Smith Family Weblog

We celebrated Owen’s first birthday with an airplane theme at our house on July 4th. Many, many thanks to our family and friends who joined us in Kansas, and those who sent wishes from afar. Here are a few shots of the party decorations, attendees and, of course, the birthday boy.

Boarding pass invitations set the date:

And a cockpit, bomber jacket and tiny aviators awaited our little pilot.

Karyl and I made clouds (and planes) to float throughout the dining room:

This little suitcase decoration was one of my favorites:

I made cloud cupcakes topped with candy planes, and lots of number one cookies:

We served Gramma’s strawberry lemonade and an Aviation gin cocktail from the “beverage cart.”

Favors included map stickers, colorful aviator sunglasses, pilot’s wing pins and a few other goodies.

I made a huge batch of honey roasted peanuts, and we served pretzels along with other appetizers.

Bryan manned the grill, and we served up a traditional July 4th barbecue menu. We thought that would be better than typical airline fare…

Our newly minted Uncle Tom:

Gramma and Grampa Great:

Grampa is a longtime pilot who provided the inspiration for the party, as well as many of the planes we used to decorate. To thank him, I made him a set of cookies in his Cessna ID number.

Owen seemed to have a great time (after he FINALLY woke up from his late afternoon nap):

My mom made Owen and angel food cake, and the girls politely helped him blow out his candle after we sang.

We sang to Aunt Laura, too, who was also celebrating her birthday. So sweet of her to do it in Kansas with us.

Owen wasn’t all that interested in unwrapping his gifts, but he’s had a great time playing with them since!

Thanks, everyone, for making Owen’s first so memorable! We love you all!