Well guys – we did it! We have a one year old and he is sweeter and funnier than I could have ever hoped for. I’m sure every parent says that, and that’s a-ok with me. We’re obsessed with him. Oliver has taught us so much: how to communicate better, how to have patience, how to let loose, how to have fun, live in the moment and love with our full hearts. 

With COVID-19 numbers on the rise, we knew this wouldn’t be the time to break our staying at home rule or have visitors, no matter how much we wanted to share in celebrating Oliver. We had a small, very intimate gathering of just the three of us and threw Oliver a woodland themed birthday at home. 

We kept things super simple with cake, a Happy Birthday banner, a tassel backdrop, some balloons and a few presents. We FaceTimed with family back east and my sister and her boyfriend came to drop off presents and chat with Oliver through the window. (They both work retail so we all wanted to be as safe as possible.) We both put our phones on speaker and spoke through the door – it was kind of sad and after a while Oliver started to pull on the door handle to the yard where they were. 

All craziness aside, the woodland themed party was a hit! I found all the decorations on Etsy – my favorite, including the balloons and got the cake from a local bakery, called A Bake Shop. It was unbelievably good and we more than enjoyed the leftovers. 😉 I showed them a photo and they made the sweetest little animals out of fondant. I found some similar woodland animal toppers and a personalized name banner for the top of the cake, if you’re looking. I’m definitely bookmarking them for next year. 🙂

When deciding on a theme for his party, we turned to the books Oliver loves. He’s a big fan of animal books and adventures (Ooko, Counting with Barefoot Critters, and Brown Bear, to name a few), so we figured why not and kept things simple. 
Alphabet Puzzle | Happy Birthday Signs | Similar Woodland Cake Toppers

I thought Ollie would go nuts for the tassel banner and balloons (this shop has every color balloon imaginable), but he wasn’t all that interested. If he only knew how hard it was for me to blow up those balloons. ha! 😉 Kid just loves to eat! We did things a bit backwards and did cake first when he woke up from his nap, then lunch.

We ordered pizza from Pizzeria Bianco (again to keep things simple), and everyone was quite happy! If we had more mouths to feed, I probably would have done cupcakes and some animal themed cookies. 

This was the first time Oliver ever had sugar aside from fruit. I don’t think he even knew what the cake was at first. He wouldn’t really go near it and when I gave him a little bit of frosting from my hand, he was not interested at all. He went for the Olli Ella doll instead.

We sat him down in his highchair and cut him a slice, then from there it looked like he was in pure bliss. We did a chocolate and vanilla layered cake, and he went for the chocolate the most. It was fun to see him enjoy it so much and make all of his happy food noises. 

We didn’t do party hats or favors or invites or any of that jazz, because like I said it was just the three of us and we were at home, but the Etsy shop I got most of the items from had some fun woodland themed party hats and gift boxes. I did make thank you cards/a birthday announcement for friends and family on Artifact Uprising. I definitely had to share all those photos we’ve been snapping away of Ollie each month. Ha!

The only thing I really did ahead of time for this “party” was order Oliver’s birthday crown. I can’t wait for him to wear this little knit birthday crown year after year. Someone on IG commented he was an “easy-going prince” in response to this photo and I kind of loved it! 

It was definitely strange not being with our loved ones for Oliver’s 1st birthday and not throwing him a big bash, but the day was so special anyway. I received so many messages from you guys on Instagram, saying that you will be celebrating your baby’s birthday during quarantine and that you’ve been sad about it. You’re not alone. The best part is though, when they’re this little, they don’t know what they’re missing out on and cuddles and cake with mom and dad are more than worth it! Rob and I kept laughing that Oliver was probably asking himself how he was getting pizza and sweets all in one day with extra singing and dancing and new toys. It’s a strange time we’re living in and it’s easy to get down with everything happening around us, but thank goodness for these little ones. 

I put together a round up of all the party accessories for a woodland theme party below!

1 – Woodland Theme Party Accessories + Signs | 2 – Personalized Name Banner Cake Topper (comes in any color) | 3 – Birthday Crown | 4 – First Birthday Cake Candle | 5 – Gathre Tablecloth | 6 – Colored Balloons | 7 – Gathre Leather Bib with Pocket | 8 – Animal Cake Toppers | 9 – Tassel Backdrop | 10 – Woodland Animal Party Hats | 11 – Leather Unisex Children’s Shoes | 12 – Personalized Happy Birthday Banner (comes in multiple colors) | 13 – Counting Barefoot Critters Book | 14 – Kids Tent 

*Looking for 1st birthday gift ideas? Check out our post HERE.