Planning Mia's 1st Birthday Party!

Planning Mia's 1st birthday party has got to be one of the most stressful experiences ever and it still isn't done yet! 
I thought it would be good to do this post 3/4 of the way through planning and then I will be doing a post about the whole day once it has happened - 18.11.2018

Party planning isn't something I am familiar with so this is so weird for me! I genuinely have no idea what I am doing but everything is slowly coming together so I cant be doing too badly, right?
Just a little disclaimer - I have no idea if this is the right way to plan a party in terms of the order, however it has worked for me, it might seem a little backwards to some but I just wanted to explain what I did and how its all come together.

1. Guest List
The first thing I did was come up with a rough guest list, I needed an estimate for guests so that I could work out what size venue I would need so to do this I basically just wrote down all the family members on both sides and then any friends who have really stood out over the past 12 months in terms of making an effort with her, seeing her, asking about her etc.

2. Choosing A Date
I knew I wanted the date to be as close to her birthday as possible and her birthday is on Thursday 15th November so it made sense to try and get it for that weekend, I originally wanted Saturday 17th but later on in my little planning schedule I had to change for Sunday 18th (you'll see why if you read on...).

3. Facebook Event
So I decided to create a Facebook event for the party because I needed to put the feelers out for who would actually be coming out of the list I had written down (again for venue, food and cake). I created it for the Saturday and noticed pretty quickly that the vast majority of people I have invited are able to come and looking forward to it (between 30-40 which may seem a lot but we have big families).

4. Choosing A Venue
This had to be the hardest part of this entire planning situation, I must have cried about 4 times!
First of all the venue was just going to be our house until we realised that it was far too small to host that many people, then we asked Mia's Auntie if we could host it at her house because its a bit bigger which was all good until she found out how many people were actually coming and then again there are too many people.
It did get to the point where I was asked to cut down the guest list but being completely honest, why should anyone who loves her and has made an effort with her, miss out on this big celebration?
So then I began the search for a venue that would fit our number comfortably without having tonnes of extra space but was also within a decent price range. I contacted my first choice but they took almost a week and a half, nearly 2 weeks, to get back to me so in that time I must have contacted 15-20 different venues and every single one had an issue either with the date, catering, price or package.
In the end my first choice venue got back to me and we managed to come to an agreement - I would have to take the Sunday because of an event they already had booked for the Saturday however she didn't charge me for their basic kids party package because Mia is only 1 she doesn't need anything from the package (DJ, bouncy castle, entertainer), she just charged me the price of the room and included the bar for all the adults.

5. Choosing Decorations
When it comes to decorations I knew it had to be pink to avoid the hours of lectures I would get if it were any other colour!
If anyone doesn't know - I get lectured all the time about the way I dress Mia because I apparently dress her like a boy and I am going to confuse her (no I am not lying, that it what has been said to me!).
I spent days on eBay finding the perfect decorations and I also took pictures of the room so I could plan out where the decorations would go, where the food would go and where the cake display table would go. I managed to get all of the party decorations on eBay for £27, BARGAIN! 

6. Mia's Outfit
This one is a little different because once I found out that her party was happening on the Sunday I decided to try and get her Christened on the same day.
I haven't found her Christening outfit yet but for her birthday party outfit I bought one from the app 'Wish', I know loads of people have seen and heard from the app but aren't sure about ordering, I went ahead and ordered her outfit because it was the nicest and cheapest I could find - it is GORGEOUS!
There is a long sleeve vest with 'One' in gold glitter, a pink tutu and a pink headband with a big gold glittery bow, I also bought her a little pink and gold glitter brown from eBay because I couldn't resist - I really want her to feel like a princess on the day and I know people might think 'well she won't remember it anyway' but I will remember every minute and we will have pictures to treasure forever!

7. Cake
I have the most incredible best friend in the entire world who has kindly decided to buy Mia her birthday cake!
I have an obsession with elephants so her birthday cake is 2 tiers, with a little elephant on top holding a pink balloon with '1' on it, it also has some pink and gold decorations and I cannot wait to see it and show her!

8. Food
I haven't gotten around to food yet because the party is still a month away and I will be doing that the day before - I am going to Costco with my friend and she is going to help me pick out a load of platters to get for everyone because I cant afford a caterer and theres no way in hell I am staying up all of the night before making sandwiches and cooking pork pies haha!

I think that is pretty much everything I have gotten sorted so far, I cant think of anything else but I can guarantee when I come to do the post about the actual day itself there will be loads of things I've missed out!

I hope you have a great day or night wherever you are,
Emm xoxo