One in a Melon Themed Birthday Party

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How to decorate a One in a Melon themed birthday party

Although the party wasn’t going to be until March, I started purchasing items at the end of the previous summer. I was able to take advantage of end of summer sales and also knew I’d have a hard time finding watermelon themed items in February. One of my biggest pieces of advice is to plan ahead! Once you have a date and theme picked, think about some simple tasks that can be done in advance or if there are any sales you can take advantage of now that won’t be available closer to the party.

I purchased the One in a Melon backdrop and stand from Amazon. This stand lets you have full control of the height of the backdrop which is perfect for a one year olds party. We had it set up high most of the time so moms could take photos holding their little ones. When it was time for the group photo of the kids, we lowered it down. Photo tip: when trying to get a bunch of one year olds to stay in place, put some snacks on the ground! They’ll have no reason to run away!

The watermelon garland across the fireplace was found at Hobby Lobby. They no longer sell it but I have seen it posted on Ebay.

I made the Happy Birthday and month banner with my Cricut. It definitley took some time, especially with a demanding little one, but sometimes you just can’t beat homemade!

One in a Melon Dessert Table

My favorite area of a party to decorate is the dessert table. I love to spend hours looking up ideas for the perfect themed desserts and layout. For this party, I purchased the tablecloth and plates from Amazon, the surfboard shaped platters from Dollar Tree, and the dessert stands, crate and food signs were purchased years ago that I’ve reused over the years.

The One in a Melon signage you see used across the party area was a downloadable purchased on Etsy. I ordered some of the signage from iQuickly and some from A JOOP HOUSE.

This cake was actually my second attempt at a watermelon themed cake. The first one was rushed and never would have won any kind of beauty contest! Unfortunately/fortunately there are no photos to show my sad first attempt. Since the party had to be canceled at the last minute the first time due to a cold going around, I was able to take my time with this one and was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I made the cake topper with my Cricut.

This was the first time I thought I’d try my hand at decorating cookies. After this experience, I have a new found respect for people who do this for a living! I was pretty proud of how they turned out for a first timer, but for the next party, I’m leaving it to the experts!

To save time, I purchased Pillsbury sugar cookies that I cut into shapes after baking. For the royal icing, I found a recipe on Pinterest and then watched a few YouTube videos on how to create the watermelon rind look.

I just love how simple it is to incorpate the watermelon theme in this party, and the cupcakes are the perfect example! I died some cake batter green, topped them with pink died vanilla buttercream frosting and sprinkled on some mini chocolate chips. No matter how far in advance I plan, I always feel like I’m rushing around at the last minute looking for something. For this party, mini chocolate chips were it! I don’t know why they were so hard to find but I had to go to three different stores before finding a bag!

If the green cupcakes and pink frosting weren’t enough to get the theme across, you can add cupcake toppers of watermelon slices. The cupcake toppers were all made with my Cricut and then glued onto toothpicks. If you want to go another step like I did, add some watermelon flavoring to the pink icing.

If you’re looking for a sugar free option to add to your dessert table, these jello pudding cups are the way to go! I purchased sugar-free jello and sugar-free vanilla pudding that I added a few drops of pink die to. The mini chocolate chips on top would have to be removed if you’re looking to go completely sugar free.

These brownies had nothing to do with the theme, but I can’t have a dessert table without chocolate! For as simple as they were, they were surprisingly a big hit. Thanks Dolly!

Because you can’t live on sugar alone…

Don’t forget about the real food! I always love giving my guests plenty of options when it comes to food. For snacks, we had pretzels, chips and salsa, a fruit tray and a watermelon cucumber salad. For drinks, I had iced tea, watermelon juice and water with watermelon slices in it.

The watermelon bowl was a last minute find from At Home. The plates, napkins and glass carafes were all from Amazon. The water drink dispenser was from At Home as well.

Since there was such a wide variety of ages at this party, I though that a mac ‘n cheese bar would be perfect for lunch! This way everyone was able to build their bowl how they wanted it and choose what was age appropriate for their kids to have. It was a huge hit! I found the crockpot mac ‘n cheese recipe on Pinterest and then added chicken, bacon, avocado, cherry tomato on the side.

One in a Melon Party Favors

You can’t let your guests leave a party empty handed! The adults were able to grab a to-go box and fill it up with as much dessert as they wanted, while the kids took home bubbles. The pink boxes were purchased from Amazon. I then added on a One in a Melon decal that I cut out with my Cricut to match the cake topper. Can you tell I live for the details?!

I hope you have a great time decorating your little ones One in a Melon party and that you were able to get some ideas from this post. For more first birthday party ideas perfect for summer, click here!