Nori Turns One: Boho Inspired “Quarantine” Birthday

Last week we celebrated Nori’s first birthday and I’m still struggling to understand how a year FLEW by. I still remember like it was yesterday bringing her home from the hospital and how painfully nervous I was as a new mom. Crazy, right? Her big day was finally here and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have extravagant plans for her first birthday. I mean, it’s her FIRST birthday. You only turn one once, so I wanted to do it big. So many hours were spent scrolling through Pinterest searching for the perfect theme, cake, décor – you name it. I finally landed on some pretty great ideas until COVID-19 shut-all-of-that-down.

I tried not to worry about this dilemma, but let’s be honest.. social-distancing during a first birthday is hard – simply put. Even if we couldn’t throw a huge party, we wanted to at least celebrate with close family and friends. Given the current state we’re in, I had to get creative. I scratched all of my ideas, ordered a small amount of decorations, took on several DIY projects and became a pastry chef in the kitchen. The day couldn’t have turned out more perfect and we found a way to still share it with everyone we loved. We took the day easy, just playing, relaxing, and capturing photos so that we’ll always have this day to remember. 🤍

I thought I’d share my Top Five Tips for planning a “Quarantine” birthday for anyone who may be in a similar situation soon:

1. Send out evites (electronic invitations). I almost passed on this, but I think it made such a difference. I sent the invitation to family and friends informing them of the “Virtual Celebration”. The evite also provided the date/time and Zoom ID #. Simple enough.

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2. Make your cake. Seriously – it saves so much money. I made two cakes for Nori – one for her cake smash and one for her actual birthday. I’m not a baker by ANY means (trust me), but if I can DIY a cake, so can you! I filmed an IGTV on my Instagram (@_brookeangelique) with step-by-step instructions on how you can replicate this cake!

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3. If you’re celebrating a first birthday, take “Cake-Smash” photos yourself. This is something I originally planned to do with a photographer, but I had to make it work from home. Grab a simple backdrop (paper or even a sheet will work) and add décor that fits the birthday theme. I quickly took Nori’s cake smash photos using my iPhone and they turned out great.

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4. Re-use decorations throughout the day. I took several photos of Nori to document her first birthday, but I didn’t want to break the bank purchasing decorations that would never get used again. The balloons that I used in her room were later used to create a balloon sculpture. The greenery used in her cake-smash photo was also used in her cake and highchair décor. You get the idea. Buy a small amount of decoration and recycle it throughout the course of the day.

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5. Celebrate with loved ones via Zoom. Zoom is a video communication platform that allows you to host video conferences (similar to Skype). We created a Zoom meeting and were able to have several family members and friends join to sing Nori happy birthday. It was the perfect ending to her big day.

Tip: Have the Zoom meeting set up in advance and test it out with someone. I did a trial run prior to her actual celebration and realized I needed to change a few settings.

That’s it! I hope you find this information useful. Are you planning a quarantine birthday? If so – what are some ideas you have to make the day special? I’d love to know! If you use any of these ideas, feel free to tag me so I can share!

Xo,

Brooke