Ivy’s Pink Sailboat 1st Birthday Party!
Oh how time flies! I can’t believe I’m sharing my daughter’s first birthday party…already! How is she 1? As you know, I love parties, and I’ve chronicled all my older daughter’s birthday parties here on the blog over the last 7 years. It’s surreal to now share my youngest’s 1st birthday party… a pink sailboat birthday party!
Pink Sailboat Birthday Party
A few years ago, my mom and I were browsing HomeGoods and fell in love with these rattan sailboat. We both agreed it would make such a precious children’s party centerpiece, we had to grab it! So we saved it for this special day, even though our sweet girl was just a prayer at that time as we navigated a tough fertility journey.
Here we are! I’m so thankful for our answered prayer of Ivy Hombs. And so for her first birthday, her sailboat birthday party came to life…with lots of pink floral touches, of course! I knew I wanted to fill the large sailboat with flowers and tie on ivy sprigs and ribbon to the top.
We used variegated ivy that I had grown in my garden along with lots of fresh flowers (some from a wholesale florist and some from the grocery) to create the florals. More details on that below…
I found this anchor at Hobby Lobby and gave it a little DIY touch by removing shells (and using those on the floral runner) and filling with faux flowers for a door hanger to welcome guests!
The pink gingham ribbon is a FAVE of mine, you can find it here! It looks darker on the page, but in person it’s a beautiful light shade of pink.
Pink & White Floral Runner
My Mom helped me create a floral “runner” down the center of the table using a similar technique from one of our previous tablescapes here. What we did was arrange a row of miniature vases, small bowls, and even shot glasses to keep the florals low. Then to hide the sides of the vases, we used floral tubes with a flower or two in each. We tucked these in to the sides.
We tucked in a few pretty seashells, lots of ivy sprigs from my garden, and touches of baby’s breath. I LOVE how it all came together, and it might just be my favorite party table yet!
I worked with Mary Catherine Studio on the darling invitations. I absolutely adore how they turned out, the hand-painted and calligraphy touches were just darling. The adorable print on the background is my favorite!
The invitation really set the tone for the whole party, I adored the pink gingham touches and sprigs of ivy.
She also helped with the custom calligraphy name napkins and cups that read “Let’s Sail-abrate!” – I ADORE them!
The Party Menu!
While the party wasn’t a full lunch or dinner, I did want to serve up appetizers along with the sweet treats.
I don’t think I’ll ever have a party without my pimento cheese toast cups (you can find my family’s recipe for these in my cookbook) – they are just so delicious!
Miniature ham biscuits with Peach Truck peach jam and homemade chicken salad rolls were two additional appetizers I served. Delish and easy to serve without too much prep work.
I filled miniature pink gingham baking cups with fresh fruit as well.
We also had petit fours (from Southern Squares) that were absolutely amazing. Cookies were from The Sugary Cookie and they matched the invitation and centerpiece sailboat to a T! If you’re local to Nashville, I highly recommend these talented bakers!
Last but not least, CAKE! Funfetti cake, to be exact, from Copper Whisk Cakes. And one tier of dark chocolate cake! Lizzie hand-painted a gorgeous sailboat on the main cake and a calligraphy “Ivy” on the smash cake!
Sturdier baking cups are fabulous holders for mini fruit cups for parties. I have a little stash of various colors (mostly from HomeGoods) and love to use them for party food!
The petit fours were not only delicious but oh so precious. Some had little sailboats and some read “SS Ivy” and a sprig of ivy.
Children’s Beach Bucket Lunches
For the little ones, I wanted something kid-friendly and festive so we filled up some pink beach buckets that we DIY’d with cute pink gingham liners and tucked down a lunch of a turkey sandwich, “Chips Ahoy” cookies, goldfish, grapes, and juice.
We also added in a little sailboat coloring sheet and some mini colored pencils. The kids loved having an activity to enjoy during lunch!
I LOVE how these lunch beach buckets turned out, they are one of my favorite details!
ZZ & Ivy
I also ordered some fun nautical sailboat hats and captains hats for guests to wear! These were such a fun addition, the kids and adults loved them alike!
We used extra fabric to make nautical flags in pink and white to hang above the party table!
The high chair is a Jenny Lind one I bought years ago from Craigslist and painted for Blakely’s Garden-Themed 1st Birthday Party. I’m so glad we could reuse it for Ivy!
Ivy ADORED her birthday cake! She took the “hands free” approach for most of her cake-eating extravaganza! It was too funny.
We had the absolute best day celebrating our sweet baby girl. I can’t believe she’s already 1! Time flies. I hope you enjoyed the party pictures and leave any questions below in case I missed a resource or link! xoxo – Courtney
Photography: Evin Photography
Invitations, Napkins, Cups: Mary Catherine Studio
Cake: Copper Whisk Cakes
Petit Fours: Southern Squares
Cookies: The Sugary Cookie
Tablecloth & Flag Fabric: Danika Herrick/Spoonflower
Party Hat: Dainty Couture
So adorable! My favorite is when she was sucking on the cake!
These are lovely! :) Glad she had fun!!!
Perfect party! You didn’t miss a detail :)
Do you have a link to the cute little sailboats on high chair?
Hi ABC! The Etsy shop was on a break, so I didn’t have a direct link to the product but the Etsy shop is called StorybookGoods! :)
Hi, do you have a link or brand to the silver platter that some the peti fours were placed on? I love it!
Where can I find the sand pails?
Courtney- Adorable party. Can you share the source for the pink sand pails?
Hi Mindy! Yes, they’re from Hobby Lobby and we spray painted them!
Absolutely love this party! We did a sailboat themed party for my son’s first birthday and am considering one for my daughter’s first after seeing how pretty this is in pink! Do you remember what color/ size gingham fabric you ordered? I’m looking on their website and see many different shades of pink and various sizes of gingham print. Thank you!
Hi Khrissa! We ordered a couple sizes, a small, which was about a 1″ and then a larger buffalo check size which was about 3″
Thanks, Courtney! Any idea what specific color of pink you ordered? I love the soft shade of pink that yours is. There’s so many different shades on their website. Thanks!
Oh, one more question- is the solid pink table cloth from Spoonflower also?! If so, what color is it? Thanks :)
Hi Khrissa! Yes, both tablecloth and flags were ordered as fabric directly from Spoonflower. In the shade “Pale Pink” from Danika Herrick’s designs.
Hi! Where di you find the sail boats for center pieces??
All over, mostly HomeGoods
So darling!!! Do you by chance remember the paint color you used for the high chair? And did you spray it or chalk it?
Hi Tish! I hand-painted it with just foam brushes but sadly don’t know the color. I think I went and bought just a sample can from Sherwin Williams of a simple light pink they had. But I don’t recall the name.
Can I buy the boho woven sailboat from you?
Hey there! I was wondering what bread/biscuit did you use for the chicken salad- they look so yummy! Thank you!
Kaylee
Beautiful! Is the gingham tablecloth from Spoonflower? If so would you mind sharing the exact name with size and color? Thank you!
Including the fabric type used for the gingham tablecloths please, Xoxo
So beautiful! Where is the cake platter from, as well as the high chair?
Cake Plate is Mosser Glass brand and high chair is antique Jenny Lind (bought on Facebook Marketplace)