Pink Piggy Party

Happy happy first birthday to our spunky, adorable, and joyful fourth child!  We love you so much, Hosanna Joy, and it truly was a joy to celebrate this milestone with you on Sunday.

 We had a pink piggy party for Little Sprout.  Everything was in shades of pink, even the birthday girl's special outfit. 

 I made a swirly pink cake topped with a princess piggy bank.  The cake recipe was this vanilla cupcake recipe from Glorious Treats.  I did switch out the vegetable oil for coconut oil and added a few spoonfuls of strawberry preserves for flavor and a little pink color.  The frosting was colored with beet juice (about one teaspoon of beet juice to every eight tablespoons of frosting).  Besides the cake, we served popcorn in a big pink bowl, pigs-in-a-blanket, strawberry angel cookies, and homemade strawberry lemonade. 

 Little Sprout's grandpa made a colorful birthday banner featuring photos of the birthday girl from every month of her life so far.  (The background is a bunch of bananas because "Banana" is Daddy's favorite pet name for her.)

 Besides the banner, the dining room was festooned with pink and white streamers and festive little pigs.  I made the pigs by purchasing a set of five pink fan circle decorations from Party City and then hot gluing pig ears, eyes, and noses to each one. 

 I knew from the moment she was born that Little Sprout would wear a cute tutu for her first birthday.  I followed the directions here on the Ribbon Retreat to make her a cute, very fluffy tutu.  I used bright pink and light pink tulle and accented it with a big pink flower.  For her shirt, I purchased an inexpensive white long-sleeved onesie from Walmart, cut out a "1" from pink polka-dotted fabric, and hand-sewed it to the onesie with pink thread and matching rik-rak.  Her gigantic flowered headband was a gift from a friend. 

 My darling baby girl had a grand time at her party. 

 She dove into her cake with great gusto while our other guests enjoyed the party food and played fun games on the Wii.  She enjoyed her cake so much that Grandma had to give her a quick sink bath before she opened her gifts.  A sleepy baby in cupcake pajamas cuddled with her new "babies" and fell asleep in her momma's arms.  It was the perfect end to a perfect piggy party.