Let’s Celebrate
Everything I did for my Daughters Birthday Party
I hosted a birthday in early December, so this is long over due, whoops.
It was my daughters second birthday at the end of the year and I was about to not host a party. We didn’t really do much but a family cake for her first, so my guilty-mom mind started creeping in. What if this is the last second birthday party I ever throw!?
Oh my, I better do something.
When I found out her due date was December 1st , I was sort of thrilled. I love Christmas with all my heart and this is a great theme to lean in year over year.
I prayed and I begged for a girl, I have too many clothes not to pass them down to someone. I finally birthed her. She’s rough and tumble and loves to climb and she thinks her big brother just walks on water. I know that I only have a very small handful of girly theme parties in my hat I will be able to throw before she tells me she wants a paw patrol or rock climbing party so I need to do it, now.
I started to think of how much she loves dance and how nostalgic the Nutcracker was. How can I make this a classic ballet party but adding Nutcracker since most her friends are actually her brothers friends at two years old.
When I do a party, I love them to be home made. It reminds me of my childhood and think there is an appropriate way to celebrate a kids birthday. If I buy anything for a party, I make sure I can use it again in anyway. A girl can never have too many table cloths or white and silver platters.
Location:
Step one, pick a location. We had a big house in the Palisades that was perfect for parties but I have learned after four very big birthdays there, it’s way more stressful to entertain at your home than it is somewhere else. Especially if you don’t have the yard.
You also realize the more kids you have, the more siblings they have and who wants 50 plus kids eating a chocolate cake on your white linen couch. Not me…
I picked a beautiful park that was near by and one that didn’t have a climbing gym. As much as I love them and they are great for entertainment, I feel like all the kids do is just play on that and not participate in the party.
I found a great green empty park with trees so I can pretend I live in the east coast country side and have this garden party for her.
The invites were sent, there was no turning back now.
I decided to make the event during brunch. As much as I love having late parties, I feel like alcohol is less important in the mornings and when I have parties later… they end up becoming late night parties. Believe me, I love that and we have had great times spinning the kids around singing Oasis opening deep dark reds but I just wasn’t in the mood this year.
Furniture:
I have two fold out tables that I always keep in my garage. I use them all the time for bars, parties, sales - they are just good to have. Then I invested in two low “child” height tables I found at Home Depot. I figure we entertain a lot so why not. This would be a great thing to go in on with your friends who also have kids/parties.
I also am thankful to have my husband with all the beautiful Business and Pleasure gear for extras. These low tables, coolers and umbrellas saved me and also really added to the theme. (Everything is here in the party shop)
I ordered a couple affordable kids size stools for them to sit on but other than that they all just run around and sit on the grass, that’s why I love the low tables- you don’t really need seats.
I collected table clothes ( all linked in here) that I could use again for Summer BBQs or holiday events. I borrowed a bunch of silvery trays my Mom had, ordered some online since I love to host Thanksgiving. I make sure they were ones I liked so I wasn’t wasting.
The Menu:
I love parties where it’s mostly finger food. Easy to grab, no utensils really necessary.
Peanut butter and jelly on white bread with the crust cut off displayed on a cake stand. (surprise was the biggest hit)
Hardboiled eggs with a mini- side dish of salt and pepper
I ordered mini quiches from the French Market and a box of chocolate croissants (the one thing I got catered)
From Trader Joes I got tons of grapes and used them as centerpieces in the silver troughs. A bag of mandarin oranges with the stems still on it, figs, baquettes, mini-apples, cherries, figs, strawberries whole, madeleines, nuts, cured meats and nice white cheeses.
I ordered the cake from my favorite Cake maker – Home Body. I couldn’t choose, so I got two. One that resembled a tutu in a pale pink, and one of the vintage column cakes and I found a glass swan to put on top.
I love to do party food tables “farmers market” style where nothing is cut up and it all just sort of looks out and ready to grab.
Personally, I think all parties need libations so I set up a mimosa bar and purchased little mini Prosecco bottles. It looked so beautiful in the big silver ice buckets. I put orange juice in a silver spout and fresh pomegranates on the side for adding. Also included was a coffee bar of course with fresh milk in a glass bottle.
Extras
I ordered large pink round balloons on Amazon and got them blown up with fringe.
I ordered this very sweet embroidered linen sign and figured I can use it for every party of hers she has. I got two big green posts at Ace hardware, some rope and strung it across, then cut up old fabric and tied it on nots around.
I always use Meri-Meri for extras. They had the best nutcracker and ballet selection with napkins, cupcake toppers, plates, etc. I don’t go too over board but a nice theme plate is really sweet.
Kids need something to entertain them at the party, especially if there is no play gym - so I set up two tables of ornament decorating. I ordered a bunch of wood ornaments, Christmas trees of felt and snowflakes. Went to town at Target with diamonds, paint , glitter and all set it up. Surprisingly this table was the most popular table.
I had my girlfriend play the guitar Christmas songs for a bit, otherwise a non-annoying playlist. It’s a bit of a tradition to have someone dress up at all our kids parties and so we had my Dad come out as Santa. It’s my favorite part of every party.
I just love a theme birthday but I also love a home-made birthday. People go so big and gregarious these days and sometimes you just need a little theme, some creative eyes and a glue stick!
Take Away:
I don’t like to add to the worlds global warming crisis so I really try not to do party bags with tiny plastic toys in them that will just be thrown away. I ordered a huge bag of caramel-corn from Nuts.com (yeah that site is amazing), little brown fold over bags and got custom stickers made on them with my daughters face. (All linked here)
I dressed up in my ballet-core and found the perfect tutu for my girl. It was a really beautiful little day with all my family and favorite people. I was so tired after but was so happy I did it for my girl. You can kind of take this formula and make it your own theme or copy and paste! It was such a sweet day.
Now I am off to plan my next party…again, here is everything I used.