Lars' Camping Themed First Birthday Party + FLYJOY Microadventure

First and most importantly, HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY to my sweet, energetic, giggly, hilarious, active, loud, adventurous, happy little boy!  Lars you've brought so much joy to our lives in the past year and words can't even describe how much love we have for you.  I hope you have the BEST first birthday!

While I totally didn't want to be *that parent* that threw an over the top 1st birthday party for their kid, I also didn't want to blow it off.  I think I landed somewhere in the middle, perhaps with a little bit of leaning towards the over-the-top.  I mean, a kid only turns one once and it also feels like sort of an accomplishment getting through our first year of parenting, so why not throw a party?!

Since Marc and I love camping and Lars has already shown us he loves being outside and has an adventurous side to him, I went with a camping themed party.  When I found these invites, I knew Camp Lars was definitely happening.  From there, the ideas just kept flowing.

Of course I knew I was going to bake the cake and decided to do a smash cake for Lars and then a bunch of s'mores cupcakes and homemade dirt pudding cups for the adults.  I was super happy with how the desserts turned out!

As far as decor, I borrowed a standing chalkboard sign to hang some photos, along with a "Welcome to Camp Lars" sign, and also used a few items from Lars' outdoors-themed bedroom, like the "Let's Go On An Adventure" frame my mom sewed for him, a stacking tree, and a picnic-themed wolf.   For centerpieces on the three tables we had for people to sit at an eat, I clipped some of the evergreen that is overgrown in the front of our house and put them in galvanized buckets.  I also enlisted the help of my cousin to make "Camp Lars" signs.  Simple but cute!

For his monthly photos, I used the blanket ladder that I made back when I was pregnant to hang twine on and clip his photos to.  I used Social Prints to print out the picture on square matte-finished archive-quality photos.  I was super happy with how they turned out - the quality and the weight of the prints were perfect!  

For drinks, I did citrus flavored water and used this recipe for cucumber mint lemonade, which was a HUGE hit.  I really should have made more of the lemonade because it was gone pretty quick!  We also had a random assortment of La Croix, wine, and beer.I know you're all wondering if Lars enjoyed his cake and the answer is in the photos:

Are you also wondering when Lars is going to go on his first camping adventure?  Well, for this month's FLYJOY Microadventure, camping was the theme, which gave us the perfect reason to get out there with him!  Unfortunately the weekend we tried a few weeks ago when we were up at the cabin, the rainy weather forced us inside.  While we're no strangers to camping in the rain, it just didn't seem like the best idea with an infant.

Luckily, the rest of the weekend was gorgeous and we were still able to enjoy some time outside, soaking up the view of Lake Superior in our Roo Kammok hammock.

We also went on a couple of hikes with our new backpack baby carrier which Lars loved, and fueled up with our FLYJOY bars which are perfect for long-lasting, healthy, great-tasting energy from ingredients like quinoa, chia, flax and nut butter.  Seriously - I love these bars!

I was compensated for this post by FLYJOY but all opinions are my own.  Also, there are links to products I used for Lars' birthday party, but none of them are affiliate links...I just wanted to share the link love!