Yesterday, I threw Piper a little first birthday party in the simplest of ways. I invited our closest friends for a morning play date. My husband would say I went above and beyond, but to me, it felt simple and low key.

A Simple Birthday Water Play Play Date

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It’s easy for me to go all out on a birthday because I just love celebrating and having events. I had dreams of throwing Piper a bigger and better first birthday party then Rowan had, but instead I did the opposite. Life has a funny way of telling you that you need to slow down and when it came to Piper’s birthday, I realized I needed to take the Pinterest out of her celebration.

If we lived around family I probably would have done a large family get together. Brady and I both come from large families and I usually invite everyone. I’m talking uncles, aunts, cousins, grandma, boyfriends, girlfriends, best friends, and dogs. In my world, everyone is invited! But we’re four hours away and honestly, after traveling so much in the spring, I couldn’t find the desire to head back to Orange County and throw a party.

So, I did the next best thing. I invited our closest friends and threw a week day backyard water party for our water loving baby girl.

Play Date Water Gear

I could have easily fell into overboard habits and bought pools, sprinkler toys, and other water toys. But I didn’t. In the end, I ended up just buying a cute little pineapple pool that is the perfect depth for babies and some bubble supplies. The rest we already had.

In the backyard I set up:

1. A bubble station on our outdoor kids table.
2. Our kids toy BBQ kitchen
3. A picnic blanket 
4. A shallow pineapple pool
5. A blow up pool with a slide (we call it the dinosaur pool. Rowan got it as a gift from my mom when he turned two)
6. Water Table
7. Paint Table
8. We also have an assortment of ride on toys and outside trucks.

SHOP THE WATER ACTIVITIES

Food

On the invite, I said I would provide lunch. For the kids, I put out uncrustables and apple sauces. For the moms, I got the Mediterranean Salad from Costco and added chicken. I also had an assortment of fruits, humus, and pita bread. For drinks, I had iced coffee, spindriff, and juice boxes. I literally bought everything from Costco.

Piper’s Cake

As I get older, I love decorating cake. I don’t go crazy, but I love it nonetheless. When Rowan had his Pineapple first birthday, I made him a small pineapple smash cake and I knew I wanted to do something similar for Piper.

For her cake, I take two small Ramekins,pour the cake mix in, and bake for as long as cupcakes bake. When the cake is cooled and ready to frost, I trim the two small cakes,frost the top of one, and place the second cake on top. This is how the cake gets its height.

I used to frost the cake and cupcakes with just a knife and/or a silicone spatula, but I recently bought an icing spatula and a scraper to decorate Piper’s cake. Let’s just say it was much easier to get the excess frosting off the cake.

I used the palms of my hands to press the sprinkles into the side of the cake. I loved the way it looked, but I wish there was a less messier way to do it. There were sprinkles all over my clean kitchen.

SHOP CAKE DECORATING SUPPLIES

Don’t worry, just invite

That’s right. No one really cares what your house looks like. In my experience, people just want a place to gather together.

I really wanted to finish our backyard before Piper’s birthday, but that didn’t happen. We still partied anyways.

Have your party. Invite people over. Let people gather in your home.

SHOP PIPER’S SWIMSUIT