Birthday – Page 2

Wonderland Tea Party {Miss M’s 1st Birthday}

December 12, 2011 by Danielle 4 Comments

I had so much fun planning this birthday party for my dear little girl. The ideas that I came across, some used and others not, were never ending and I loved how each person had their own take on the Wonderland Tea Party.

I was able to grab ideas from many different places on the internet and was so excited to see it all come together for my one year old’s birthday party.

The decorations were all either borrowed, re-purposed or made. The only things I purchased were the plates, cups and utensils (all eco-friendly products that are compostable). A few generous friends lent me some hanging paper lanterns that I hung on our patio out back. I used a few in other areas of the house as well including our mantel where I re-arranged our NOEL stocking holders to spell out ONE.

I used some fabric I had on hand to make a pennant that I strung from the fireplace as well as from the kitchen as added decor. It was quite easy to make and I’m thinking about making it for other times of the year as well. The only item I purchased for the decor was the pinata because… lets face it… if I would have made it things would not have ended well.

Cherish Paperie designed the beautiful stationery found throughout the party including the Happy Birthday sign and the food labels. They even designed the beautiful invitations I sent out a few weeks prior to the event. I was amazed by how perfect all of the stationery turned out and was so excited that it fit my vision perfectly.

I tried to keep the food simple and traditional to a tea party. Below is the menu:

Sandwiches
Tuscan Tuna Sandwiches
Creamy Chicken Salad (my new favorite!)
Ham Sandwiches & Hay (ham on croissants)
Bread & Butterfly Sandwiches (sunflower butter & jelly)

Other Foods
Rabbit Food (veggie tray) with Cucumber Dip
Fruit
Mini Quiches
Salad

Desserts
Brownie Bites
Lemon Bites
Scones
Red Queen Red Velvet Cupcakes
White Rabbit Carrot Cake
Pink Party Cake

Drinks
Strawberry Lemonade
Iced Tea
Hot Tea
Coffee
Juice Boxes
Water

The little straws had drink me tags on them and the mini desserts had eat me signs as well to go with the theme. I got the idea for the drink signs from this pin here. I purchased the paper straws on Etsy from Making Memories Fun and got the idea for the tags from this pin here.

I got the idea for the cake from this pin and decided at the last minute that I just didn’t have enough time for the ribbon decorations for the frosting so I went with a simple, very un-perfect frosting design and used sprinkles from this cake I found on the sides and top of the cake.

The recipe for this amazing cake can be found on my cooking blog under the Perfect Party Cake. And yes, I did use the same recipe from my son’s first birthday. However I made a few minor changes with the filling and used a different butter cream recipe from Dorie’s. It still turned out quite fabulous.

My ever so talented friend Melissa of Le Petit Kupkak (now My PB&J) designed and baked up the yummy cupcakes for the event and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. We are always excited to indulge in one of Melissa’s cupcakes and I couldn’t not have them at such a special occasion! Miss M seemed to enjoy them just as much as I do.

I purchased the stamped bamboo forks from Etsy as well. The seller, Sucre and Spice, was amazing to work with and I’m already planning on ordering more for future parties we host should we need forks. She can put just about any phrase on the forks and uses different colored ink as well. We went with two phrases, “We’re all mad here” and “curiouser and curiouser” and I loved how they turned out.

We also had a few activities for the kids to partake in. I already mentioned the pinata but we also had a jumpy house as well as bubbles and flamingo croquet in the front yard. The bubbles weren’t really labeled very well but my plan was to have a caterpillar of some sort (you know… the one smoking the hookah?) and use bubbles instead of smoke.

The jumpy was supposed to have a sign that read, “We’re all mad here” as well but that didn’t work out either 🙂 The one thing that did work out wonderfully was the croquet set. It looked so great in the front yard and the kids had a great time playing.

It was simple to create too. I just used a pink boa, a few large playing cards I found at Party City, some black paper and a glue gun. The idea came from this pin here and was combined with this pin to create the final version.

I made some sugar cookies and frosted them as thank you party favors for our guests. Since I left frosting as a last minute job the frosting didn’t quite dry on all of the cookies so I only ended up bagging a few. The rest were taken without the packaging but all of the cookies were consumed.

I used the recipe from this pin for the cookies but wasn’t quite sold on them for future events. And I got the idea to use CD sleeves to house the cookies from this pin.

Even with the craziness of putting the party together and all of the work involved in hosting it I don’t think I would have done it any other way.

