April is a busy month for birthdays in our family. Ezekiel and Anton are born just a week apart so the next few posts will be talking about parties and food and decorations.

Since E is completely obsessed with soccer, he has of course asked for a soccer inspired birthday party.

His favorite team right now is Real Madrid, so I made my own water bottle wraps by simply going to Google Images, saving the logo, and printing it out.

{one of the dads thought I had imported them from Spain. I was excited they turned out well enough that they looked like the real thing!}

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If you ever print out your own water bottle wraps, my biggest tip is using clear packing tape and covering the entire paper strip as you tape it on the bottle. That way it can be placed in ice without the paper getting soggy or the ink running.

We invited E's friends, as well as the entire family so I wanted to make sure we had something for the adults, too...but wanted to make it pretty obvious that these were not kid drinks.

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I found 2 styrofoam ice chests that fit perfectly inside my wicker chest from Ikea and filled them with ice and yummy grown-up-drinks in mason jars.

They were a hit. I'm going to do it again for Anton's party this weekend.

I have had this cupcake stand from Crate & Barrel for several years and LOVE it.

Several birthdays ago, I tied colorful ribbon all over it, to add more texture and fun and have kept it on. I love how happy it looks.

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I'm embarrassed to say I didn't get a chance to iron the folds out of my table cloths so I quickly grabbed this polkadot wrapping paper out of my party bin to cover up the bulk of the wrinkles.

It ended up being a perfect touch to jazz up the table and coordinated with the polka dot balloons we already had blown up. If you're like me, you've got TONS of wrapping paper lying around. It ended up being the perfect solution & kept food mess from actually getting onto the fabric.

I'm loving the paper doily bunting I made for our Easter brunch and am not willing to take them down yet. So I just added the soccer bunting to our ceiling, as well.

I was sad that it was SUCH a chilly & windy day that we had to have most of the party indoors but thankfully the kids were still able to run across the street to the park and play their beloved soccer.

We had A LOT of kids over. Those who couldn't cram into the dining room, spilled into the kitchen.

Ezekiel's first birthday cake ever. First birthday party ever.

He was BEYOND excited.

The sparkler in the shape of an '8' completely through him off. He couldn't figure out why he couldn't blow it out. So funny.

 My sweet love, we had such a fun day. So proud of you and the friends you have made.

Happy Birthday!