A Fall Birthday

My son, Vin's, birthday falls at the perfect time of year. September 26 is the official day and the weather here in Michigan is gorgeous. Red, orange and purple are just starting to peek out on the edges of the trees and the nights become cooler. We've usually had at least one freeze so most of the mosquitoes are gone and the days are dry and sunny. My son was born on a day just like this. We came home to the first fall in our home where our backyard was actually "somewhat" complete. We were in pure bliss with our newborn baby. The weather was wonderful, we took long drives together to see the trees changing, stopped by orchards, and sipped hot cider on cool evenings. All of this, I wanted to encompass when we celebrated his first year of life in the world.

One of the most important parts of a birthday theme (to me) is the food. We started with a charcuterie board with beef steaks, beef summer sausage, brie, goat cheese, Amish baby swiss, sharp cheddar, cranberry cheddar, and black cherries. We paired with 2 different types of crackers and sliced bread.

We also had spinach & artichoke dip in a crock pot with fresh sliced bread.

We originally planned to make vegetable soup as a main coarse but had an unusually hot day so opted for a fall salad instead. Somehow we didn't get any pictures of the salad we made but it turned out amazing. It was the perfect fall blend with pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, apples, walnuts, and gorgonzola with a maple syrup vinaigrette.

Lastly, dessert. Birthday cake can be boring and we love Costco cakes so it's definitely nothing unique. I wanted to put more of a fall twist so made a homemade pumpkin bread and apple dumplings. Both were big hits!

You won't believe how you make these dumplings- hint: there is Mt. Dew in the recipe!

Check out my recipes tab for more on the food.

As far as decorations, we had some hay bails, mums and got a few fall decor pieces from Amazon and the Dollar Tree. It was such a simple party but perfect for what we were wanting.

A quiet space...

I love having the option to take my baby to a quiet area at someone's house and wanted to create that space for this party too. This was the best seat in the house...shaded, quiet, and facing the deck so you didn't feel like you were missing out.

Overall, Vin's first birthday turned out great! It always goes by too fast but so glad we have great pictures, and great memories from this special day.