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Nautical First Birthday {Pinwheels & Whales}

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nautical party dessert table

While literally waiting for her son to be born, Kristin of Paige Simple started planning for her son’s first birthday. Using inspiration from his nursery and party supplies she already had, Kristin celebrated with a gingham, polka dot & red striped Nautical Birthday Party that has us swooning over the adorable whales, precious birthday boy party hat & awesome dessert table backdrop!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

  • Adorable whale invitation, “Ahoy” straw flags & life raft “Welcome Aboard” sign
  • Graduated pinwheel tabletop display in red buckets
  • Whale sugar cookies, fondant cupcake toppers & Rice Krispie treats
  • Red, white & blue patterned party hats, pinwheels & banners
  • Silver bubble tin favors with pipe cleaner wands!

nautical whale first birthday

nautical welcome sign life raft

nautical kids party invitation

nautical whale party desserts and snacks

nautical whale desserts

nautical party snacks

red white and blue pinwheels

gingham pinwheel party hat

whale party bubbles

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Kristin

This party was a labor of love for my son who turned 1 on June 25th. Everything was meticulously planned out from the invitations, which I custom made, to the rope covered serving tray that held the cookies that matched the invitations perfectly. It was a family affair, with baked goods from my sister and sewing projects courtesy of my mother.

My son, Chase, was 10 days late when he was born so I was literally sitting around for 10 days with not much to do while we ‘patiently’ waited for him to arrive. Since I’m a planner by nature I decided to start planning his 1st birthday. Yes, you read that right; I started planning his birthday before he was even here!

My husband and I already owned a collection of red outdoor party ware so I decided that red had to be incorporated into his party. The whale inspiration came from a Pottery Barn Kids bedding collection that we almost selected for his nursery. The stripe, gingham and polka dot patterns were inspired by a pennant bunting that I saw on Etsy. Many of the details were inspired by ideas that I found through my favorite website, Pinterest! For example, the homemade bubble containers that were originally posted by Hostess with the Mostess here.

My favorite element of his party was the ‘1st Year’ Book that I created for him through Shutterfly. I created a photo book, similar to a yearbook, which contains pictures of him throughout the year. We had guests at his party sign the book just like you would do for a school yearbook. I’m planning on doing one every year going forward and then giving them to him when he leaves the nest.

Vendor Credit

6 Comments

  1. JewelBoxCreativeStudios December 6, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    too cute!

  2. richard jakson December 12, 2012 at 11:09 pm

    First birthday party is always specially for all and we should try to make it more special there are some event organizers how can do this miracle..

  3. Belinda March 25, 2013 at 1:47 pm

    This look amazing. Do you know where the pinwheels came from?
    Thanks.

  4. Renee September 16, 2014 at 6:35 am

    That is so adorable! I too did a nautical theme for my son’s first birthday….I found this cute design for it! http://www.zazzle.com/rusticharbor/gifts?cg=196713972209004147

  5. Alicia December 30, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    May I ask where you bought the tin cans pictured above? I followed the tutorial linked and bought the tin cans that were suggested; however, when they arrived, they were much bigger than I had thought they would be. Maybe it’s an angle/camera trick on your posted picture? Is the tin can pictured above really 6 inches?

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