We were surrounded by friends and family in celebration of a very special girl and I’m so happy to have her in our lives. I’m grateful to those who came to celebrate and to those who helped me create the birthday I envisioned.

A special thanks to Adrienne of Cherish Paperie for all of her hard work on the decor and Louise, Miss M’s godmother, who scouted out tea cups and dishes at rummage sales, came early to help set up and do just about anything I asked her to. I’m so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 1st Birthday, Alice in Wonderland, Birthday, Tea Party

Top 10 Gifts for a One Year Old

October 6, 2011 by Danielle 1 Comment

As it nears closer and closer to my daughter’s first birthday (how did that happen!?) I’ve began to think about what top ten items she would love to receive from us as well as suggestions for friends and family members who want to give her something.

Some of the items I’ve thought of are items we’ve already used and love with our son and others are new items we’ve played with or used at friends houses and play places. Do you have any other suggestions to entertain a 1 year old? You know, besides cardboard boxes and pots (and the given money for her college education)? I’d love to hear them!

I’ve included pinks and purples in with the blues and greens because honestly, my kids don’t care about the colors yet, just about the toy and playing with it. My son plays with dolls and my daughter plays with trucks. And I’m cool with that.

1. Little Tikes Push and Ride Doll Walker
We played with this push toy at our last visit to Kidding Around and Miss M just loved it! She sat on it and let me push her around. And the whole time she was on it she was grinning from ear to ear. When I stopped pushing her long enough to take a picture she started crying. That was immediately resolved by pushing her around again. And after we were done with riding on it she used it to “walk” around a bit. Win-win because it serves two purposes.

2. Music Instruments
My daughter is already in love with drums. She constantly steals her brother’s drum and drum stick and beats just about everything she can find on in (including poor Sophie the Giraffe). So when I saw this music set from one of my favorite toy brands, B. Toys, I knew that it would be a perfect fit for our home. And while we haven’t used it yet I’ve heard rave reviews from many friends about the instruments included and the durability of the product.

3. Pull-Along Toys
Now this is a toy that my son received for his first birthday by our dear friend Alanna. And he still plays with it. He’s almost three! He was able to play with this toy as he crawled around on the ground, when he started to toddle and now he runs through the house with the snail behind him. I’ve never seen a snail run so fast!

This snail has taken quite a few beatings over the years but still looks as new as the day we took it out of the box. Miss M is having quite a fun time chasing after the snail, and her brother. And I love Plan Toys. They are an awesome toy company that use green materials and green manufacturing. They not only make quality toys, they are a quality company I love to support.

4. Fisher-Price Little People: Animal Sounds Farm
Every little kid needs a Little People farm. Seriously. They’re awesome. I find myself gravitating to our farm every time I go into my son’s bedroom to play. And Miss M loves playing with her brother’s animals and farm. She even puts the animals in and out of the barn. There’s also a tractor that goes greatly with this farm. The farmer gets to ride around in the tractor and a little piggy pops out of the hay bale in the back. M laughs every time she sees it!

5. Baby Stella Doll
My son asked for his first doll at about 18 months so we purchased one at the mall we were at and didn’t really put much thought into what doll we bought. We have three baby dolls now but whenever my daughter tries to play with them (or gnaw on them) her brother quickly takes them away. So I know I need to get a doll just for her. This Baby Stella doll is perfect. Soft, small and cute, just like her! And I’m considering getting a boy doll for my son so he can play with her.

6. Activity Cube
We got this awesome Activity Cube for my son’s first birthday. He and his friends still play with it to this day. This cube is a great investment. It is a great toy from kids ages 6 months to 3+ years. And even though I can’t find our exact cube for sale anymore I still have seen great reviews for it. And there are plenty of activity cubes out there to choose from.

7. Bath Accessories
While this isn’t technically a toy we really love our faucet covers. When our kids started getting more mobile in the bath tub we knew we needed to protect their little noggins from hitting the bath faucet. And we wanted to make bathtime fun. So we got a super cool Crayola octopus bath faucet cover and were gifted an equally cool Boon Flo cover.

And toys to go in the bath as well as something to scoop up the toys (like this awesome Boon frog) are also great gifts for a 1 year old. I know my son loves playing with his Discovery Toys stacking cups and his Fisher Price Amazing Animals™ Tubtime Tugboat™ the most. Baths stop being about getting clean and start being about having fun in the water!

