Louella Moon's feminine fall 1st birthday and pumpkin carving party | Kids Birthday Parties

Nov 14

Louella Moon’s feminine fall 1st birthday and pumpkin carving party

Hiya mamas! Following up on our recent 100LC family theme (after Amanda’s beautiful post on her journey to motherhood yesterday), it’s Kristina here popping in to share photos from the party I planned for my baby girl’s first birthday last month. Yes Halloween is over, but since this is our blog, I am allowed to share seasonally irrelevant content if I want. And hey, those of you with fall babies might be looking for some early inspo for their parties next year!

Admittedly I haven’t planned a big birthday party for one of my children in almost 4 years, when my oldest turned four and we hosted his birthday at Pitfire, which seems a little sacrilegious considering the focus of this blog. But OMG it is so much work to plan a big party. And with three kids and a business it’s just not realistic to pull out all the stops for every birthday around these parts. (Big fan of the waterslide bouncy house, popsicles, and no photos at this point!) But since she is my last baby and my only girl, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to throw one last big bash before I retire from party planning altogether. Haha! Also fall is 100% my spirit season so if there was ever a time to do it, October is the month. Loads of photos by Alison Bernier below, fair warning!

I set up a simple family-style spread on our dining room table with ALL the help from Thyme Cafe & Market, my absolute go-to for pretty much all catering and parties. I got really into their Gourmet To Go menu after Louella was born because I couldn’t imagine cooking *anything* for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with a newborn and two older kids. All to say, HIGHLY recommend their amazing catering service for any party, if you’re in West LA.

(Also, our new dining table is the Crosby table from Rejuvenation, if you’re curious. Which is the absolute perfect family table! Now we just need new chairs. Love our vintage Eames but they’re too short for a modern table.)

My vision for the party was rustic, feminine, fall… and I am a forager at heart (I keep pruning clippers in my glove compartment in case I see some wild thing growing that I have to have in my house) and I adore the way Felisa from Of The Flowers incorporated dried leaves and grasses into her beautiful arrangements. They were so perfect.

Also nailed the cake decorating, if you ask me! Those faded spider mums are so beautiful.

Also, super in love with the moon phases garlands I got from Kestrel Shop. I moved one into her room and one in our room after the party. Second use decor, FTW.

That salted caramel pie from Thyme was bananas. Can’t tell from the photo, but WOW.

Our menu from Thyme to go with the fall theme:

Veggie chili with all the toppings
Kale and brussel sprout salad (one of my all time faves!)
Butternut squash and arugula salad
Soft pretzels with dijon
Apple, pecan, and salted caramel pie

I love cooking and used to be the crazy person who *made* all the food for our parties (including our 70 person engagement party years ago), but I realized that it’s so much more relaxing if I call in catering. That way I am actually dressed with make-up on when guests arrive, instead of standing in the kitchen with my hair in a ponytail 20 minutes after the party has started. Things we learn as we get older, right!?

Our gal Danielle, the mistress of sweets behind Sheila Mae, made these adorable moon sandwich cookies with a caramel center. Aren’t they just the cutest?! She is the best.

And now forever I will have to buy all the pastel pumpkins for her birthday month. Pretty much made for October babies, I think.

My grandma made her little dress for me when I was her age, and since my mom keeps everything, Louella gets to wear it too! Even has matching bloomers. And her little headband is from Little Crane on Etsy. I am not a fan of big head gear for little girls, but her bows are so perfectly sweet and understated.

Definitely stayed up until midnight hot gluing those ribbon wands. Essential party addition, right?

Felisa made those beautiful faded pink carnation garlands too. I wanted something behind the bar but not necessarily a big sign. They were just what I had in mind.

And now comes my crazy last minute DIY foraging installation. Definitely my true colors coming out! A few days before the party I walked the neighborhood clipping branches from the Golden Raintrees that are flowering all over LA at the moment. They look like bougainvillea, but they are a beautiful shade of faded coral pink, and they hold up much better since they’re really more of a seed pod than a flower. I fill our house with them every fall so they seemed like an easy and free addition to our party decor.

And because we have pampas grass everywhere, I helped myself so a carload in the open preserve near our house. I love the wildness of the two mixed with some dried sea oats I bought on etsy. I shoved everything in floral foam, inside a wooden wine crate I found outside our local wine shop. It felt like the old days, just DIY-ing a minor installation 3 hours before the party was supposed to start. (Here is where the genius of catering comes in again!)

Because people always ask, that super cool chariot trike is by Angeles Trikes. We have two different versions and they are super high quality and fun for the kids to ride. Plus they are meant for preschools so they built to last. Excellent holiday present if you’re in the market. Just sayin’.

And I thought I wanted a third boy…

Props to the ladies Doen for making a dress in the exact color palette of the party. They are so good.

We cut the tops off of all of the pumpkins before the party started so the sharp knives weren’t being passed about. Which made it really easy for the older kids to go to town on carving while the adults enjoyed adult beverages, as it the goal of all children’s parties.

Just playing in the pumpkin slime, as per usual.

Boys of 100LC! Minus baby Brooks, but his cameo is coming up.

Baby’s first party! So fun having everyone together for the first time.

And finally, the big splurge of the party, though so so so worth it. We had Parker Bent come sing his amazing songs (as a one man band even!) for the kids. And I tell you, nothing like live music to really make a party feel festive. He truly has a gift for song and performance and for being with children in particular. If you haven’t had the pleasure of listening to him, you can download his album from iTunes right here. My boys ask to listen to it all the time!

Even Louella was dancing!

Did I mention he lets the kids do Karaoke?!

She wasn’t super into the smash cake. OH well. It looked pretty!

Thanks for stopping by to see Louella’s party! It was so fun to plan and I hope it gives some of you inspiration for one of your parties too. Big thanks to all of the talented people in the credits below whose beautiful work we show in weddings and parties all the time. It was such a treat to be able to work with them on my own event too.

xx ~ Kristina / @kristina100lc