Dixie Marie Lee celebrates first birthday

Dixie Marie Lee celebrated her first birthday on Sunday, October 29, at the George L. Smith State Park Pavillion. The theme of the celebration was Dixie’s First Paw-ty, naturally honoring the birthday girl’s love for dogs. The birthday girl wore a pink smock bubble that had a monogram of her initials and two yellow labs wearing bow-ties on the collar.

The venue was meticulously decorated throughout with plaid and light pink puppy dog embellishments including a cute welcome sign, created and designed by Dixie’s aunt Roslynn Pittman, that greeted guests as they arrived at the party. It read, “Welcome to Dixie’s first birthday party! Come, Sit, Stay, Play.” The second sign described Dixie’s paw-some first year of life, including the things that she loves, her weight and inches, her favorite foods, song, and book, and the nicknames given to her by those she loves.

Upon entering the venue, guests and pawty-animals were treated to an array of top-dog refreshments including finger sandwiches in the shape of the number one, pups in a blanket, buffalo chicken dip with chips, little smokies, cocktail meatballs, an assortment of fresh fruit, cheese and crackers on a charcuterie board in the shape of a paw, mini strawberry donuts, oreo pops, and bone shaped rice krispie treats. The birthday cake, made by Petite Garrett, was a two tier pound cake with vanilla icing that was embellished in pink ribbon. The cake was topped with three cute, little pups, wearing party hats and a gold and glittery number one. Dixie’s smash cake, also made by Garrett, was a small one tier pound cake with vanilla icing. The buffet table was wrapped with a banner of photographs that commemorated Dixie’s first year, from one month to one year.

Dixie received many gifts with her favorite being a cabbage patch doll that resembled her and was gifted to her by her great-grandmother, Gail Porcel.

Before guests said their goodbyes, they were given the opportunity to go by the puppy adoption table where they could adopt their very own mini plush golden doodle. The doodles ranged from chocolate, tan, white, and light brown and were adorned with individual plaid and pink bows. Once a pup was chosen and a name was decided, Dixie’s friends were then given an adoption certificate for their puppy and got to create a collar for it.

In addition to the guest of honor and the many family and friends that she had in attendance, the event was hosted by Dixie’s parents, Kailey Thompson and Blake Lee of Kite, with the help of her great-aunt Jana Garrett Lee also of Kite. Other special guests included her maternal grandmother Penny Porcel of Swainsboro; maternal great-grandmothers, Gail Porcel of Swainsboro and Gail Thompson of Nunez; maternal grandparents, Keith and Tracy Thompson of Dellwood; paternal grandfather, Jason Lee of Kite and Alana Chambers of Loganville; paternal great-grandparents Russell and Celia Griner of Swainsboro; Uncle Jackson Lee of Kite; Aunt Brittany Hall of Swainsboro, Aunt Megan Thompson of Swainsboro, Uncle Matthew Thompson and Roslynn Pittman of Metter; and first cousins, Nolan Williams of Swainsboro, and Millie and Mason Watkins also of Swainsboro.