start when talking about planning a party. The invitations are a great opportunity to DIY and save on some costs because you can use an online tool (like Canva) and simply send a digital invitation to guests via email or text message. That being said, since I’m a graphic designer, I love creating stationary and wanted to send a physical version of our party invites so I created, printed, and mailed Franny’s party invitations. (It’s also really nice to have a hard copy to save for the baby book.)

If you aren’t a DIY designer, there are tons of customizable invitation options on Etsy if you’d like to support a small business in this regard. I’ll link a few ice cream ones I found (here and here), but I’ve also used a customized video invitation for Mabel’s party before (sent via text message) and it was a huge hit (here’s a cute ice cream option)! This is a fun place to get creative and play with the theme in the party plans.

The Party Decor

I kept things really simple and purchased a DIY Balloon Arch Kit as the main decoration for the space. These are a great way to add a huge impact to a party space with very minimal effort. There are lots of shops that pre-design the colors and simply sell the kit for you to assemble on the day of the party. I purchased ours from The Fiesta Shop Co on Etsy (they’re a local seller to me) and I can’t say enough good things about it. I especially love a balloon arch for a first birthday where the seated candle-moment is the main arc of the festivities - just pop the high chair under the arch and you’re good to go.

As a note, I created a DIY balloon arch for Mabel’s first birthday too, but that time I individually purchased the balloons and winged the assembly. It turned out just as adorable, but when all was said and done with the balloons, was likely around the same cost. The kit option was very easy and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

The Tableware

I knew that the ice cream theme of Franny’s party would primarily come through the tableware I chose, so I scoured different options at various party stores before finally settling on a small handful of items from The Party Darling. This shop is the cutest! I spent way too long browsing through their inventory, trying to find the perfect items to fit the theme and colour palette. I finally settled on the following:

The Birthday Outfit

Ok, let me first say that you never need a specific birthday outfit for it to be a party. But once again, since our party was small and there are only so many ways a one year old can celebrate, I thought it would be fun to get Franny a special little outfit to wear on the day. First I picked out a little party shirt from Little Mama Shirt Shop (I love this woman-owned shop so much!). I picked the Party Animal shirt because it wasn’t explicitly a birthday shirt, so I knew she’d be fine to wear it again even after the birthday festivities were over. I also got her a cute little pom-pom hair clip for her few little hairs (ha!) from another local online maker, Little Smiley Face.

For the other (little) guests, I grabbed a pack of striped pink birthday hats. Is it really a kid’s birthday party without party hats? I got these from the same shop I got our tableware - The Party Darling.

The Food

Our party was in the middle of the afternoon, so I didn’t stress too much about the food. We grabbed a party-sized pizza (the best for kids since the square pieces are much smaller than traditional slices) and had a bowl of chips out on the table. Since we were throwing an ice cream themed affair, the main moment was build-your-own-sundaes, which is also what we served to Frances with a candle on top instead of cake. I bought a couple of tubs of our favourite brand of ice cream, made homemade chocolate sauce, and put out some simple toppings like crushed cookies, peanuts, whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries. The kids had fun customizing their sundaes and we enjoyed watching Franny devour her favourite treat.

The Party Favors

Again, you do not need party favors to make it a celebration. But I thought it would be a cute opportunity to reinforce the ice cream theme and give our (few) guests a sweet momento to remember the day. I went back and forth on my ideas for this and almost purchased these handmade truffle bath bombs to package in ice cream cups adorned with a handmade thank you tag, but ultimately decided on purchasing these tiny handmade ice cream cone pins from Mini Story Co. on Etsy. This shop is local to where we live and make the most adorable pins, earrings, and magnets. I’m glad I opted for this option because both kids and adults alike can enjoy them, pinning them to backpacks or jackets for years to come. For the kids, we added the pin to a handmade gift bag with a few candy treats because we all know that loot bags are one of the best parts of the party when you’re five.

That’s it. It was a simple celebration but one with so many special memories attached to it. I’ll always cherish this day and am glad that we could celebrate our sweet little Frances!

*DIY Balloon Arch Kit* // *Party Hats* // *T-Shirt* // *Baby Hair Clip* // *Sundae Cups* *// Invites (made myself) //* *Party Favors* // *Plates* // *Napkins*

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Franny’s Ice Cream Birthday Party (and How To Support Small When Party Planning)