Alright let's get started. First up we've got Nella's 2nd birthday. We decided on an Elmo theme, she was obsessed with him at this time. We held it at our local church in the fireside room. It was perfect. Felt very homey and cozy. For food we did subs, with some fruit and veggie platters along with some snacks. Had a table for the kids with play doh & coloring pages to keep them busy. As far as decorations go I try to keep it simple. I say simple because I'm cheap and I'm most likely making everything you see. For this party we did a sweet balloon garland; which as awesome as it looked I never did that again because not only was it hard to transport but it ended up getting super tangled on the way to the church. I also made a cute happy birthday banner with Elmo on it, and updated her "chalkboard" sign. I made an Elmo cake and cupcakes with Dorothy on it (that's Elmo's pet fish). The Elmo cake looks fancy and hard but really I printed out a picture of him and traced his face onto the cake, then just filled it in with colored frosting! For the center pieces I painted tin cans and stuck toothpicks in them with different designs; mainly a P, a 2, and some pictures of Elmo. This was also the one and only year she got professional birthday pictures done. We won a free session so we did birthday pictures & Christmas pictures in one. They turned out amazing. This was also the one and only year I spent a ridiculous amount of money on an Elmo dress with her name on it. While it was very cute I would probably never do that again either. Live and learn.
The room. I mean look at that balloon garland.
My birthday banner I made!
Center pieces.
Her birthday sign, my favorite thing to look back on.
Birthday pictures
Her cake, wish I could turn it but I spent all morning looking for these damn pictures so I'm not dealing with it.
Kids table
Opening presents, this was her favorite gift by far. This doll was almost as big as her, she named her Gigi. We still have it.
Quick shout out to one of my besties who always snaps pictures of everything; because I'm always running around like a chicken with it's head cut off and always forget about pictures! Next up we've got the big 3! Can I just tell you how fun it is to look back at these parties. Everyone has such a fun time, and as much as I'm running around like a crazy lady before hand I absolutely would not change a thing. We always have such a good time with our friends and family! This year we did "Despicable Three". Again we had it at our church, but this year had it in the gym, which I wasn't pleased with at first but it ended up being great. We split the gym in half, set up the tables and food on one side and let the kids run around on the other side. We also had some coloring pages set out for the kids. As far as food we did subs again along with our usual fruit and veggies platters. We had lots of snacks for everyone too. When I say snacks we always do our favorite taco dip with tortilla chips, buffalo dip, pretzels, and popcorn. Those are our party staples. I try to stay away from cheese puffs and things that may leave your hands needing to be cleaned off because let's face it, this is a kids party they're probably not going to wipe they're hands every time. We did a minion cake & minion cupcakes. For center pieces I painted soda bottles to look like minions and attached balloons to them. I also made some cardboard cut outs of minions to hang up. We did some favors this year, again keeping it simple we went with a bottle of bubbles & made anti-gravity serum labels for them.
Food table (Got that banner on clearance at Target for 2 or 3 dollars and wrote Penelope's name on it)
Cake & drink table. And yes, that's right we've got a huge minion on the cake table because my dad just happens to have a huge minion in his media room. I mean who doesn't?
Close up of the cake and cupcakes.
Gift table
Close up of her birthday sign on the gift table.
Fun sign I made!
Center pieces.
Our home made photo booth.
This was literally the only picture that got taken at our photo booth.
She didn't want to sign happy birthday without her brother. I can't get over how small he was here!
Next up we've got the big number 4! I think this was one of my favorite parties to date. She decided on a doughnut theme and we ran with it. We turned it into a PJ party and asked guests to wear their favorite PJ's! We did more of a brunch this year as far as food goes. We decided on doughnuts, bagels, fruit and some other fun treats. As far as decorations go, again simple. I made a doughnut banner to hang above the food table, got a birthday sign from Party City that went with the theme perfectly. I printed out fun signs to put on the food table and the cake table, along with some sweet pictures of our girl. For the tables where people were sitting I painted some glass bottles some pastel colors to go with everything else, and added some sprinkles too! We had some activities set out on some of the tables to keep the kids busy. One table had tic-tac toe with doughnut game pieces, another table had make your own doughnut seed necklaces. Which was just fruit loops & pipe cleaners. We also had coloring pages & play-doh set out on another table. I'm sure your sensing a theme here as far as activities go. So far from the parties I've thrown I've found that kids do enjoy coloring and really love to play with play-doh. When we put play-doh out I usually add some rollers, along with play knives, scissors and some cookie cutters. It keeps them busy for a good chunk of time. Favors this year were a small can of play-doh with a donut dough label on it!
Food table.
"Life is sweet. Eat more doughnuts!"
Fun sign. "Don't hesitate to help yourself!"
Yummy doughnut cookies we made!
Birthday banner
Gift/Cake table. With her "chalkboard" sign on it & a fun banner that says FOUR!
Close up o the cake and cupcakes. Found those sweet plates at Party City.
"Donut be shy, take a treat!" Favors
Center pieces at the tic-tac toe table.
Our 4 year old!
Time for cake!
Time for presents!
Some rules I like to follow to save ourselves some pennies would be to let people help. Often times people will ask if there's anything they can bring, and I tell them. A lot of the times I delegate fruit, chips, or dips to others and we bring the main things like the main food items & the sweet treats. I will take all the help I can get! I usually get the table cloths at Wal-Mart for 97 cents! For plates I generally get a design that goes with our theme for the cake and then plain plates for the food. I make a lot of stuff myself which involves simply printing stuff off the computer. I make the invitations, her birthday sign, banners and fun table signs. We also always send out a no gift card with our invitations to most of our guests. I know, I know- I'm crazy, I'm a mean mom but guess what I'm not a fan of a million toys! Christmas is right around the corner and I can't tell people no to that so I choose to limit the toys my kids get at their birthdays. I let grandparents, immediate aunts & uncles gets gifts. Friends and other family get the "please no gifts" tags with their invites. I will usually add in if they absolutely have to get her something please consider donating to their college fund. Which I think is a great option. Some might consider it tacky but whatever. People don't feel guilty about not getting her something & then they only have to spend $10 if they want too. Whats the best party you've thrown?! Check back soon for a post about her 5th birthday!
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