Georgia's Polka dot Party

It was a great party and I had so much fun doing all the projects and decorating. We chose a polka-dot theme mainly because Georgia does not have a passion for much of anything and this seemed like an easy thing to do to give Ella lots of little projects that she could help me with- specifically the polka-dot garland. She helped me punch out all the circles and then glue them to the string. It looked really pretty. We also had lots of fun doing the polka-dot cookies. The cake turned out better than expected- I used the extra royal icing from the cookies to pipe dots on to tin-foil the day before the party. Because the cake was for the babies, I didn't want to use too much sugar and chose a mascarpone/whip cream frosting with fresh vanilla bean for flavor. Just before bringing it out, we took the dried dots and stuck them on the frosting. So pretty! And with my new printer, I was able to print off stickers with Georgia's photo for the hats and party favor bubbles. Georgia was in a rotten mood for most of the afternoon (not surprising since she had woken up at 5 am that morning but wouldn't lay down for a nap with so many people in the house.) so I wasn't able to really take many photos. Half the reason I went to such an effort for the party was so that I would have a few nice shots for Georgia's photo album which is a bit sparse compared to Ella's. So much for that plan...
I had also planned on getting a bunch of helium balloons that morning before the kids showed up. I remember that at Ella's first birthday, the kids LOVED the ballons. However, I got up that morning to hear the wind howling down the street and ominously grey clouds covered teh sky. I decided that it would be next to impossible to walk home from the shop with a bunch of balloons tied to the stroller so I had to abandon that plan, which was a big disappointment. I just feel like helium balloons make it such a party. I should have just coughed up the 50 euro for the mini helium tank that you take home to blow up balloons. Next time, I'll know not to take the risk on February weather!
But I did have one happy surprise at the party. I had chilled a bottle of nice champagne, after one of the mom's RSVP-ed by mentioning that she felt that the first birthday celebration was really for the mother- which I heartily agree with. I do feel like I need to celebrate my 'survival' of the first year of Georgia. After I served the cake, I opened the champagne and asked if anyone would like a glass. Every single mom took some! Yeah, drinking in the afternoon! These are my people :-) Now, I loved Ella's playgroup. I am still friends with most of the moms and we go out together and exchange houses for vacations. I like them. BUT they were not up for Cocktail Playgroups.