Kaylen Turns One!

I've mentioned before that I could not believe my daughter, Kaylen is already one.  Planning her birthday was very emotional for me.... but boy am I glad it's done with!  There were so many things I wanted to do that it kind of started to get out of hand.  Being very money conscious, I always think I can make it cheaper than I can buy it.  So I was up until 3am gluing and cutting and putting all the little details together.

Anyway, here are some great shots that my dear friend, Erin from Erin J. Saldana Photography took.

The banner was made by my talented sister, Tina who came all the way from Hawaii for Kaylen's birthday.  She did a great job handwriting all the letters.

For the centerpiece, we used a lot of cute flowers like hydrangeas, tulips, and daisies.  I surrounded the main centerpiece with little "cupcake" hydrangea in a pink sparkling votive, topped with a cherry on top.

 Photo table of Kaylen's 1st year... She's grown so fast... :*(

 The cupcake cake was from Lido Bakery in Manhattan Beach.  I showed Ernesto, the owner, the invitation I used for her party and he came up with this.  It was perfect and it tasted so yummy!

We also had lots of cupcakes and cake pops.

 

I individually packed organic snacks for babies under one.  There were organic strawberry puffs and organic cheese poofs.

  

This was one of those things that I thought would be easy to make but it turned out to be quite the opposite.  I was at GAP kids and they had all kinds of cute wands and I thought it'll be perfect as favors if I made little cupcake wands .  Let's just say this was one of the reasons why I was up until 3am the night before...

 

For the adults, I gave manju snacks to honor Kaylen's Japanese heritage.  Manju is a Japanese snack usually eaten at celebratory times.  It's a steamed bun filled with red bean and it comes in white and pink.

My little cupcake...

Kaylen's 2nd outfit, a Japanese kimono.

To honor Kaylen's Korean heritage, we incorporated a portion of the traditional Dol where she dresses in the traditional Hanbok dress and chooses an item that signifies her future.  We laid out several choices for her to choose from:  a bundle of yarn (for long life), a golf ball (athlete/golfer), money (wealth), book (become a scholar), and rice (to have an abundant life).  Can you believe she reached for the golfball?! 

For entertainment, we had a pupper show from Swazzle.  It was really cute and Kaylen was so into it.

Happy Birthday, Kaylen!

She was so happy to have her first taste of real sugar...  My mom made special cupcake with half the sugar of a normal cupcake. 

Her smile says it all, she enjoyed her cupcake!

My sweet baby girl Kaylen,
You have grown so much this past year and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.  You amaze us everyday with the things that you say and do.  I promise I will always be there for you and love you more than anything in this world.  I love you so much!!

xoxo,
Mommy

Venue:  Miyako Hybrid Hotel
Cake:  Lido Bakery

Flowers:  Flawless Flowers by Falynn

Photographer:  Erin J. Saldana Photography
Puppet Show:  Swazzle
Cake Pops:  My friend Kathy is starting her own business making cupcakes and cake pops.  Please PM me if you are interested!