8. Sensory Balls
My kids love balls. They love to throw them, attempt to eat them and bounce them. We have them all over the house. But the best ones I’ve found for one year olds are the ones they can get a grip on. We found a large pack of sensory balls at Costco last Christmas and they have held up very well. Half are in the house and half are in the front yard. What kid doesn’t like to play with balls?

9. Blocks
We have many different sets of blocks for the kids to play with. From soft, cloth blocks to squishy, squeaky blocks to wooden blocks. Each different set helps teach the kids to stack, line up and make fun structures. Every kid needs a good set of blocks to play with. And the best part about these sets is that they don’t just last for a small period of time, most of the block sets we own will be used for a few years. Especially the wooden one. That’s a favorite of my son’s right now (thanks Aunt Miranda for buying them!).

10. Anywhere Chair
Every kid needs their own sized chair. Whether it be the Anywhere Chair or one similar, smaller, child-size chairs always seem to attract kids of all ages. My son loves to grab a book and pretend to read in his chair. He also likes to watch movies while sitting in it. When he was 18 months old I remember that he grabbed his chair, dragged it into the living room and pushed it into place between mine and my husbands chairs. It was so adorable! He wanted to be just like us. So we know we’ll have to get our daughter one of her own for Christmas this year. It just makes sense!

This is not a sponsored post. I either own and have used the toys with my own children, or have heard great reviews from reliable friends and family. I was not compensated by any of the companies listed above. The opinions stated are my own.

Filed Under: gift ideas, Toys, Uncategorized Tagged With: b. toys, Baby #2, Birthday, boon, fisher price, gift ideas, plan toys, Toys

Daddy’s Birthday – A Night of Entertainment {Restaurant Review}

April 5, 2011 by Danielle Leave a Comment

It was Joseph’s birthday yesterday and we wanted to celebrate! Joseph decided he wanted to try out Benihana for dinner. I knew from a friend that if you signed up for their birthday club you got a free meal. I signed up for my birthday but forgot and we didn’t end up going. After our fun night last night I’ll definitely be using it next year!

After we were done ordering our food E got festive and turned his menu into a hat with Daddy’s help. He wanted to be just like the little boy who was also sitting at our table.

This is E’s “mmmm” face. He was eating my soup and saying “mmmmm” as he slurped it down. I find it hilarious that he closes his eyes to enjoy his food when he likes it.

See what I told you? Closed eyes as he’s sipping the soup. Such a funny boy! But he ate 1/2 of mine and 1/2 of Daddy’s so we weren’t going to say anything.

We had fun watching the chef make our meal. I think E liked watching him crack eggs the best. He loves cracking eggs and “helping” when we cook or bake.

Do you see what he formed the veggies and rice into? It’s Pacman! I wasn’t fast enough with the camera but the chef formed the rice into a Pacman and made it look like he was eating the vegetables just like the game.

And his second creation with the rice was non other than Mickey himself. He even made Mickey talk to us. Talk about creativity with food!

We just ordered the chicken fried rice for E because we knew he wouldn’t finish a whole plate of anything. He loved it and ate a big portion of it. Daddy and I, of course, split the rest to indulge a little since we stuck with the steamed rice (it’s lower in points!).

As he was eating his rice he was continuously saying “yumyumyumyum…mmmmm”. He definitely let us know he was enjoying his dinner.

Our food being cooked up. Chicken for me, fillet for Joseph and veggies for both of us.

Now normally you start with shrimp as an appetizer but one person from the other family sitting with us was allergic so the chef waited till the end to prepare the shrimp. After he cut the tails off he flipped them into his coat pocket with his spatula. It was pretty fun to watch. He even got one into his hat.

Miss M was jealous of all of our yummy food and decided to start noming on Daddy’s plate. She seriously had her mouth on the rim and was happy as a clam. Daddy didn’t even notice at first.

After we were done with dinner they cleaned up. I was definitely impressed with the stacking skills of this server! Look at all of those dishes and how well he balanced everything.

We of course sang Happy Birthday and Daddy got a yummy sundae. By this time in our dinner E only wanted to cuddle with me and was on my lap. However as soon as I mentioned sharing Daddy’s ice cream he was off my lap and back in his high chair! Tired, nope, not too tired for ice cream.

As you can tell from the pictures we really loved our night at Benihana and will definitely go again. The birthday club discount was definitely worth it! Maybe we’ll try lunch next time…

Filed Under: Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged With: Birthday, Restaurants

Vendor Review: San Diego Funhouse Rentals

February 22, 2011 by Danielle 1 Comment

So in planning the party I didn’t even think twice about the weather. I mean, come on, it’s been beautiful for weeks now. Even feeling a bit summery for February. So I booked a jump house from San Diego Funhouse. And was sooo excited about it since E has loved every jump house he’s been in. Plus it was a great way to get all of that energy out of the kids expected to come to the party. What parent doesn’t want their kid to be completely exhausted from a party?

