Baby Kate Turns 1!

Kate's first birthday was Friday.  Sadly my sweet baby girl was sick with a cough, runny nose, sore throat, etc.  We had planned a birthday brunch for Saturday morning that we sadly had to cancel.  The preparations had already started so we pieced together some birthday fun when it was enjoyable for Kate.  Here are the bits and pieces of our preparations and celebrations:
Cream Cheeses:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese:
8 oz. light cream cheese, softened slightly
1 cup of pureed pumpkin (I used my own, but canned would work and maybe have a stronger flavor)
1-2 T. pumpkin pie spice
Mix and enjoy

 Boursin & Green Onion Cream Cheese:
8 oz. light cream cheese, softened slightly
1/2 package of Boursin
1/8 cup sliced green onions
Mix and enjoy.  This is good with pita chips as well as bagels.

Rainbow Fruit Tray - I ommitted the purple grapes since I accidently bought seeded grapes.

Our brunch ended up being a dinner so much of our brunch plans were just enjoyed by our family for breakfast over the weekend.

I tried out the rainbow cake that has been all over the web.  The cake was unbelievably moist and the frosting was delicious, but far too runny.  I used this recipe for the cake, but I also followed the sugggestion of this recipe to add fruit.  I used this Magnolia Bakery frosting recipe, but I doubled it.  It was FAR too much frosting and would have benefited from less milk.  I would recommend adding in a bit of milk as you go.  In addition to the fruit I used food coloring to brighten the colors.  I was very pleased with the flavor of the cake.

 I made some "Happy Birthday Kate" confetti on my Cricut as well.

These rainbow colored poms were made with tissue paper I already had using this tutorial.  I combined various shades of these colors.  They were basic, but festive.  I used pipe cleaner to hold them which made it easy to hang them from twine with scotch tape.

 Here is Deane "helping" his dad hang the poms.

I made a photo banner to hang across the mantel.  I just printed my favorite photo from each month on photo paper, cut circles and numbers using my Cricut and decogpauged those pieces together.  Using clothes pins, I attached each photo and decopauged number to the ribbon.
I'm most proud that I didn't spend a cent on any of our decorations.  I only used materials I owned.  It brings me such joy to make use of items that have been sitting in containers for such a special purpose as celebrating my little girl.

We didn't have the party we planned, but it was still fun to celebrate Kate!  You can see more of the ideas I collected on Kate's Pinterest birthday board.