Measurements of Merriment: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Well, if you saw my last few posts you probably have figured out the theme for Kinley's 1st birthday! Rainbows, rainbows, rainbows everywhere! I wanted to pick out a theme without any characters but also would be gender neutral, since most of my guests have sons. Kinley has such a colorful and bubbly personality the rainbows seemed like the perfect idea!

As far as decorations go I strung small pom pom balls in rainbow order (ROYGBP and Pink) onto some thread then hung them up. For the Happy Birthday Kinley sign, I used colorful foam boards and black foam letters, punch some holes in the corners then strung them up with some rainbow ribbon. The Monthly Pictures, every month I made sure to take a picture of her and the number of months she was. It was a way I could watch her grow, but I eventually want to put it in a Shutterfly photobook for her. I went to Walmart and printed the pictures, adhered them to some scrapbook paper, cut them out with some fun edged scissors. To hang them up, I painted some small clothespins and used a different rainbow ribbon to pin them up on. I also wanted to show some her 1 Year Pictures I took. I printed these at Walmart too, then went to the Dollar Tree for some simple black frames to put them in. I decorated the buffet table and the gift table.

I brought the rainbow theme into the food as well. I wanted to make sure there was some good healthy munchies to counter the sweet treats. I skewered some yummy fruit to enjoy, Red - strawberries, Orange - Mandarin oranges, Yellow - pineapple, Green - kiwi, Blue - blueberries, and Purple - grapes. I also made a yummy marshmallow and cream cheese fruit dip. For the veggies we enjoyed, Red - cherry tomatoes, Orange - carrots, Yellow - baby corn on the cobs, Green - edamame Blue - blue corn tortilla chips (blue was a toughie, can you think of a blue vegetable?), Purple - purple cauliflower. I made some ranch to dip the veggies in. I wanted something a little more solid for the kiddos and adults could enjoy. So I found a great and easy recipe to make Rainbow Bread which I made into Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches. To incorporate the rainbow theme even more, I made he sandwiches with different color flavors of jellies, Red - strawberry, Orange - apricot, Yellow - pineapple, Green - green apple, Blue - blueberry, and Purple - grape. They turned out great!

Bring on the desserts! Of course we had to have Rainbow Cupcakes, Rainbow Brownie Pops, and Rainbow Sprinkled Popcorn.

We also rented one of those bounce houses for the kiddos to play in. Liam and his friends had so much fun bouncing the day away. We let the bigger kids play in it while Kinley took her nap before the party started. Worked out great!