I sat on this post for a few months. Mostly due to the fact that I haven’t quite had the words to express the amazingness and yet the overwhelming ‘it’s not suppose to be this way’ undertone of my youngest child’s first birthday. There are tons of inspirations for Girl Gang parties. It’s all over Pinterest, scattered throughout Hobby Lobby, and a slogan fit for Etsy. Before February 8, 2021, I thought of ‘Girl Gang’ as a cute saying with surface level thinking covered in leopard print and lipstick clipart. On February 8th, this changed. So, what is a Girl Gang? Let me see if I can adequately share my thoughts.
Amelia’s Definition of Girl Gang:
- Women. Women in every path of life that are suited to meet you where you are.
- Your prayer warriors.
- Your ‘make you feel better, he was the WORST’ trash talkers.
- Your tissue carriers.
- Your 9pm, ‘are you okay? Let me grab the wine,’ ladies.
- Your, ‘ have you eaten today?” Text 10 minutes later. ‘I need you to go to Smoothie King, this is your only task for the day,’ best friend.
- Your, ‘I have a friend that you need to meet. I think you two have a lot in common,’ friend.
- Your, ‘Do you need to leave work? How are your kids? Do whatever you need to do,’ elementary principle.
- Your neighbors.
- Your sisters.
- Your aunts.
- Your grandmothers.
- Your daughters.
- Your mom.
Women that helped a grown woman get out of her bed by repeatedly saying, ‘it’s not your shame’. Women that bring hope to what feels like a dim future. My Girl Gang. With everything that was going on in May and all of the uncertainty that February brought me, I found myself really annoyed leading up to Landry’s first birthday. Every time I fixed my hair, I wanted to scream at the man that left me. Why? You might ask. Because I had ‘fly aways’. Like the post partum ‘fly aways’. Like the ‘part your hair on this side’ fly aways’. My hair was still growing in from post partum hair loss. Those ‘fly aways’ were just another reminder that my husband of ten years left me as a single mother to a one year old… and five year old… and seven year old. The ‘fly aways’ were a reminder of an empty bed, hurt, and betrayal. But, even though I had those stupid, obnoxious ‘fly aways’, I still had a beautiful, life giving, soon to be, one year old. And she deserved a celebration. In fact, we all did. We were alive and surviving. This my friends, is worth celebrating. So we celebrated, ‘Girl Gang’ style. Pink was required. Lipstick was encouraged. Only girls allowed.
Meet Amy. She brought wine and helped me build the word’s cutest high chair from Amazon… at 10 o’clock the night before this celebration. If I remember correctly, we had both just gotten back from our kiddos’ baseball game. She was probably tired as hell, but she was (and is) an integral member of THE Girl Gang.
Since this was last minute, I needed board that I could cut with craft tools. For the backdrop I used sheetrock foamboard. This is for one and done use. This board cuts easily with an X-Acto knife, but also tears easily. If you are wanting a more permanent, multi use background, click here.
For the balloons, I used command hooks, twisty long balloons (animal balloons) to tie them together, and clear tape. If you would like to see how I bundled the balloons, click here.
The balloons were Qualatex balloons. I used the following colors: Peal Pink, Rose Gold, Gold, and Chrome Green.
The finished product! I sure did love how it turned out. The paper flags added emphasis to this GIRLS ONLY theme!
I loved my maternity photos and Landry’s sweet baby photos, so I put them on display. They were the perfect contribution to a GIRLS ONLY bash!
Flowers from Whole Foods added color and life to this party!
Sweet perfection! Click here for these Girl Gang Plates.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GIRL GANG!
@suchprettyfaces nailed the calligraphy on these pots! We used succulents, because they are easy to keep alive and the puns are too good. We kept it PG with ‘My life would SUCC without you.
CakeAholics made the most YUMMY cakes and Neily’s Sweets made the most beautiful (and YUMMY) hand painted cookies!
WIN. WIN. WIN. She handled this cake just fine. It was like love at first sight. A little lady after my own heart.
This party was healing, needed, extra, and so cute. I’m going to end this with my Facebook post that I made on the day of sweet Landry’s birthday:
Landry, you my dear are perfect. Your first year of life isn’t symbolic for your life on this earth. You are perfect and wonderfully made. You are made in the image of the Father and on my darkest days your smile has literally ripped the darkness out of me. I love you, sweet baby. And never forget that behind every powerful woman is a Girl Gang of powerful women with Fanny packs and purses filled with band aids, Tylenol, margaritas, mini vans, Taco Bell, wine, cake, breakfast tacos, and love.
In brokenness there is rebuilding, in pain there will eventually be beauty, and where one woman feels broken- she’s got a forcefield of women with word of Jesus and margaritas.
Cheers to us!
Such Pretty Faces 