When we were planning our little girl’s 1st birthday party, I knew that I wanted to stay committed to our values of sustainability and health. All too often, in the name of ease, we ditch our lofty goals of living a healthy lifestyle “just this once.” But for me, in thinking about the kind of mom I want to be and the example I want to set for my kid, I feel that big events like birthdays or parties are a perfect opportunity to stay true to the values I try to live by every day.

To that end, we made the birthday party as eco-friendly as possible with the use of sustainable, recycled, reusable and/or compostable party supplies, and ordered healthy food sourced sustainably from local farms (check out all the details here). But when it came to the baked goods, I had trouble finding healthy options that I could feel good about serving to friends, family, and babies, that didn’t cost an arm and a leg.