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Tailgate 2nd Birthday Party

For our littlest guy’s second birthday, figuring out what type of party to throw was no problem.  With balls being one of his loves (any type of ball…footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, volleyballs, basketballs you name it…) and his birthday being near the beginning of football season I knew that we needed to throw him a birthday tailgate party…and so we did.
I started off with an attempt to keep things simple, but once I get into a theme I can’t help but dive all in.  I was really pleased with how everything turned out but I think my favorite parts were the table-sized football field that I made of turf from Menards and some white spray paint and also the watermelon Michigan Wolverine replicate helmet that my father carved for the party.  I was also very pleased with how nicely the “concessions” turned out with such simple, yet appropriate decorative touches including hanging chips and stat and menu “blackboards”.
For more information on this party please visit my personal blog: http://studiomcreationsdesign.blogspot.com/2017/10/tailgate-2nd-birthday-party.html

Camp Crew Second Birthday Party

A January birthday in Iowa of course means celebrating indoors. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t bring the outdoors in. Between painting with pinecones, scooping and dumping ingredients to make our own trail mix, chucking marshmallows into a bear’s mouth, and munching on hot dogs , Camp Crew was a raging success!
Every camper went home with a canteen and a bag of gear ( flashlight, whistle, and adhesive glow stars…so even if they didn’t get to at the party, they can sleep under the stars!) My husband built the A-frame tent and I used the Target bear as a muse to paint a piece of plywood for the marshmallow toss. The afternoon was a perfect way to wear out a clan of two-year-olds!

Elliot’s Farm 2nd Birthday Party

A couple of weeks ago my youngest, Elliot, turned two and we celebrated with a Farm Party. The whole affair was really low key. Elliot sometimes gets a little overwhelmed and clingy when there is too much going on, so we kept it to family and our closest friends.
It was such a fun day! A dozen kids running around like crazy, playing games, chasing bubbles and eating yummy treats.
The adults were well catered for too with a grazing table and drinks provided. This was my first time including a grazing table and it was a huge hit!

It’s Some Bunnies Birthday

I chose to throw a bunny birthday for my daughters second birthday because she never stops hopping around. She loves all animals and bunnies are one of her favourite. I wanted to host a garden party. Sadly the rain that day kept us mostly indoors and undercover. But with the flowers and moss decorations it still felt like it could be in a garden. A lot of these ideas could also be great for Easter parties. Or resumed again for such events.
Olives dress was an inspiration for colours and decorations for her party. It was made by dragonbees whose shop can be found on Etsy. It was very whimsical which was the atmosphere I wanted to create. Her banner was downloaded and customized by a shop in Australia also purchased through Etsy  Billy and Scarlett. I had seen their banner used on 100cakelet and found the source through Pintrest. A lot of the decorations I made myself like her 3D moss number two Bunny ears and large flowers. Others I got from Michaels crafts and winners. I made her a raw vegan cake from pure food and wines owners cook book. This has been my favourite raw cake since visiting the restaurant in New York a few years ago. I picked up Sarma melengills cook book when I was there  just because my daughters vegan doesn’t mean she can’t have a beautiful and tasty cake  I topped it wish flowers which she loved  she is my flower child
we played games like pin the tail on the bunny and a carrot toss  the bunny bag hop didn’t happen because of the rain  but she loved it and I hope she will remember it always
 

Jack’s Fishing Birthday Party

Jack loves fishing with his daddy and when I asked him what he wanted his 2nd birthday party theme to be he said fishing! I used lots of daddy’s fishing things as decorations and incorporated some other ideas I found as I was planning as well. Most of the food had a fish theme from fish shaped peanut butter & jelly and turkey & cheese sandwiches, to a fish shaped veggie tray. We also had a tackle box full of “live bait” gummy’s that was a huge hit with the kids. For the party favors I made individual tackle boxes filled with “bait” and “weights” that seemed to be a hit with the kids. I also made dirt pudding as “live bait” cups.
For games we had a fish shaped piñata, a bounce house and an inflatable pool with fish where the kids could fish. Jack had a great time and is still talking about his party.

