These days, there are all kinds of fun and trendy traditions to do when your baby turns one. One of the most popular is the cute and coveted smash cake session. It can get a little - okay, super messy and sometimes stressful to set up and execute smoothly. Don’t worry, girl! I have plenty of tips to share! Read below for all the things we would definitely do again and some things I might rethink for our next smash cake session. Scroll for galleries of the cake smash and one year old portraits of Baylor.

Must do’s:

• Find a photographer who is experienced with this type of photo session. We used Morgan Weaver Creative if you are local in AZ. She did our family photos that we absolutely loved in the fall and I knew she had some experience with babies and knew how to shoot them. I love her editing style and she knew exactly what to bring and how to set up the space most efficiently.

• Find a space with natural light. We don’t have a ton of great natural light in our house, so we booked an hour at a studio with a lifestyle room. We used ONE2ONE Studio in Mesa, AZ. They have multiple rooms you can rent that all have natural light and lots of windows which we loved! So many different kinds of set ups available at an affordable rate. I’d love to take photos there again for something else.

• Bring all the fun props! I loved the theme we used - Baylor’s First Trip Around the Sun

  I used a cheap galaxy tapestry of Amazon, NASA outfit from Amazon, Astronaut balloon from Target, Star Marquee prop from Amazon, and some dollar store star balloons. It does not take much for the space to feel festive if you are using a theme (links included).

• Bake or buy a cake!

  I baked a Funfetti box cake in a Pyrex bowl and it actually worked out way better than I anticipated! I used black food coloring to make gray icing (from the can - yes I am so lazy). I bought some white fondant from Michaels and used a tad bit of black food coloring for the craters. All I did was put the fondant in a ziplock baggie and squish it all around until I had my desired color. I used the smallest amount of flour to roll it out and a bottle cap and straw to cut the craters. SO STINKIN EASY. I kept it refrigerated until we needed it and it worked perfectly! I am no baker but was so proud and surprised at how easy it was.

• Bring these essential items for set up and clean up if you are not doing it in your home: white table cloth or sheet for baby to sit on, tape, scissors (you never know) trash bags, wipes or a washcloth, and extra clothes for baby.

• Play some music! We played some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse jams on my Spotify through my phone to get Baylor excited! It was so fun. Until he was over it and there were some tears…lol

Don’t do these:

• Don’t bring an overtired or over hungry baby. Make sure your baby is napped and fed! Baylor woke up early from a nap the day we did ours and got pretty grumpy toward the end of our session. Try to plan your nap accordingly!

• Don’t expect baby to last more than 30 minutes in front of the camera. Stick to a short photo session - I love this tip from our photographer. Babies won’t last much longer than this time frame and its more than enough time to get the cute pics you need. We spent 20 minutes doing regular portraits, changed him and spent 10 minutes on the cake smash. One hour total with seat up and tear down if you are booking a studio.

One year portrait gallery:

We had a BLAST during this photo session. I will definitely make this a tradition with any more Beard babies we would be blessed to have in the future! Let me know what questions you have and if you use any of these tips for your baby’s smash cake session. Have fun and enjoy, mama!