May 10

A First Birthday Party: “Ivy’s Garden”

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My darling girl turned one just a few short weeks ago and it was all we could do to not go all out to celebrate every last ounce of her. She has been the biggest joy and the brightest light, especially this year, and I figured that even if it was just the three of us (and our dog Sage!) we were going to commemorate the occasion properly. Ultimately, we ended up having most of our closest family members over – the village that has supported us so immensely this past year. And our intimate, yet beautiful, affair was exactly what my soul needed. I often tend to put huge expectations on moments like this, but I can say without a doubt that I was present and peaceful the day of her party. Our girl was in her prime – lavishing in all of the attention all of her favourite people were providing her, and it was so much fun to truly take her light in. It was perfect in every sense of the word…

I wasn’t originally going to share her first birthday party as I didn’t want to make it feel like work, or add any undue pressure to the day, but I ended up having time to grab a ton of photos before everyone arrived, I’m thrilled with how they turned out, and I felt called to share them.

The theme of her party was “Ivy’s Garden”, so naturally we went all out with all things botanical. We hung faux vines from oversized balloons, tucked fresh flowers in every nook and cranny of our home; her cake(s) included, and spent the weeks leading up to her party making lavender ice cubes for the bar. We also picked up the most beautiful cake topper that I had customized to read “Happy Birthday Ivy” so we can bring it out for all future birthdays (I am such a sucker for traditions). Flower crowns were aplenty, and even the dogs got in on the action, naturally.

Food wise we went with a simple yet elevated brunch-theme. Croissants, light as air quiches, and sourdough bread were purchased from one of our favourites, La Bastille (the chef is a Parisian trained pastry chef and dear lord he’s talented). My step-mom made her famous mandarin salad. And we sipped on our favourite blush sparking wine. For dessert, beignets were on deck, as well as a light as air naked vanilla cream cake for us. I whipped up this “healthy” version for Ivy and our girl went to town – demolishing just about all of it.

As a small token of our gratitude, we purchased little english ivy plants tucked in white buckets to gift for all of our girls’ people so that they, too, can have some “Ivy” of their very own. On the tag we wrote “thank you for helping me grow”. They were a big hit, and I was pretty pleased with the concept. It was as close to perfect as a day could be, truly. Here’s a peek…