My Parties: How to Host a First Birthday Fiesta

A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to be able to help my nephew’s family celebrate his daughter’s first birthday fiesta! Sweet Madelyn could not have had a better time at her party! Her mom Brooks did most of the work and I just dashed in at the last minute to add a few touches.

Like many couples, I’m sure, Brooks wanted a blow-out party and Jon wanted to keep things much simpler. They comprised on a fiesta with family and friends. The “first fiesta” theme was a logical choice because Brooks had recently hosted a fiesta-themed bridal shower and had many decorations left over.

Fiesta Decor

Let’s start outside and work our way in. For the front porch, I made a wreath from taco shells. This was a fun project, and I’ll have a tutorial up for you tomorrow.

In the foyer, Brooks has a great turquoise table that we used to display the party invitations and photos of Madelyn at 3, 6 and 9 months. I painted the frames in the party colors and then made tissue flowers to fiesta-them-up a little more. (Flower tutorial coming on Thursday!) The always fabulous Lindi of Love the Day tweaked the colors of her fiesta printables collection just for our party.

Here’s the view from entrance to their home. I love how Brooks and her friends strung a traditional Mexican cut paper banner and tissue poms all over the house. Before the party, Brooks also had Madelyn’s first birthday photos made, and put one enlargement above the fireplace.

Fiesta Food

Brooks had a local restaurant cater the party and the chicken quesadillas were hands-down the best I’ve ever had. I set the kitchen bar with a fiesta-inspired fabric I found at Joann’s and trimmed with ruffled tissue fringe from Shop Sweet Lulu. For a stand-up party, you need a sturdy plate, so I suggested these from Party City to Brooks. Draped throughout the buffet were mini lantern lights — plugged in, they helped liven up the buffet. (Signage by Love the Day!)

Fiesta Desserts & Activities

The party continued onto the back patio, where the children played with a pinata.

The guests feasted on cupcakes — half embellished with Love the Day party circles and the other half with fondant toppers from Milk and Honey Cakery.

Fiesta Smash Cake

Of course, the best part of the afternoon was watching Madelyn very tentatively explore her cake. She was really not at all sure about the large pink thing. It had to be poked and tested a few times. She finally got the hang of it.

I made the “one” high chair banner from Love the Day papers and added two more tissue flowers.

Find even more fiesta birthday party ideas on my Baby’s First Fiesta Pinterest board.