Getting Crafty....Kind of

I want to start by saying I am not a baking, crafty, DIY kind of girl. I am an accountant for my day job and that pretty much sums me up. I love and understand numbers.

For Carly's 1st birthday I thought it would be special if I did the decorations and baking. Plus, it would save me a ton of money. Accountants don't make a lot of money contrary to popular believe. Hahaha 

Why did I think doing it all myself was a good idea? I don't know, I guess it just sounded good at the time. 

I have a cousin, Jessica, who is the baking, crafty, DIY kind of girl. I figure I could recruit her help and things would work themselves out. Unfortunately, my cousin lives in Mexico and was not able to make the trip. 

I also had Carly's godmother, Julia, help me with decorations. When I told her my cousin was not going to make it, she called me as soon as she could to let me know that I could totally count on her and that everything was going to look beautiful. Let me tell you she was a total blessing!  She immediately put her helper hat on, and we started brainstorming. We started with decorations and trying to figure out what I wanted as the main centerpiece. I had no idea what I wanted, but with her help we came up with an idea similar to something we saw on Pinterest. She came over to my house one night and pretty much had them done that night.

My house was a mess but the decorations were looking great!
 

 

That idea eventually turned into...

 

 

Then for baking, Julia's daughter, Nichole, was a big help. She baked all the cupcakes, and her cupcake inspired me to make some cake pops.

 

 

Julia did all of the chocolate coating on the cake pops,

 

Oreos, 

Pretzels, and marshmallows! 

Nichole and I put almost everything in individual clear bags and tied them up. 

One of the things I wanted for Carly's birthday party were mason jars with pretty paper straws. The more I thought about it I figured it was a bad idea. Little kids running around with glass mason jars? Not happening. So I did the next best thing. 

 

How cute are these?!?! There was a chalk pen at the party and people could write their names on them. It was a big hit at the party and helped me save cups minus the dishes ;)