“Oh Deere, John is ONE!”

Not me posting about John Robert’s first birthday party when he’s currently 18 months old… *face palm*

Okay, I’m actually really embarrassed at how long it has taken me to sit down and write this. Life has moved so quickly since John came into this world 18 months ago, and this boy is constantly keeping us on our toes. (And awake at night, haha!)

You may remember me posting a little bit about John’s party on Instagram back in October. I shared the prep and the behind the scenes of setting up, but I never really managed to share the entire ‘finished’ party. With that being said, I hope you’ll enjoy taking a trip down memory lane as I take a look back and share about that sweet day!

John Robert’s John Deere and Farm Friends 1st Birthday Party

Ever since John was an itty bitty baby, his favorite book was Ten Tiny Farm Friends. It was a random book I picked up in the check out line at TJ Maxx one day. (I can’t even find it on Amazon!) Little did I know, that book would be an obsession with John. We read that book so many times that I have it memorized — and when he was upset in the car or while   I tried to calm him in public, all I had to do was recite that book and he’d calm down. It was his favorite thing to look at the pictures and point to all the animals. The book was magic. (He still pulls it off the shelf all the time to ‘read’ to himself!)

So when it came time to plan his first birthday party, we knew we wanted to have the theme inspired by his Ten Tiny Farm Friends. Naturally with farm friends came ‘John Deere’ because of his name John. Meanwhile, I guess we set him up for his next obsession because he’s now in love with all things tractors and construction equipment!

 

John Deere and Farm Friends 1st Birthday Party Details

I had so much fun planning and putting together John’s 1st birthday party. It really brought me back to my event planner days. While I know he won’t remember it, I wanted it to be a really special day that we’d never forget!

Invitations & Stationery

For John’s first birthday, we sent out invitations that we customized through Zazzle. One of my favorite things about places like Zazzle is that you can coordinate your stationery, signage, or other decor by shopping artists’ collections. We were able to get stickers that matched our invitations, and I made food labels to match. I also ordered John a custom t-shirt from Zazzle for him to wear that day. It made everything coordinate and look super cute!

Decor & Set-up

To go along with the John Deere and farm friends theme, we opted to have John’s party outside (and in the workshop) on my parent’s property. I even tried to get a petting zoo, but apparently getting a petting zoo that’s available around us in the fall is quite the task. So we had a ton of balloon animals instead!

Inside the workshop we had the food tables, a gift area, the cake and cupcakes with John’s high chair, as well as a barn and tractor photo booth backdrop for people to take photos with. (My dad made the backdrops, and I painted them! It was a huge labor of love.) We also had a couple tables for people to sit, but the majority of the tables were outside. Outside the workshop we had corn hole boards and lawn games set up as well as a bounce house that we rented for our friends’ kids that were a little older so they could run around and have fun.

With Rob’s family coming into town from Texas for the party, we really wanted John’s party to be a full day celebration with our family and friends all together. We rented tables and chairs to make sure that everyone had plenty of space to sit down and relax (and also spread out if they wanted to!) Our tables were just plastic fold out tables dressed with linens from Table Cloth Factory. As a former wedding planner, I always prefer renting linens — but I LOVE using Table Cloth Factory for smaller events where I just need a few linens. Their linens are great quality and super inexpensive. I always keep them on hand for times such as these!

READ ALSO: DIY Balloon Garland Tutorial (Updated)

As far as the decor, most of it came from Amazon! We really dressed up the space with balloon garlands, balloon animals, and animal centerpiece sticks mixed in bud vases with flowers I got from my local Kroger. If you’re wanting to make a massive balloon garland for your next event / party, make sure to read my super easy balloon garland tutorial HERE.

Food & Cake

When it came to the food, I tried to keep it simple by ordering sandwich platters from my local Publix. To go with the sandwiches we had chips, popcorn, and some other treat trays. I named everything with these food labels that I made to keep with the farm theme, and I think it turned out so cute!

• Sandwiches = Fresh Pickins
• Condiments = Fixins
• Cow Tails Candy = Cow Tails
• Cookie Platter = Cow Pies
• Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispy Treats = Hay Bales
• Cupcakes with Animal Wrappers and Toppers = John’s Tiny Farm Friends
• Chocolate Covered Mini Donuts = Tractor Tires
• Vegetable Platter Tray = The Veggie Garden
• Popcorn (wrapped in green tissue paper like corn!) = Popcorn on the Cob
• Basket of Mini Chip Bags = Potato Field
• Spoons = Shovels
• Forks = Pitch Forks
• Knives = Hand Saws
• Bottled Water in the Yeti = Watering Hole

I also ordered these tractor tire cups and swirly straws that I put our custom stickers on, and they were SO CUTE and such a fun detail. The kids especially loved them. I plan to order more for John’s 2nd birthday party when we do a construction truck theme.

Meanwhile, for the cake we opted to do a small smash cake for John and then cupcakes to share with everyone else. I got these farm animal cupcake wrappers with animal toppers, and they were so cute! For John’s cake, I just got a simple white cake and topped it with this really cute cake topper. I loved how you could change out the number to reuse it!

 

Shop Birthday Party Details:

You can shop John’s John Deere and Farm Friends birthday party details simply by clicking the item you’re interested in below to be redirected to the retailer’s website to purchase.

While I’m definitely really late in getting this post together, I hope you enjoyed a look at John Robert’s John Deere and Farm Friends inspired birthday party! It was the sweetest day celebrating our first year with our little miracle baby. Time is such a thief. He’s growing up so fast!