Elon’s 1st Birthday Party

On Sunday we celebrated our beautiful Elon’s first birthday. This sweet blue-eyed boy has brought us so much joy and happiness with his jolly personality. It has been so exciting to see him and Cella get to know each other as Cella continues to teach Elon about everything she knows. I’ve documented his first birthday party with some photos below.

Look who’s excited about turning 1.

I put together several items from around the house to decorate the dessert table. The giraffe and elephant are actually bookends by Zuny. I printed, framed and hung Elon’s monthly photos 1-11 as a backdrop for the dessert table. 

This kale salad was outstanding, find the recipe here.

BBQ chicken sandwiches were the main item on the menu. I used my sister’s recipe:
10 lbs chicken breast
~3 Cups Broth
2 Large Onion, cut into large circles
~8-10 Garlic Cloves, cut into piece
2 Large BBQ Sauce Containers

Directions:
(1) Layer the chicken breast, onion and garlic in a slow cooker. Pour the chicken broth over everything in the slow cooker and cook at low for 8 hours.
(2) After the chicken is done slow cooking remove the breasts from the pot and allow them to cool off for a bit. Save the broth. Shred the chicken breasts. Don’t wait for the chicken to become completely cold in order to shred it, it shreds more easily when it’s still a little warm. Put the shredded chicken back in the slow cooker.
(3) Put the broth into a pot and bring it to a boil. Boil for about 20-30 minutes or until somewhat reduced. Add 1 large container of BBQ sauce into the broth. Mix until well combined.
(4) Pour the broth and BBQ sauce combo over the shredded chicken.  Cook the chicken on high for another 3 hours before serving. You can add as much more BBQ as you’d like to the shredded chicken, it all depends on how runny you like your BBQ. Serve the sanwiches with cheese slices, pickles, red onion, hot peppers and ketchup.

I made a quick and easy guacamole that included:
10 Avocados
4 Small Tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 Red Onion, finely diced
1 Cup Cilantro, chopped
Salt & Garlic Powder to taste

     
The birthday cake was vanilla with strawberries and buttercream icing. I ordered the cake from Publix and had them decorate it with large blue polka dots to make it look playful. 

 
We had Miss Pickles come over for some balloon twisting. She did a great job entertaining the kids with butterflies, teddy bears, swords, guitars and anything else the kids requested.

Cella helped Elon blow out his one candle. 

Getting the first taste of his birthday cake. 
     
Cella helping her little brother eat his cake.
  
Nom nom nom…

The remnants of Elon’s birthday cake. I guess one can say he did a good job.