Fiesta Second Birthday Party

Austin turned two this year and it was a wild FIESTA!!!! The party was a complete hit and he had such a great time! He was one happy and adorable birthday boy!! A few weeks before the party, I took an adorable photo of Austin in a sombrero and ordered a PDF version of his invitations from katiedidcards.
I’m not going to lie, being 9 months pregnant while throwing a party for 30 adults and 15 kids was a little ambitious, but I paced myself the week before and luckily pulled it off without going into labor! :)
I decided to get the party catered and purchased my cakes instead of baking them myself, so that helped tremendously. You can never go wrong with a good old fashion Taco Bar, so we had Moe’s Southwest Grill supply the Taco Bar and ingredients for Nachos. Moe’s also provided cinnamon chips and I picked up a Chocolate Cake, Caramel Tres leches cake and cookies from Costco.
The Serape blanket I used as a table cloth was purchased from Amazon as well as the mini Mexican Sombreros, mini Maracas, small Fiesta Donkeys and Mexican banners. The FIESTA letter balloons was from Steph Shives Studio and a lot of the decor came from Party City and/or Hobby Lobby. We had a bubble maker cranking out bubbles and a piñata full of candy for the kids. Austin was an extra lucky birthday boy when his final hit to the piñata was the hit that knocked it to the ground. His response was priceless; He just stood there in disbelief and screamed “WOW!!!”
Each of Austin’s guests received a take home gift that consisted of a beach bucket, crayons, a coloring book, a ball, bubbles and a carnival sucker.
Thanks to all of Austin’s friends and family who helped make his special day, extra special! Time can go ahead and slow down now!

Lis and Her Under the Sea Friends 2nd Birthday Party

When Lis was turning two I decided to go for an under the sea theme, since she loved fishes, turtles and all sea creatures.
I once again tried to have a very vibrant and colorful party. We gave her photograph for the relatives to keep and the kids got beach toys as party favors.
Since the kids were a little bigger than last time, we rented some outdoor entertainment for the kids.
 
 

Amelia’s Flamingo Birthday Party!

I wanted to plan a really fun party that would celebrate Amelia’s personality! She’s a spunky, sweet, and charismatic little girl.  I knew that her love for flamingos, or mingos, as she calls them would make for a great 2nd birthday theme.
As a busy mom, I didn’t have much time to pull it all together so I went to my favorite shops for help.  We ordered sandwiches from a local tea room for the adults while the kids enjoyed an outdoor pizza picnic in between playing on the water toys.  Each child received a water pail with their name on it filled with bubbles and crafts plus snack baskets and juice boxes to enjoy.  It was a beautiful day and am so happy that Anika from A. Fatouros Photography was able to capture it all.

Karter’s 2nd Term Campaign Birthday

For my son Karter’s 2nd birthday I wanted to do a voting theme since it was a voting year and Karter’s birthday is late June close to the 4th of July. I contacted Unvitation to Mars in Etsy to do my custom invite and campaign signs. Since the party was right around the 4th decorations where easy to find. I found the paper fans and gingham paper plates at The Dollar Tree and borrowed the rest from friends!

Olivia’s Boutique 2nd Birthday

My daughter loves two things, Minnie Mouse and playing dress up, so I wanted to give her both for her second birthday. When we decided on the theme my thoughts went to a small children’s boutique in Paris so I knew she had to have one. I made space by clearing out the larger pieces of furniture in our living room and the two beds in my daughters bedroom. We used their existing dresser, brought in a velvet chair I had reupholstered and my husband made a clothes hangar fit for a children’s boutique. Their bedroom consisted of the dress up area where party guests could choose from pretty dresses & tutus, earrings and necklaces made by me and a selection of play heels, gloves and feather boas. A crystal chandelier adorned the corner stage area for photos. A vanity and stool that I refinished had a selection of play makeup and a handmade tutu chandelier hanging above. When stepping out of the boutique the kids were able to walk the runway into the living room where parents were seated and able to snap photos. The living room consisted of the brunch & dessert table which featured a white tutu skirt and mini Minnie cupcakes and pearl donuts. A variety of cookies and muffins and a two tier vanilla cake with a handmade flower Minnie topper. Touches of Minnie Mouse were used throughout the printables, decor, flowers and the desserts. 2 additional handmade chandeliers adorned the ceiling along with tissue paper pom poms hanging from strands of crystals and paper lanterns. The kids table featured Minnie inspired plates and individual wrapped gift boxes that had clip on earrings for the guests to dine in style. The tiniest of details like the pearl swags on the back of the chiavari chairs were adorned with bows and Minnie ears placed in the flowers. It was an amazing day for both of my girls and all their friends. Now every time my daughter sees Minnie Mouse she yells “My Birthday”

