The Sound of Music Birthday Party

I have always been a fan of The Sound of Music since I ever remembered. We always knew that we would name our daughter after Dame Julie Andrews's real name - Julia Elizabeth. So, for her first birthday, it's only fitting that we had "The Sound of Music" as our theme.

This the image on the invite. The invite was made of glossy pink paper.

Thankfully we have my mum, who's a whiz in sewing. We got everything we wanted for the birthday party. She made a single bed quilt with the mountains and clouds, with a big "The Hills are Alive with The Sound of Julia Elizabeth" letters on it. At the bottom she sew lots of Edelweisses. We did copy this design from another The Sound of Music party blog, but she made this into a single bed quilt, which Julia will use once she moves to the big bed from her cot. She also attached a photo of Julia on the quilt.

This is Julia with the quilt and the "brown paper packages tied up with string".

I also made her a matching pillow case with "The Lonely Goathered" scene on it and Edelweiss wall and ceiling decorations (made of felt). The wall decorations are now hanging on Julia's room. I also blew white and yellow balloons and made them into Edelweisses.

The "Lonely Goathered" pillow case and Edelweiss wall decoration.

Edelweiss balloons

Edelweiss ceiling decorations

The costume was also made by grandma. Julia wore a pink frilly dress with lace apron (like an Austrian dress) with an Edelweiss brooch on it. She also wore a pink bonnet with Edelweisses on the side. At first we thought of making a real Austrian costume or a white dress with blue satin sashes. However, pink is my favourite colour and given this is a first birthday party, we thought pink would be a good colour for her dress. Julia's brother, Anthony, and dad wore an Austrian-like costume with white shirts and black pants with green Austrian hat, complete with Edelweiss on the hat. I didn't have much time to think about my costume, unfortunately. I wore a beige top and skirt with flower garland (which my bridesmaids wore to my wedding).

Our family in costume

I made the birthday cake. It was a two tiered green cake (like the hills in the Sound of Music) with fondant. I put lots of Edelweisses (made with fondant) on top. The cake top was the Precious Moments figure of Maria on the Sound of Music (this figure has "The Sound of Music" tune). Around the cake were all the items from "My Favourite Things" which I made with fondant. The cake was dairy, nut, egg, and gluten free, which was completely safe from my son, who is allergic to all those, but at the same time tasted great (chocolate).

"These are a few of my favourite things..."

For party favours, I made dairy free white chocolate "Raindrops on roses" and "Edelweiss". Each boy received an Austrian chocolate, which I found by accident in a local store, and each girl received an Edelweiss ring and necklace, which I found online (well, it's actually daisy, but I don't think they knew the difference).

 "Edelweiss" and "Raindrops on Roses" chocolates and Edelweiss ring and necklace favours in "Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String"

Last but no least, here's a picture of Julia with her grandma, who made lots of the sewn things. Julia was wearing my first birthday outfit in this photo.