The Big One: A Biggie Smalls Themed 1st Birthday Party

Something really cool I got to plan recently was my smalls’ 1st birthday, and the theme was The Big One. While we initially had invited guests, for a million reasons it turned into teeny tiny family party with just my son, husband and mom… but me being me, I still had a photographer come to capture all the decor I got (and take family pictures but for the purpose of this post, I’ll just post the themed items and birthday boy.) Which by the way, the decor pictured is less than what I initially planned but I had to tame it a bit being that we had no guests haha.

I wanted to share what I found so that if you too would like to plan a super cool Biggie Smalls themed birthday, you have the deets. Also, was this theme more about the parents than the child? Yes. I can admit that. But, by age two I anticipate my very opinionated son will tell me what theme he wants so it was really my first and last chance to choose. Plus, we have almost daily 90s dance parties so it actually IS music he loves!

What I ended up loving about this intimate birthday celebration is all the family pictures we got to take as well as the little details of my son’s room and toys. Even though those things may seem unnecessary now, looking back one day it’ll be so cool to be reminded of exactly how his world looked at age one… and what gifts he received — and loved — like this ball pit!

At the bottom of this post you will find a list of linked items and service providers from the photos (which can be made bigger by simply clicking on them.) We are now in Arizona so these are primarily Arizona-based providers but I’m happy to give inspiration if nothing else! If you’re just here to peruse, I hope you enjoy my baby’s 1st birthday celebration.

Side note: I feel like every time I go to write a post I’m reminded of just how long it has been since my last post. Here’s the reality of it all… I’m a stay-at-home mom and I LOVE every minute of it. However, you’d think that means I have a lot of extra time on my hands but my child is spirited to say the least. He’s the definition of non-stop. He takes two 22 minute naps per day and he doesn’t go to bed until 9pm and he wakes up at about 7am everyday (or today even earlier) so… I’m really lacking the time to just sit and type (especially because I do still work with a few freelance clients.) BUT — and I know I say this every time — I realllllyyyyy want to start making some more time to blog on a regular, or at least semi-regular basis. Hang in there readers, I’m working on consistency! Anyway, now for the party details…

1. The one I purchased is no longer available, but this is a similar ball pit.
2. Personalized cookies. I sent ideas — mainly from Pinterest — to my friend Blythe, who sent them to an amazing cookie designer, Iced to Perfection, in California. She put her own spin on them and they turned out so cool.
3. The 6″ cake was purchased from a neighbor on NextDoor who shared about her cake-making business. Using NextDoor is a great way to find local sellers/small businesses.
4. The signage with lyrics were made by me on Canva and then I had them printed at my local UPS Store. The poster frames I used in my son’s room were purchased on sale from Michael’s.
5. The Notorious One onesie and family shirts were purchased on Etsy by a seller I highly recommend. She even personalized a shirt for my mom who goes by “Coco” rather than “grandma.”
6. Welcome sign, cupcake toppers, and invitation (not pictured) were designed by another Etsy seller who was also great to work with and has many options to personalize items and make your party exactly what you want!
7. 5″ tall candles plus “1” candle for cakes were purchased from Michaels.
8. Balloon garland and balloons at entry way were purchased from a balloon maker who also hung the garland for me (believe me, I’m grateful I paid for that), but the balloons we used in his crib and on the floor for photos were purchased off of Amazon and I had a ton extra because it was actually a balloon garland kit. A note on the garland made by the professionals… it was delivered on October 3rd and much of it is stillllll lasting 20 days later…. AMAZING because my son is obsessed with it.
9. Donuts were purchased from a local donut shop, but the donut stands will definitely be used again and a similar set is linked.
10. Nothing Bundt Cakes will forever be our favorites so we got those instead of mini cupcakes, and the acrylic stand — which now is being used in my bathroom for my various skincare items — is linked.
11. Oddly enough we had difficulty finding black and gold wrapping paper, but we used plastic table cloths instead — a very cheap alternative — along with white and black ribbon to wrap gifts. We also used a black table cloth for the dessert table along with some black glitter to dress it up a bit (and when we were done I just folded up the table cloth with the glitter inside and threw the whole thing away… no mess!)
12. For my son’s smash cake, I made it myself. I found the recipe on Pinterest and he loved it! Although I would say the texture is more of a dense bread than a cake, he loved it so much and the Whipped Coconut Cream was easy and a fun treat.
13. The Big One sign was painted by me… I just bought a white poster (they didn’t have black), painted it black, cut it into a rough circle, and then drew on the print and painted over it a few times so the white would really pop. I secured it to the wall with museum putty so it wouldn’t put any holes in the wall, and it stayed perfectly.
14. Splurging on a photographer may or may not make sense for your family and budget, but especially with our party more or less being cancelled, it made even more sense for us because with an hour session we were able to get so many details PLUS family photos (including some really amazing pictures with my mom and Enzo which are really priceless to me!) All photos in this post were taken and edited by Prickly Pear Photography.

Had the plan always been a very tiny party, I probably wouldn’t have done all the decor, but since it was already purchased… might as well get pictures and share my ideas with others! I hope you enjoyed and if your babe is turning one soon, consider a “cool” theme like this one.