Birthday Party: This Little Piggy Went to Market

For our baby girl’s first birthday party, we had the sweetest This Little Piggy Went to Market birthday brunch – complete with grandparents and a few others who have poured in to our family in a special way this year…people who have shown us the kindness of our Savior…people who will never know how they’ve touched our lives in recent months.

Birthday Party: This Little Piggy Went to Market

On the day we found out we were having a baby girl, I started a secret Pinterest board for her – a board that included lots and lots of pink…which eventually turned in to lots and lots of piggies…and it wasn’t long before I was keeping an eye out for “This Little Piggy Went to Market” birthday party items…yes, before she was even born.

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I created the invites with Courtney from Anderson Custom Designs. She does an amazing job breathing life in to my ideas!

“Aubrey is Turning One” Labels & Birthday Address Labels were created here.

On the Menu:

Breakfast Casserole

Pigs-in-a-Blanket

Berries

Sweet Treats

“Fill a plate and a berry basket!”

I couldn’t decide which plates I liked best, so I alternated them and stacked them up on the table.

Whenever I put together a table scape, I like to wrap empty boxes and use them to give the decor some height. This is a really inexpensive way to make your table pop! Leading up to the big day, I typically save a few Amazon Prime boxes (Diaper boxes work well, too!) and then I use a pretty roll of wrapping paper (something that matches my theme/color scheme) to wrap the large boxes. Have you ever tried any of the gift wrap from Home Goods? It is usually priced at $2.99, and the quality can’t be beat!

Photo Print Created Here (Psst…be sure to watch for a free coupon code!)

With a “This Little Piggy Went to Market” theme, fresh produce was a must, and I decided to stick with fruit – the perfect addition to the breakfast casserole that was being served.

I found these cute little market baskets at Hobby Lobby (Yes, with one of their 40% Off coupons!), and I filled them with produce from Sam’s Club.

Berries galore to be eaten out of berry baskets (also from Hobby Lobby)!

I love the way fruit looks when it’s all tossed together!

Inside each of these little party favor bags (found in the Target Dollar Spot), was a photo magnet from Shutterfly that included a picture of Aubrey and the phrase “Choose Joy”…a reminder that we hold close to our hearts around here.

I loved having a little something to gift each family…a small way of saying Thank You for loving us so well this year.

Birthday Sticker Labels Created Here

When some of the guests showed up, they thought we had prepared all the food, and while yes, we had made the Breakfast Casserole and the Pigs-in-a-Blanket, everything else was store-bought – I promise!

See this perfectly coordinating cake? It’s from Wal-mart. Yes, Wal-mart? It was not at all healthy…but it was pretty…and tasted yummy. Trust me, I think I ate six pieces. 😉

See these cookies? They’re from Chick-fil-a! Mmmm! Around here, January 15th has been declared “Aubrey Day”. It’s the day we received her official diagnosis…and ever since that day, we have chosen to celebrate every one of her milestones with a trip to Chick-fil-a for chocolate chip cookies. This has not been a good thing for our waistlines, but it’s been an awesome thing for morale…and a sweet tradition that I don’t see stopping anytime soon. So of course we served these yummies at her birthday party!

Speaking of traditions, we usually find a way to work these muffins in to our annual birthday celebrations. Have you seen these muffins? They’re from Sam’s Club…They literally have 650 calories EACH, and you can taste every.single.calorie. These bad boys are delicious! Last year, a reader mentioned that she likes to slice hers, lather each piece with butter and grill them in a pan. I still have not tried this suggestion as I am fearful that I would want to do such a thing each and every morning from now until the end of time.

Another sweet treat we served that I would love to take credit for (but I can’t) are these adorable cake pops created by Donna with Poppers Right Sized Bites!

I literally squealed when I got my hands on these cuties, and it meant the world to me that as Donna had created each one, she had prayed over our little girl. What a beautiful thing to do!

I wanted to find a creative way to display the cake pops, so I grabbed a rectangular piece of Styrofoam (from Walmart’s craft section), wrapped it in the same wrapping paper I had used on the empty boxes, added a little wooden embellishment I had on hand, and then poked the cake pops down in to the wrapped Styrofoam.

With the food being the main event, I like to set up a separate drink station area that provides guests with lots of choices. Of course we had the coffee pot going, but we also offered milk in these cute little dairy glasses I grabbed from Michael’s a few years ago (and have now used for several parties!)…

…sweet tea from Chick-fil-a, pink lemonade (made from a quick mix), ice water, and orange juice. When we’re hosting guests, I like to set a Sharpie marker out with the disposable cups. It’s the perfect way for everyone to keep track of their drink, and I usually kick things off for everyone by going ahead and writing my name on mine.

Key Word: Disposable! 🙂

See that little glimpse of orange and blue in the background? On the day we celebrated our baby girl’s first birthday, we also celebrated our boys’ birthdays! That evening, we had a casual cookout with a “Paint Party” theme – featuring their favorite colors: orange and blue! Can’t wait to share that birthday party with you, too!

If you have kids with birthdays close together…and your family all lives out of town like ours does, I highly recommend one big day of birthday celebrating! Next year, it’s back to one theme for the day…and yes, I’ve already chosen the theme (and started a secret Pinterest board!). 😉 We just did things a little differently this year because baby girl was turning the big O-N-E!

Psst…see those little cast iron trivets? That’s where the breakfast casseroles sat! The night before the party, I put together four yummy casseroles and then popped them in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes before it was time to eat that next morning. In each pan, I had 12 eggs (scrambled), 1 pound of sausage (browned), 1 bag of potatoes/onions (The ones by Simply Potatoes are our fav!), a smidge of salt, pepper, & garlic powder (Sometimes I add dry mustard, too!), and 1 big handful of cheese mixed together with another big handful of cheese sprinkled atop the mixture before baking. This recipe is perfect for Sunday mornings, Christmas morning, birthday mornings – and putting it together the night before somehow makes it taste better…and makes life easier.

Quick Tips for Birthday Party Planning:

Quick Tip #1: The week of the birthday party, I place a pickup order with Sam’s Club. This makes it easy to drive thru and pick up all of the food I’m going to need for the party.

Quick Tip #2: The day before the birthday party, I go ahead and start setting up the tablescape. This usually happens during a nap time or one evening after my kiddos’ bedtime – I like to be able to give myself time to think through everything.

Quick Tip #3: All that’s left to do the morning of the birthday party is set out the food. While this time around, we threw casseroles in the oven, the rest of the food prep was a matter of opening containers and setting everything out on dishes.

“This Little Piggy Went to Market” Gift Ideas:

• This Little Piggy Hand Puppet Book
• Farmhouse Friends Bathtime Bucket
• Red Retro Play Kitchen Set
• Melissa & Doug Pots and Pans Set
• Melissa and Doug Fruits & Vegetables Market Food

I love being creative and putting together sweet parties for my little ones, but I also like to think of resourceful ways to make it possible for me to actually be present and enjoy the time with our family. After all, that’s the most important part.

Want to see more of our birthday parties? You can check them out here.