86'n It

So, this party decoratingwas pretty challenging from a Martha Stewart-esk "make-everything-match" point of view. Not only did we have 95 extra foam fingers to deal with, my lovely husband decided that part of the decor need to be about squirrels (FC is slightly obsessed with them) AND I wanted to incorporate a collage of photos illustrating Franca's time on earth.

Squirrels & "A Life in Photos" & 95 Foam Fingers  


Hmmm.... I think I'm up for the challenge.


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We made a stop at a local party store, Bake it Pretty. They have an amazing website, but we Ashevillians are lucky enough to have a retail store right downtown. We picked up garland, party hats, toothpick pennants and the all-important plastic squirrels and squirrel cookie cutters. Here are some photos of the food spread:

My dad and I made this 3-layer cake with buttercream frosting.

With plastic squirrel toppers of course.

Cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto and goat cheese, cracker & baguette.

With the help of my awesome coworker, Tracy, I created a string of pennants with a photo for each week of Franca's 1st year with a smaller pennant calling out the day. (Many thanks also to Tracy for being the party photographer!)

Here we are, with Day 0 to Day 35 starting near the front door. Such a little peanut!

Sorry Thad, but you happen to be in the best photo of the pennants! (and what says happy first birthday better than Yuengling in a can?!)

Days 63- 77 running down the hallway. She is getting bigger!

Pennants around the dining room in the background.

And a little message at the end. (See how I tried to tie the foam finger in there with the "1st"?)

Of course, the party being her 367 day of life, her party hat had to have a Day 367 tag on it. Unfortunately, within the first 2 minutes of her wearing it, she snapped the string against her face and that was the end of that. Well, I look good in it too, right?

So what did we do with all those extra foam fingers? Here you go:

We stuck them above every doorway. Like this.

Hung them from the front porch.

On ribbon.

And stuck them on the stair rail. Fit perfectly!

And put them pretty much everywhere else too!

We put them on the fireplace along with all of Franca's artwork from the past year.

It was a pretty good party. Most importantly, Franc was surrounded by people she loves and who love her right back!

Like her Nonno. And all the other wonderful people: