Cake smash’s are a great way to celebrate a first birthday!
We celebrated Avery’s 1st birthday in August with a sunflower themed cake smash session, outside, and loved every second of it. Her adorable outfit was sunflower themed too with cute little bloomers and a headband. The theme of this first birthday portrait session matched the theme of her birthday party happening the following weekend at home with friends and family.
First, before the cake smash, we created some portraits of her in a sunflower field! The sunflower field was right around the corner from her house, and with the 6 foot tall flower blooms she was held in moms hands for her portraits. She was so curious about the flowers and why we were holding her up next to them. We got some great smiley portraits of her for her birthday!
Back at home we set up her cake smash in the backyard with the barn and garden in the background. It was actually more of a “cake DIVE” as you’ll see in the photos. At first she was careful to touch the cake, as most kids are with their first cake. But eventually she dove right in face first. The photos from her cake smash are so cute!
An outdoor cake smash is a fantastic alternative to doing them in a studio! Here are some tips for planning one if you’d like to celebrate your little one’s first birthday with an outdoor cake smash like this:
Tips to prepare for an outdoor cake smash
- Start to prepare your little one for this in advance. Take time to sit outside in the grass with them so they are used to the sensation of the grass on their feet and skin. Some kids are sensitive to this and it may take some getting used to.
- Choose a cute outfit! …But know that it will get messy! You always want to do the cake smash at the end of the session AFTER creating your first birthday portraits.
- Choose a location that’s both beautiful and isn’t too buggy.