Our plans were all set. We had enough room outside to make the inside not as crowded and I wasn’t worried at all about the 40+ people I invited. I mean, it wasn’t like the 60+ people who were invited to his first birthday party… where it poured down rain and everyone was stuck inside 3-4 rooms of our small 1200 square foot house. Luckily Joseph was smart enough last year to put tarps up in the back patio to allow for some guests to go outside to get some air if needed. 50 people in a small house can really turn up the heat even when it’s raining!

Then I heard from a friend at another friend’s birthday party that it was supposed to rain on E’s birthday party day. What the heck? Why again?? Why me? I called the jump house rental guy and asked what their policy was regarding weather changes. He said as long as it wasn’t too muddy and unsafe than he could still set up the jump house but if it was raining he wouldn’t be able to set it up and would refund me the money we paid. This was a bit of a relief for me and I didn’t stress about the weather anymore. The weather forecast even changed to say that it’d be sunny for the few hours of the party so I felt even better about everything.

Until I read the forecast at 7 in the morning on the day of the party. Rain. All.Day.Long. No breaks 🙁 So I called and canceled the bounce house and was super sad about it. A few hours later we were putting the finishing touches on the house (and Joseph was re-creating the tarp enclosure in the back yard just in case) and I noticed that it hadn’t rained for a bit. Oh, and it was even a bit sunny too! So after a bit of deliberation and talking with Joseph and Aunt Louise I decided to call the bounce house yet again and see (30 minutes before the party) if they were able to come even though we already canceled.

The owner told me that he’d contact his driver and see if there was any way he could swing by. He called back to let me know that they could come!! But it would be between 1:30 and 2pm. That was ok with me! So they ended up showing up right as people were finishing up with their lunch. It was PERFECT. The sun was shining, the kids were having a blast and everyone was happy. Everyone came in for cupcakes and it started to rain again so we just covered up the jump house.

After cupcakes it was clear so we got the jump house going again and burned off some of those delicious cupcake calories. We got to keep the jump house until 5pm and used it until close to the very end when it started sprinkling… again.

I don’t know what I did but I was very lucky! Everything worked out perfectly and everyone seemed to really enjoy the jump house and the party. The jump house was super clean and in great shape and the customer service I received from San Diego Funhouse was phenomenal! I will definitely be using them again for all of our jump house needs 🙂

Oh, and a little background on ordering… I called to find out how to book a jump house and they said to just simply do everything online. I did and it was awesome. I did kind of worry about if the booking went through since I didn’t receive a confirmation email or a phone call but I did receive a receipt when I paid via credit card. But two days before the event San Diego Funhouse did call to confirm the rental and the drop off time so I really had nothing to worry about. And on the day of the party when I left a message to cancel I received a call back an hour later after leaving the message. When I called back to see if we could still get it I was able to get a hold of the owner on the second ring. Definitely awesome customer service!!

Filed Under: Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged With: Birthday

Ethan’s 2nd Birthday Party!! – Pictures of the fun

February 20, 2011 by Danielle Leave a Comment

M got all dressed up for her brother’s big day! I bought this dress for her for Christmas but she was still too small for it. Now it fits perfectly. I didn’t know how much fun dressing up a little girl is! Just wait till you see her Easter ensemble. Daddy picked it out and it is CUTE!

Belle saying Hi!

E’s favorite meal of hot dogs, berries & grapes

E enjoyed greeting his guests at the gate. He LOVED that everyone was there to celebrate him and he knew it. He wore this goofy grin on his face for the first half of the party.

I wanted to make sure that all of the little kids got fed as soon as possible to reduce the chance of mini-meltdowns. It worked for a bit… until my child had a not-so-mini meltdown! Luckily he wasn’t the only one as I was told later on. Oh the joy of a 2 year old!

We had originally booked the jump house and than the morning of the party the weather forecast changed their mind and called for rain all throughout the party. So I called and canceled the jump house at 7am. Then the weather forecast changed AGAIN and it was supposed to be sunny up until 6pm. So after talking to Aunt Louise and Joseph I decided to call and see if there was any way we could get the jump house delivered. I called 30 minutes before the party.

