Ollie's First Birthday - Woodland Theme

On Mother’s Day this year, my little son Ollie turned one.

I had been planning Ollie’s party for some time.  It meant a lot to my husband, and me to celebrate Ollie’s birthday in a special way. He has brought so much love, laughter and joy to our lives and we wanted to share this with our family and friends. 

Ollie loves being outdoors and also books about animals.  As a baby, he also seemed to receive many toys and books featuring owls.  I decided to combine all of this with a woodland themed party.

Earthy, autumn colours formed the colour palette for the party – mainly red, green, mocha and chocolate brown as well as a hint of yellow, orange and blue. 

My lovely friend Skye from Little Ladies and Little Lads created all of the party printables. The invitation featured woodland critters such as owls, deer and squirrels as well as acorns, toadstools and bunting.  The cupcake toppers, food labels and party favour tags complimented the invitation beautifully.  Skye's designs were perfect and set the scene for the party (thank you so much x)

Our guests firstly lunched on roast chicken, chicken & pine nut and roast vegetable frittatas, pumpkin slice and a selection of salads.

Dessert followed!  The centrepiece of the dessert table was an amazing two tiered banana cake with dark chocolate ganache by Sarah from Vanilla Bean – Cake Design.  The very cute deer and toadstool toppers were made from icing as was the forest trees on the bottom tier.  I adored this cake and Sarah did a fantastic job!  Thank you Sarah x

Other desserts included white chocolate brownies, choc chip cookies, dark chocolate cupcakes, Tim Tam & Mint Slice cookie pops and salted caramel, cherry ripe and maple & pecan macarons.  My personal favourite were the woodland cookies by Spoon and Fork, decorated with fondant icing and hand painted and stamped details.  Just gorgeous! Our little guests loved the strawberry jelly most. I think they really enjoyed the fun way of eating it - from the cute decorated glass pots with stamped wooden teaspoons!

When thirsty, guests filled mini bottles with forest fruit punch from a glass dispenser and sipped it through green and white striped paper straws. The dispenser and bottles were displayed on an old-fashioned style drinks stand that was made by my dad.  We sat up late one night, designing it and it turned out perfectly.  It was decorated with a hessian bunting, sewn together by my beautiful mum. Other drinks included a variety of flavoured mineral waters, served in a wooden barrel.   

Our little guests were kept entertained with pine cone decorating, ball games on the oval adjacent to our home and posing for photos wearing adorable felt woodland animal masks in the photo booth.  My dad especially made the photo booth for Ollie’s party.  Little guests entered through the black curtain at the back of the booth, popped on a mask and struck a pose.  A digital camera was provided to take the snaps.

As a thank you gift for coming to Ollie’s party, all of our guests were invited to fill a kraft paper bag with lollies.  They scooped the lollies including apple, raspberry and lemon bon bons, M&M’s, jellybeans, chicos and raspberries from glass apothecary jars.

Ollie’s little friends also received a mini terrarium (a little glass jar filled with sand, pebbles, moss and a tiny toadstool), which were personalised with the child’s name.

Ollie had a wonderful time and Tom and I felt so happy and lucky – to be blessed with a beautiful child and also friends and family that care for him so much.

Vendor Credits



Design, concept & styling: Sooti & Sweet


Photography: Mel Boulden Photography


Invite, labels, cupcake toppers, name tags (party printables): Little Ladies and Little Lads


Cake & cupcakes: Vanilla Bean – Cake Design


Cookies: Spoon & Fork


Macarons: Maple Jane Macarons 


Brownies: Four Seeds 


Tartlets: Muratti Cakes & Gateaux 


Cookie Pops & Choc Chip Cookies: Sooti & Sweet 


Bunting: ChikkieMoo Designs 


Mini Terrarium Jars: Sweet Style 


Felt animal masks: Maholo