It’s Sweet to be TWO Watermelon Party

I’ll be honest, after putting a lot of time and effort into Alice’s “ONEderland” first birthday party (shared on Project Nursery here) I really thought we’d be hitting up Chick-fil-A this time around.  But as the time drew closer, I rallied and we had a really sweet, fun-filled day with Alice’s favorite summer treat as the theme – watermelon!
“It’s sweet to be TWO” was easy to plan around and the crisp, juicy watermelon kept things cool for a backyard June birthday party in the South. Plus, it’s a great time of year to find lots of great watermelon-themed supplies.
My favorite element of the party was the dessert table anchored by a hand-painted watercolor backdrop and DIY pennant. The custom cookies and the delicious strawberry ombre cake were pulled off flawlessly by our local bakeries.
MENU: Of course, watermelon was the food of the day. I found some cute engraved popsicle sticks from this Etsy shop to insert into slices of watermelon (beware: it’s not as easy as you’d think to get those sticks in!)  I also found a great recipe for watermelon orzo salad and watermelon salsa which were big hits.
GAMES: To keep our guests entertained my husband helped me build a fun and easy “watermelon toss” game using buckets with color-coordinating corn-hole bags and a giant tic-tac-toe board out of ribbon and tent stakes. We also had a bubble machine and bubble wands, because you can’t go wrong with kids and bubbles!
GUEST BOOK: Alice LOVES to read, so the guest book was a really cute book titled “The Watermelon Seed” where everyone wrote a sweet note for Alice to look back on for years to come.
DIY ELEMENTS: I kept finding pink things and attacking them with a black sharpie to make them look like a watermelon – and it worked surprisingly well! The watermelon party hats required some hot glue, green rick rack and the trusty sharpie to be transformed. Same goes for the dessert table pennant, the balloon “arch” and the precious watermelon slice favors (tutorial here, although I did switch up some of the prizes on the inside with DIY stickers, watermelon candy and a DIY watermelon frisbee).
Special shout-out to my super talented brother, Adam, for juggling Uncle and event photographer for us. We’ll treasure these photos and memories of our sweet day forever!
 

Isla’s Tea for Two Birthday Party

My daughter, Isla, recently turned two, and to celebrate, we threw her a tea party (‘Tea for Two’). I was inspired by a fun floral wall I saw at the Australian Open, and my amazing friend, Meredith (who owns Cake & Confetti) brought my vision to life!
Isla loves tea parties and throws them in her playroom all of the time, and so I thought it was appropriate for her to have a bigger party to celebrate turning two. Despite the downpour outside on the day of the party, everything went smoothly!
I had the entire party setup the night before except for food, which made the morning of (slightly) less stressful. I advice recruiting help from friends and family!
You can find sources to all items on my blog here, but if I’m missing anything, leave a comment below!
Other projects I’ve shared on Project Nursery: Isla’s 1st birthday party (here) and her nursery (here).

Ava’s Flamingo 2nd Birthday

Ava received a flamingo stuffed animal for Christmas that she calls “Mingo”. It’s the cutest thing, and gave me the idea for her second birthday.
I quickly began crafting and searching for items I could use. I found metal flamingos at hobby lobby that were hot pink, but I wanted everything light pink and white, so I used spray paint and hot glued fake ranunculus flowers to their necks. I couldn’t find a striped table runner so I purchased fabric from Walmart, folded it over and voila! I ordered some fake grass (my husband probably thought I was crazy) for the centerpiece and added fake flowers from Michaels/hobby lobby and more spray painted flamingos to it. The white trey holding the fake grass is from home goods, as well as most of the serving pieces. All of the small flower arrangements I put on pails from the $1 section at target. One of my favorite items would be her party hat. I bought a pink and white striped birthday hat and dolled it up with a few fake flowers, a bow at the top, and Pom Pom trim towards the bottom.
I know my time of picking her party themes are quickly coming to an end, so this was a fun one to craft and dream up. It was a wonderful day with family and friends and Ava had a blast.

Maverick’s “Top Gun” 2nd Birthday Party

When you name your son Maverick – well, at some point, you need to throw him a “Top Gun” themed party.  You just have to.  So, for Mav’s 2nd birthday we did just that.  No, he has never seen the movie, but he loves airplanes, and birthday cake, so I thought, why not?  And us adults loved the fact that we could get our party jam on with the Top Gun Soundtrack!

Emilee’s 2nd Birthday Fiesta

I thought for sure I was throwing Emilee a strawberry party this year but when I saw a fiesta invite on Instagram from River & Bridge well I just knew it was meant to be. I’m all for throwing kids’ parties with themes you want until they can ask for a theme themselves. Em LOVES anything Frozen but I knew if I threw the Frozen party now there was no explaining to a 3 or 4 year old Emilee that “we already did that,” So I’m saving Anna and Elsa for the year she actually asks for them. Which I know she will.