A is for Alec--ABC 1st Birthday

Aa is for Alec

So what if he was going on 15 months, Alec finally had his first birthday party, full of A's B's and C's (and other alphabet letters, too)!

A little hard to see in these pics, but the white letter banner spells "Happy 1st Birthday Alec"

Bb is for ball

Contrary to this picture,
Alec loved playing with the balls in the pit!

As in, we had a ball and a ball pit! We filled an inflatable pool with as many balls as we could find for a make-shift ball pit.

I didn't anticipate that the big kids would enjoy it so much, too!

Cc is for Cake

Stacked on a pile of vintage books, I used each letter of his name as a side of the alphabet block, with the #1 on top.

Special thanks to Ashlee @ I'm Topsy Turvy, for giving me some baking/decorating advice! She is master (mistress?) of fondant!

That smooth fondant exterior didn't fool him one bit! He knew there was good stuff inside, and started digging right in. He wasn't so sure what to do with the candle flame, however.

But there were more cake surprises inside!

Served with a previously-scooped and frozen (in a cupcake liner) scoop of ice cream (thank you Pinterest! Brilliant!)

Dd is for Dancing

My little guy can cut a rug--so we played some of his favorite songs and let loose--but didn't get any pictures. :-(

Ee is for Everywhere

ABC's are everywhere...

I customized plain plates and napkins to fit the theme (I might have to experiment with these a little more before I post a tutorial or recommend you try this at home. Love the idea, still perfecting the technique!) I had won the fun cups on a giveaway a while back and used a fine point sharpie to personalize them for the guests. They made great snowcone cups.

which brings us to...

Ff is for fun food

On the menu: Hamburger sliders on homemade buns (thanks mom!). Perfect size for the little ones, and easy to grab a few for the big guys! French fries and carrots set out in serving-sized cups. There is ketchup in the bottom of each cup, eliminating a lot of mess and hassle with serving small children. We also had alphabet finger jello, colorful melon balls, and juice boxes. 

Gg is for Goodie Bags

Alec's cousins each took home a simple goodie bag filled with some ABCs and ball fun. Where possible, I tried to give each child the letters of their names with the alphabet magnets. They were packaged up with their own monogram as a label.

Those are the ABC's of the party! I plan to write posts about some of the how-to's later. Is there anything you'd specifically like more information about? You can see some of the inspiration for this party on my Pinterest Board, here. I'm also working on a personalized ABC photobook for him, I will share later. Big thanks to my mom for all of her work on the food and letting me throw a little insanity in her backyard!