And guess what?? They called back and said they could deliver it between 1:30 and 2!! So perfect. Enough time for everyone to eat lunch and than go out and play. This was such a blessing because the kids got to really get out their energy and then when we did cupcakes and sang “Happy Birthday” it started raining again. Then when the kids were all done eating and ready to go back the rain stopped!!

There were a LOT of kids in the jump house when it first went up and E got a bit overwhelmed. Add that to the fact that he didn’t nap at all before the party and that added up to a very overtired and emotional toddler. He had a bit of a breakdown. He wanted to be in the jump house but didn’t want to be bounced around by all of the kids in there with him so he wanted out but wanted in at the same time if that makes any sense. So we decided to get him out and do cupcakes!

This pleased him! He had also been singing “Happy To You” all week and even sang it with Aunt Louise earlier that day so he knew what was coming when everyone gathered around him. He got his very own cookie cupcake complete with a chocolate chip cookie in the monster’s mouth! And he knew what to do when we told him to blow out his candle. But I still had to help him a little bit in the end so he wouldn’t end up spitting all over his cupcake.

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Carly posed for a quick picture before they took off. Aunt Carly’s birthday was the day before the party so I’m sure they were off to celebrate with Carly’s friends after our party.

Grandma Ann and Cousin Aaron enjoyed some time together as we ate cupcakes.

And Great Grandma Joanne enjoyed holding Molly for a bit. Brother always likes to know what sister is doing and quickly came over to say hi!

My messy living room after the kids came and played with everything. This is actually a bit cleaner than the mess that came with opening gifts later on (gift opening photos will be in a separate post since Grandma Ann took all of those photos). Do you see Ethan in the middle? Yeah, he’s watching Dinosaur Train in between playing with friends.

Uncle Jeremy took Molly outside for a bit to enjoy the break in the rain while E, Cousin Aaron and Joseph enjoyed the jumpy after most of the guests left.

Ethan was so thankful for all of his new toys, clothes, books and games!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Birthday, Thank You

Happy Birthday E! – 2 Year Photos

February 20, 2011 by Danielle 3 Comments

So since we splurged on newborn photos for Molly not too long ago we didn’t have much in the budget for 2 year photos for Ethan on top of what we were spending for his party. Yeah, we could have gone to a picture place like Picture People, JC Pennys or Sears but I really don’t like the studio photo look. I definitely don’t knock it and it works for most people but I love the way pictures look in a natural setting outside.

With the outside in mind I decided to take him out to Balboa Park two weeks ago to see what I could do behind the camera. Now I want to put it out there that I am in NO way even close to being a pro photographer. Nor do I want to be. I’ll leave that to the experts.

But I am very interested in photography and in getting the best pictures I can of my kids when behind the camera. I mean, that’s why we invested in a nice DSLR, right? So I’ve taken a class, read tutorials and am now starting to practice more and more to get better shots. The shots below have their flaws (like one being out of focus, others may not have the right lighting) but that’s what I love about photography. You can’t get better without practice.

So I took photos of Ethan. Lots and lots of photos. In manual. Yup… my 50mm lens doesn’t have the option to take photos in auto so I HAVE to focus manually and I have to remember to change the settings. And boy is that hard to remember when you don’t do it every day. It made me stop and consciously think about the settings I had and what to do to make a better picture depending on the light, E’s position, etc.

And below is the result. These photos (and a handful of others) were the best that I got from the 200 shots I took…

Photo by Danielle Simmons

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Birthday, Months, New Lens, Practice Photos

Ethan’s 2nd Birthday Party!! – The Planning Coming Together

February 20, 2011 by Danielle 1 Comment

First off, I cannot believe my baby will be 2 on Tuesday!! It just doesn’t seem possible! And second, I am going to do a separate post filled with tons of photos of the happy day (I have to wait for some from Grandma Ann)! This post is just to showcase the decorations and all of the fun planning ideas I had put into play. Starting with the dessert/favor table below!

I wanted to use some of the photos I took of E for his 2 year photos (more to come in a separate post) so I just printed out a few 4x6s (actually I printed about 185 photos all from his second year of life!) to showcase under his birthday sign. I used double sided sticky tape and put them on the ribbon to add a bit more color. You can see the cookie favors, the cupcakes and the cake pop favors. More about all of these later.

I found an adorable balloon wreath tutorial over on How Does She. I thought this would be a great decoration to start the party off right since every guest had to pass by the door to get to the party. But looking back I wonder if many realized that it was there since our door was wide open for most of the party so people could come in and out as they pleased.

