Kaylin’s First Birthday Party

Last week, Kaylin turned the big #1!

We had a pretty large party (about 60 people) and a lot of fun!

One of the best parts of the party was all of the yummy food! I wish I had pictures of everything! We had meatballs (regular marinara & Asian inspired), Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, baked beans, crackers & cheese, chips & salsa, fruit and fruit dip, vegetables & hummus & veggie dip, nuts & nut mixes (from Trader Joe’s), rolls, strawberry spinach salad, cookies and cupcakes. Luckily, I had family helping out with some of the food (thank you everyone!!)

I made Kaylin’s smash cake using this recipe. The recipe is healthier and has a banana base:

Topped with a lighter cream cheese frosting:

More food pictures- amazing fruit:

Nuts & cheese:

I made a ton of chocolate cupcakes:

I topped them with Joy the baker’s peanut butter frosting. I also made Mama Pea’s con cookies (Josh’s Mom also brought chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and chocolate covered pretzels):

The theme was Mickey/Minnie. Kaylin freaked out every time she saw a Mickey or Minnie.

We also had a keg

Its hard to get a one year old to sit still:

Kaylin’s Aunt Jenny did SO much for the party (here with her boyfriend Mike who took all of the pictures):

Jenny put together a bundle of kids activities include noodle necklace making, coloring, bubbles, etc:

She also painted the beer pong table up for the party:

I had high hopes for the smash cake:

but it was much more dainty than expected:

Josh and I helped to make it a little messier! It was a fantastic day !

What is your favorite party food to make or eat?

Shrimp Pad Thai

How are you? I hope you had a fantastic weekend! We had Kaylin’s BIG birthday party this Saturday, and it was also our 5th wedding anniversary. More on that to come.

Its secret recipe club time again!! As a part of the club, each month you’re assigned another Secret Recipe Club blogger to make a recipe from. If you want to join, click here to sign up.

This month, I was assigned The Life & Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch. Shelby (Grumpy’s Honeybunch- Grumpy is her husband )  started her blog as a record for her children and potential grandchildren. I think that is SO sweet!! She has two grown boys and lots of yummy recipes! I went back and forth on what to make and finally ended up picking her Shrimp Pad Thai. Josh ADORES pad thai. If given the chance, I think he’d eat Basil’s pad Thai every night for dinner (and maybe sometimes for lunch too).

I followed her recipe with just a few changes:

1. I used rice sticks:

2. I was lazy and did not make my own Teriyaki sauce (that Harris Teeter!):

3. I eliminated the red pepper, as Josh isn’t a fan (he usually scoops those off his Basil pad Thai and throws them on my plate ).

The result was delicious! It tasted much more like peanut noodles vs. traditional pad Thai, but I kind of loved that!

 

Thanks for the awesome recipe Shelby!!