My Little TT is Turning ONE!

The LOVE of my life, the child I have prayed for and eagerly awaited has not only arrived but is now turning O.N.E!!

So what are we doing to celebrate? Well, the plan is to celebrate all weekend long haha!

A little background:

All children are special, but this little boy was the light at the end of my tunnel. I miscarried in July 2017 and fell pregnant with TT in October. 

By early January 2018 I was skipping into St. Thomas’s hospital to have my cervix reinforced with a high cervical cerclage, also known as a stitch and believe me the excitement was real haha! I was ten weeks pregnant and had Professor Andrew Shennan OBE looking after me, honestly, I felt like royalty. One year later and voilà here we are!  

God is good!

So what is the plan? How are going to celebrate my young prince? With a Par-Tay fit for a baby raver haha! 

Part one: 

The festivities will begin on his actual birthday which thankfully falls on a Friday. Usually, we attend Gymboree but I have planned a day trip to Battersea Zoo with a small group of friends and family. 

This will be our first visit to the zoo, and I simply cannot wait for him to meet all the wonderful animals, he is going to have a ball! The zoo is also free for under 2’s which is a great bonus. 

I am still in two minds about whether or not to take a cake for him to cut with his buddies or whether to just cut something small at home. Nevertheless, if we do not take a cake, I will do party bags and hand them to the little ones before we go home.  

Part two, The Big Day!:

I have been planning this day since December 2018, quite simply because I have been exhausted for what seems like an eternity. Thinking straight or remembering what I was about to type into Google has also been an ongoing challenge since giving birth LOL! Therefore planning things way in advance was the only option and to be honest it really has paid off.

I had a few things on my checklist that I have stuck to which include the following: 

1. Support small businesses. 
2. Keep things as plastic free and biodegrade as possible. 
3. Not to haggle on price. 
4. To keep things as community-based as possible. 
5. To keep the event solely focused on the children. 

I believe I have achieved all of the above, although the commitment to reducing plastics was a challenge. 

I am still quite new to the area so venue hunting was difficult. The internet kept pulling up wedding type venues that were not very child-friendly. Not to mention my dad is a stroke survivor so that was always at the forefront of my mind and of course price, I had no intention of spending thousands on a venue. So trolled the internet day and night. 

Eventually, to my surprise, a beautiful community space appeared in my search results, and it lo and behold it was available!  I walked in and just booked it right away. The guy showing me around looked at me as if I were crazy haha!

It was perfect, it was an all-white barn, flooded with natural light. It had TWO accessible toilets, one with baby changing so the babies and my daddy were covered. 

The kitchen was lovely very simple and clean. They also had both round and rectangular tables. So the venue was ticked off in December!

I am a very loyal shopper and a stickler for customer service. So I will always stick to what I know. So when my balloon decorator was away on holiday for the date I needed I was upset but able to source another without panicking. This is why it pays to plan ahead.

My initial choice went MIA then reappeared after I had sourced and paid my current vendor who honestly is amazing so it was a blessing in disguise in my opinion. 

The original plan was to go with a traditional arch with animals hanging off - which was adorable, but once I had spotted some very unique balloons on my current vendors Instagram page I knew she was the one for me!

The theme for the party will be ”Wild & One” We sent out our invites nice and early (of course haha!) and have made fancy dress optional.

I have a fun packed day planned for the children, no one should leave bored, hungry nor empty handed! 

I recently decided to split the day into two parts so that the under 3s are not swallowed up by the older children haha!

I will also be serving lunch a little earlier to the under 3s as those with little ones will know, they don’t like to eat at the best of times never mind when surrounded by lots of other children and soft play!

It's funny when I look back everyone kept badgering on about it being his first birthday and just doing something small as he would not remember it. However, the party is a celebration of life!

Not to mention I have also spent my last two birthdays cooped up on bedrest in the hospital with a weak cervix.  So this year ladies and gents I am going to “Party Hard”, with my “Little Man” and thank “Jehovah Jireh, My provider” for this precious bundle of joy he has bestowed upon me!

I mean come on, why have children if we can't let our hair down and enjoy them? And believe me, plan on enjoying my little TT to the max!

Please come back and find out how the Party went and I will also provide a list of my vendors. 

                                                                        See ya on the other side,

                                                                                                    Obiele

                                                                 Instagram: @memybumpandI