But the wreath was super simple to make and I can now reuse it every year for the kids parties so it was worth it. I can even change out the balloons for different colors if needed. And I love the sign that Adrienne made to fill the hole in the middle of the wreath. It tied everything else in perfectly.

I saw some cute Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes all over the internet so I decided to ask Melissa over at Le Petit Kupkak if she could recreate them for me. She also did E’s cupcakes for his first birthday too. And she did an amazing job again! Not only did the cupcakes taste amazing, they were so fun. Everyone raved about them as they were grabbing a second 🙂

Cupcakes are just perfect for kids parties. No need for plates and forks and they’re somewhat mess-free. Unless your kid is like mine and likes to eat their cupcake with no hands. Ya know, just goes right in head first? At least it gave us some fun pictures!

In keeping with the Cookie Monster theme I made 120 chocolate chip cookies to give away as favors to all of the guests (including the adults!). I really wanted to put some sort of note on the cookies so I started looking into favor tag designs. I wanted something very simple and basic and finally decided on a simple picture of Cookie Monster and Elmo with a nice Thank You on the back of the tags as a way of showing our thanks for those who came to the party. I used a 1/8″ punch to make the hole for the ribbon.

From the reactions we received from our guests they were very happy to get some yummy chocolate chip cookies! I was really worried that we were going to get “stuck” with a few bags that we’d have to consume within the next few days. Luckily it didn’t come down to that as every bag but one was taken and happily eaten by someone other than me. I already had to worry about the two extra cupcakes that kept calling my name from the fridge…

I also made some cake pops. I’d been dying to try them out ever since I saw them on Bakerella’s blog years back and I finally jumped in and did it. I really do think it was a great decision even though they weren’t as pleasing to the eye 🙂 What can be bad about chocolate cake, vanilla frosting and a chocolate coating? Plus they were on sticks!

I purchased a Happy Birthday banner for E’s birthday last year and bought one that I could use up until he was 5 years old (it had interchangeable numbers). So I didn’t stress too much about a Happy Birthday sign. Until Janelle asked to borrow it for Charlie’s birthday and I couldn’t find the banner! I found the numbers… but no banner. So I started to search for a cute looking banner for the occasion. I figured why not go with the Cookie and Elmo theme and make the banner match the favor tags.

I didn’t want a long, continuous banner so I saw this idea from an Etsy vendor and decided to try it out. I had Adrienne print out the 3.5″ circles and I just used my trusty standard hole puncher and put two holes on either side of the circles. I then put some ribbon through the holes and staggered the rows to achieve the look I wanted.

Adrienne threw in some extra 5″ circles of Elmo and Cookie Monster so I took full advantage and used them for other decorations around the house. I used some paper streamers to decorate some of the walls and used the Cookie and Elmo cut outs to go in the middle of each draped loop. This completed the look and theme of the whole party. I didn’t even think of it before hand but will now use it whenever I use the paper streamers! I was also able to make a little “Happy Birthday” sign from the extra wreath circle and left over Cookie circle (see what Elmo is holding below at the snack bar…)

When I decided on food I wasn’t quite sure how to go. I knew it needed to be kid friendly and it needed to please a large group of people. Oh, and it couldn’t be too expensive. Cause then we wouldn’t be able to get the jump house. And every 2 year old’s party needs a jump house 😉

So I went with E’s favorite things. I ordered pizza from Costco, made hot dogs and had various other favorites available for the guests to snack on. E loves fruit so we got a fruit tray that included his favorite, cantalope. We also put out popcorn, chocolate chip cookies, and potato chips. There was even a little kiddie snack bar set up with bowls of cheerios, cat cookies and pretzels.

When I’m at a party I am all about easy access to food. Because when E is hungry I want to jump at the opportunity for him to eat and don’t want to wait for something to be offered to me to feed him. As soon as I wait 5-10 minutes for food to be served he’s already busy with the next task and might refuse to eat until the next meal some few hours later. Typical toddler…

So this is why I always have a variety of snacks for people to munch on before and after the “main meal” is ready.

I also included pictures of E’s 2nd year in a picture frame that used to have our wedding photos in it. I was going to make a sign but ran out of time 🙂 I’m pretty sure most people missed this little “decoration” but that’s ok! I had 185 pictures developed at Costco and was planning on making a photo album for guests to view as well if they got bored (they didn’t…) but never got around to buying the album. So that’ll be a project I’ll have to tackle soon. We’re now enjoying the pictures and reflecting on the last year as we talk about each one. It’s been quite a fun journey!