Neutral First Birthday Party - Watch Me Grow * Moms and Crafters

I’m excited to share my baby’s neutral first birthday party with a classy but playful theme today! When you’re done, you can check out this pastel rainbow first birthday party, too. This post contains affiliate links.

For Baby J’s first birthday, I wanted to create something that was classy but also had a playful vibe. I ended up going with a “soft theme” as I’ll call it – that is, it kind of has a theme but it’s not “in your face”.

The overall theme was “watch me grow,” and it featured very soft botanicals.

To avoid getting overly beige with it, I created more of an expanded neutral palette. Sage and forest green played a strong role, mainly through botanical motifs, but also in some of the decor.

I also found some Thanksgiving clearance pumpkin spice kind of colors to add a neutral-but-not-boring touch. And it really vibes with J’s hair color.

I’m going to go through all of the elements in this neutral first birthday party one at a time. I’d like to point out that I did share a lot of individual tutorials for these ideas, so I’ll link to those as well. But the idea of this post is to give you an overview to plan your own, not necessarily to highlight individual tutorials.

So I’ll also share “buy” options for some of the DIY ideas.

Neutral First Birthday Party Decorations

The decorations of any party make the atmosphere, and this one was no different. I will highlight the actual table settings separately, and for now, I’ll focus on the decor.

The Centerpiece

First of all, I found the perfect bouquet at Trader Joe’s. It had various types of fresh Eucalyptus together with white florals.

A fresh floral bouquet is the perfect centerpiece for a first birthday party, which is more for the adults.

I placed it in a simple glass vase.

If you don’t see such a bouquet in real life, you can start with dried eucalyptus and add the most realistic-looking white or cream flowers you can find.

The Balloons

Next, we had the decorative balloons. I have a hard policy against latex or similar balloons at toddler parties at home (they will pop and are a choking hazard).

So we stuck to some beautiful matte finished mylar balloons – including a sage green number one and a tan “happy birthday” that we stretched in the large opening between our living and dining room.

Tip: get the same sized (40 inch) number balloon for every birthday and pose your kid with it! Watch as they reach that height – and then get taller!

The one dangled in the middle of the “Happy Birthday” at the perfect angle to get a shot of J with it as well.

The milestone banner with photos

Next, I put up a milestone 1st birthday photo garland that I designed and crafted. It stretched across the dining room (extra string helps accomplish this) and hung over the table.

Hanging it over the table allowed me to hang it low enough that guests can look at the photos without bumping into it.

Again, choosing scrapbook paper that fits with the decor means that I can really make everything blend in. This milestone banner was a huge hit and really made the party meaningful.

The first part of it says “watch me grow”, tying the whole theme together.

The tissue paper decorations

One new thing that I did for this neutral first birthday party that I may repeat in the future was creating tissue paper decorations from scratch. I did this in part to take the place of balloons.

I created a tissue paper tassel garland that hung on the windows behind the whole party. And I hung clusters of tissue paper flower pom poms that softly tied in with the theme on either side.

Again, choosing colors of tissue paper to go with the theme is the starting point for matching any party decor. And tissue paper particularly makes for very soft decorations, perfect for any baby-themed event.

As you can see, I created a sort of layered look with the neutral party decorations. In front, you have the Happy Birthday (the one that wasn’t hung yet in this photo), then over the table we have the milestone garland, and then behind it, there are the tissue paper decorations.

Neutral First Birthday Party Table Settings

The table linens

I don’t usually treat myself to new tablecloths for first birthday parties, but hey, why not? I got this really inexpensive one from Amazon, and use it often enough that it’s justified. And yes, it’s stain-resistant too.

The soft beige fits with the color scheme and allows for the other colors to stand out, keeping things clean visually.

I put a beige and white burlap runner across it to ground the center and add texture and dimension (as in, to make it less boring…)

The vase of flowers stood right in the center.

The paper goods

I mentioned above that I found some brighter almost-neutrals for the cutlery and cups. Look for Thanksgiving colors: pumpkin, spice, etc. The fall tones added a pop of color to the neutrals and really gave it some pop.

The plates were also from Amazon and featured florals, including, yes, eucalyptus. They looked just gorgeous next to the bouquet. They weren’t matchy-matchy, but they fit right in.

For napkins, I got “gold” ones that just worked. I put it in a napkin holder that I laser engraved (no, not special for the party! I did it another time) and filled with sage green paint.

Everything just looked so festive, soft, but with hints of color that made so much sense. And matched J’s hair.

Food for a Neutral First Birthday Party

I NEVER match my food fully up with my party themes. It feels forced, and I honestly just want to have good food. So I figured I’d share what I served so that you can get inspiration for your first birthday party.

But the cool thing is that at the end of the day, I felt like the food just fit right in, too.

The main spread

I served the main food on the counter. I started with a loaded tuna salad with veggies, olives, nuts, and avocado.

In the center was a gorgeous rustic bread bowl of half pita breads (perfect for stuffing with the tuna salad). The bowl is made of olivewood and just looked so good at the party.

Next tot it was more spreads – cream cheese, egg salad, hummus, tahini, guac…

I made a side of salmon, which I placed on a large wood charcuterie board and decorated with citrus slices. Yes, it IS missing piles of herbs decorating I,t too! Ooops!

I also put out a tossed salad with terra chips, a pasta salad, and a broccoli slaw.

The snacks

Now, the snacks really matched, which was accidental and cool considering that it was on the main table. I put out some golden potato chips and various corn chips with salsa. I put out Bamba – a baby-friendly peanut snack (skip if you have someone with an allergy).

There were Trader Joe’s wrapped peanut butter and chocolate krispy bars, a huge hit. And two types of popcorn fit right in as well!!

The cake

We have a family tradition that started when I finally conceded that I’m useless at decorating cakes: we have birthday babkas instead of birthday cakes!

And yes, I do make a cake topper to put in the center!

I designed this one cake topper with its mini garland to go into it, and it is so stinkin’ cute! I do offer tips in the tutorial post for making sure yours is food safe.

High Chair & Baby at our Neutral First Birthday Party

Finally, we have the King Himself and His Throne!

I did make a felt garland to hang on the high chair. Go ahead and pick up a pack or two of felt in the correct colors (pumpkin/spice, sage green, beige…) to make various baby decor.

The high chair garland didn’t quite come out as nicely as I’d hoped, so I did not create a tutorial.

The star of the show was the prince himself, of course, and every prince needs a crown! Again, I designed this felt first birthday crown for the party, and it was quite a beginner-friendly project.

We posed him, of course, with the big 1 balloon – a tradition we plan to keep up! For every birthday, we are purchasing a 40-inch ba lloon – and it’s going to be cool to see how they catch up to its size – and then outgrow it!