Alex & Caitlin’s Joint Birthday Adventure

When we found out Alex’s due date, we quickly realized birthday parties would be a small problem – he was due April 12, one day before his sister’s birthday. He made his debut April 11 leaving us 2 birthdays to celebrate within 3 days and, being mid-April, those days (or surrounding ones) will often coincide with Easter celebrations. Oops.

I struggled for so.damn.long trying to decide how to handle their birthday this year. Clearly a joint party made the most sense but, hello there mom guilt, I felt like it would take away the thunder of the special 1st Birthday every baby deserves. I literally cried over the fact that my sweet boy wouldn’t have his own special 1st Birthday party invitation like his sister had. How would we handle presents? What kind of decorations would work so that neither kid ‘overshadowed’ the other? Who would get their cake first…or at the same time? 2 different “Happy Birthday” songs? <- Yes, by the way, and thank you to everyone for singing twice to make my momma heart happy! In the end it just made no sense to deal with trying to put together two separate parties and invite most of the same people to both; ain’t nobody got time for that! The joint party decision was final and Caitlin said she’d happily share a party with Alex…she loves her little brother!

So where did I start? The invitation…that damn invitation. I was so stressed over a piece of paper and who had a photo where and how to word it so it made sense. Just about every template I found was for twins or same-sex siblings. Not only was I dealing with a boy and a girl, I wanted something special for the Big 1. I finally found a template that would allow me to use my own verbiage and had fun party colors instead of all blue or bright pink everywhere. Step #1 – check!

I’m not a big theme girl, like at all. Neither of the kids had themed nurseries or rooms; I just like coordinating colors. I hate how expensive character merchandise is and in case you didn’t know (ha!), I really like to do as much DIY as possible. I made the kiddo’s number shirts, decided on super simple decorations like DIY banners, photos, a cake table, and lots of “Happy Birthday Balloons” per the request of the birthday girl. I used bright colors similar to those from the invitation and pink and blue for cake colors (~~requested~~ demanded by Caitlin). In true Courtney fashion, I spent an entire week vacuuming up after my adventures in glitter decorating a 1 and a 3 for the cake table. I can’t get enough sparkle!

Cake cake cake! I made and decorated the cakes for both kiddos myself, and made cupcakes for our guests. I even made my own ‘signature’ buttercream frosting that I made back for Caitlin’s 1st Birthday party and was a huge hit. I went for an ombre feel for the cakes to make them stand out and they came out so much prettier than I imagined they would!

Which leads me to Alex’s cake smash…it was amazing. The kid acted like he’d never had any taste of anything sweet before <- I believe in everything in moderation so yes, he’d had sugar before. Once he realized it was indeed food placed in front of him, he was all in…literally. Little man picked up the entire cake and shoved it in his own face in a epic cake smash! He destroyed it and, as expected, needed a second outfit to finish the party! Caitlin, on the other hand, used a fork and ate her as daintily as possible, literally taking her entire birthday week to finish her cake.

Presents weren’t opened during the party. Have you ever seen a 1 (or a 3) year old open presents? It’s a lot like watching a sloth try and complete a marathon. Or a dog distracted by a thousand squirrels. We waited for a little bit of a quieter time to open them once the party was on its last leg.

Thank you so much to all our friends and family who came and celebrated with us! I know we’re probably in for joint party adventures until the kids have friends and can seriously beg us otherwise so here’s to the first of many fun Alex + Caitlin celebrations!