planning a fall-themed birthday for your child

There’s something nice about a birthday that comes with a built-in theme. For our son’s first birthday last year (sigh, almost a year ago) we went with just that – a fall birthday! We decided that we could let him have more of an opinion on future selections but that we were going to take advantage of a simple fall-themed birthday for year one.

The Cake

For his cake, I did the honors. I wanted to be able to control the flavors, the design and to make one for just him with a different icing. I loved the idea of using a one-shaped cake pan and I ordered this one on Amazon. This was my first foray into shaped cakes and I found it a bit tricky. Recommend you do a test run if this would also be your first time using one!

I used this recipe from My Cake School for pumpkin spice cake. The recipe is intended to be used for a multi-layer cake, which I did not do. This gave me enough batter to use for the main cake, a separate small square shaped cake for Q and some cupcakes. I found cupcakes were helpful to have for parents who wanted to grab and go versus sit and feed their child.

For Q’s personal cake, I made a separate icing of only whipping cream with some maple syrup. He’s never had cake before so we liked the idea him having something that was a bit less sweet. I didn’t follow a recipe for this. Instead I experimented to get it to the right taste and consistency. I used a square 8″ cake pan for this I bought at Party City, and then placed the cake onto this square cakeboard I ordered on Amazon.

The Food

I did other food on theme as well. I particularly love these easy fall acorn cookies I found from Laura at Southern Made Simple. So easy and such a cute addition to your fall spread! This was also a perfect theme for roasted red pepper hummus and an assortment of veggies. I wanted to make this from scratch (also super easy) but chose to save time on this one. The color of the hummus works great with the yellows and oranges of fall-time.

The Decorations

We found some great decorations on a combination of sites such as Oriental Trading and Etsy. If you haven’t looked for decorations on Etsy before, you are missing out on a goldmine!

• Mini pumpkins & squash
• Hay bales (both mini ones for the tables and large ones for the backyard)
• First birthday burlap sign
• Pumpkin high chair banner (the shop I used is temporarily on holiday, but here is a similar one)

Most importantly, Q had a wonderful time surrounded by family and friends. We ended the day with one happy and completely exhausted one-year-old.

How have you approached fall themes for birthdays on your end? If you use any of the tips above, would love to hear from you as well!