Our family embraces tradition.  Holidays, food, names, and the list goes on.   The “Welcome Party” is a tradition our family started.  Everyone gets to meet the baby, eat, drink, and enjoy each other’s company. In April of 2017, we celebrated James’ birth by having his Welcome Party and this past weekend, we welcomed Henry into the world by having his own party! What made it even more special was it took place in our new home with our nearest and dearest friends and family.

Once all the guests arrived, we gathered around Henry for a little ceremony conducted by Jimmy.  He said a few words about the importance of tradition and how we incorporated it with the party, naming godparents, and the names of our children. James Gerard is named after his grandfather and father whereas Henry Allan honors my two grandfathers, Henry was my maternal grandfather and Allan was my paternal grandfather. Henry’s godparents are Jimmy’s brother Sam and my cousin Rachel who we know will be the best role models and confidantes!

The weather was amazing – quite warm and sunny- but it was so nice to be outdoors in our backyard with everyone.  Henry was the star of the party; he didn’t cry or fuss once and powered through TWO naps to be with everyone (he ended up going to bed an hour early at 6pm and waking up at 7:30am!) We couldn’t have asked for a better day!

We printed pictures from Printiki, which we did for James’ party as well (you can view here). I love the small square photos; they’re unique, great quality, and really cute to display!

When it comes to parties, I love a good monogram. We had personalized napkins, Henry’s Hard Soda, “H” cupcakes, and monogrammed cookies. I found Heidi on Etsy who baked Henry’s monogram cookies. She was AMAZING to work with. The cookies came right on time in airtight sealed bags, beautifully decorated, and delicious! They were the perfect favor for guests to bring home.