The year passed in a blink and before we knew it she was turning ONE!  I had the hardest time choosing a theme for my older daughter but Violet loves the song "You Are My Sunshine" so the decision was easy this time. I made a watercolor sun, threw in a watercolor rainbow and sweet Violet had her 1st Birthday theme.

I adore a dessert table and food always comes second in my party rule book but this party was oh so different. My dear friend Oghan, who owns Ghee Banqueteria a very successful catering business in Brazil, was going to be in Florida at the time of the party and offered to cater it! Wait... you're telling me the guy who just catered an event for Elle Brazil and Nespresso was going to cater my daughter's first birthday (insert gasp followed by screams of excitement).

The menu preparation was serious business and at this party there would be nothing frozen served (hehe)! The menu included a bruschetta bar (my personal favorite); french bread, tomatoes & basil, sautéed mushrooms & onions, and cheese. Oghan also made organic chicken salad topped with fresh arugula served in mason jars, beet & carrot sandwiches and sundried tomato pesto penne salad.

I always serve flavored water but Oghan's recipe of Pineapple, Ginger and Lemon was as you would guess also a hit!

I still went nuts with the desert table but in comparison to years prior, there was so much dessert left over that I was begging people to take plates of it home.  I loved the sugar cookie cups filled with pudding, they were so easy to make and looked so cute. The rainbow cake pops were a disaster but from far away looked pretty good but more important they were yummy and that's all the kids cared about. The sugar cookies were a labor of love and doubled as a "Thank You for coming" gift.

The cake as usual was made by another dear friend, Andy from Hilton's Gourmet Bakery and once again was said to be the most delicious birthday cake anyone had tasted. I was not making another cake topper and pre-ordered months in advance from EnchantedBelles in Australia and it was the perfect addition to the beautiful cake.

For entertainment we hired Music with Mar which is a weekly class you can attend; it included songs, a music instrument parade, story time, kazoos, and a parachute. It was fun even for the big kids. Outside we sent up a bounce house and a color the sun craft.

Family & great friends combined with great food, sweets and drinks is really what parties are all about and this one had it all.













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