This weekend, we celebrated our little boy's first birthday with a very special party lunch.

Although the weather didn't exactly play ball, it certainly didn't stop the fun... There were balloons, bubbles and a giant ball pool (three of Jasper's favourite things) for the younger party guests, lots of fancy dress games for his big sister and her friends - and plenty of tea and cake for the grown ups too!

We decided against a specific theme, but had fallen in love with the colourful 'Harlequin' tableware by Meri Meri (pictured above) - a simple geometric diamond pattern in a beautifully bright colour combination, including splashes of gold foil to make it all the more special. And being part of Meri Meri's fabulous mix-and-match 'Toot Sweet' collection, we were able to pick and choose the decorations from the rest of the Toot Sweet range, knowing that they would all work perfectly together. The adorable Toot Sweet Children's Garland (pictured above) is approximately 3m long and includes twelve party friends in hats with bright pom poms, and a cute little dog wearing a stripy pink bow tie. And the colourful Toot Sweet Pinwheel Decorations (below) offered a lovely and unusual alternative to helium balloons or paper pom poms: Our invitations were created especially for the occasion by the talented team at Lola's Paperie, a wonderful stationery design studio based in Surrey. Specialising in wedding, baby and children's stationery, they have an incredibly beautiful style and quality to match (with an eco-friendly approach, using only recycled paper and envelopes wherever possible). Choose from their gorgeous range of party invitations, or ask them as we did to create a bespoke design for you - and we were thrilled with the result: The party guests feasted on a picnic of sandwiches and crisps, and a rainbow platter of fruit including strawberries, satsuma pieces, pineapple chunks, green and purple grapes and blueberries, not forgetting miniature chocolate chip muffins and homemade flapjacks (thank you, Granny!)

We sang to the birthday boy and cut the cake, which starred a selection of animals from our daughter's toy collection, and which we decorated using red and white stripy straws from Meri Meri, as well as cake bunting and paper pom pom party hats which we made ourselves using materials sourced at Hobbycraft: And when it was time to go home, the guests each received a party bag containing one of Jasper's very favourite toys, a brightly coloured and soft, textured Rubbabu sensory ball from Toyella: All in all a wonderful day with friends and family - and one happy little boy at the end of it. Special thanks to the team at Meri Meri for providing us with the tableware and decorations, and most of all to everyone who came along and helped us celebrate.

Now to start planning the next one!