Original Post: November 2, 2010- This is my favorite party to date!
Somehow my "baby" has turned into a super talkative, emotion-filled toddler full of energy and life and quickly on her way to being a "little kid"... all since her last birthday!
She was born at 10:09 PM on Halloween Night, 2008. Six months later, I started forming ideas and planning her birthday parties for the next 12 years! :) I figure I at least get 2 or 3 before she gets to decide on her own.
Months and months of planning went into little Miss Cheeky's 2nd Birthday party. Small details that only I would notice didn't get overlooked, except that is, one very important detail... the NUMBER of CANDLES on her birthday cake!!! My husband pointed out the next day there was only one candle instead of two... oh my! Will somebody please remind me next year we need three candles?
On to the stuff I did get right!
THE THEME
Monkey watches Sesame Street every day (how else would I get to shower). She loves Elmo and Abby Cadabby (the fairy in training). At first I thought of an Abby party, but she has more boy friends than girl friends so I decided to include all the characters. I didn't want it to overwhelmingly be an Elmo party so I used primary colors in dots as an element to tie everything together. You'll find it used throughout the day.
Abby Cadabby Banner - This was one of my first projects. I created the background papers and template and hand cut out these scalloped circles.. everything was tied together with purple and blue ribbon
THE INVITATIONS
These were hand cut but so much fun to make. I think it set the tone for the party and got people excited to attend. Lots of mommies said their kids ooh'd over them as they hung from the fridge.
This Sesame Street Scene Setter has been discontinued but I was lucky enough to find one on Ebay. A super inexpensive way to have a large decoration and potentially could be reused for a child's bedroom or playroom.
Lesson Learned.. do not spend 5+ minutes on each (Martha Stewart) tissue paper ball before hot gluing to cardboard. If I ever make a large M+2 again, I'll just cover them in tissue paper like I did and then scrunch up tissue squares and glue.. that would have been MUCH faster! Plus it was very hard throwing them away after the party after spending so much time on them. boo hoo
Each year we try to have our pumpkin carving match the theme
Centerpieces- canning jars filled with cookie crisp cereal, crayons for Elmo, and bird seed for Big Bird
THE CAKE
I found a very talented lady on Craigslist to make the cake and cupcakes. I sent her photos of ideas and even created a spec sheet for her to follow. It turned out different but wonderful just the same. Everyone thought the Zoe, Elmo, Oscar and Cookie Monster cupcakes were adorable and the tie dye cake was really fun. The cake looked cute and tasted good too... she even delivered it!
Jenny Prado jennyscakes4all@yahoo.com or 805-263-3711 Contact this girl before her prices go way up!
GAMES
Pin the Nose on Elmo- Kids liked putting the stickers on elmo and it had double use as decor
Rubber Ducky You're the One- First to Pick the ducky that had a number "2" on the bottom won a prize.. I held the winning ducky in my pocket until each kid had one turn. As soon as the game was over, the water was moved. Water crisis adverted!
Oscar's Trash Toss- This turned into more of an activity than a game. Kids liked tossing the bean bags into the bucket
Count The Candy- Guess how many candies in the jar. Oldie but a goodie game that the adults like to play... at least my friends and family do!
FOOD
Because the party was from 2:30-5:00, I didn't feel as though a full meal was needed. We served some munchies and sweets. The spinach pastry puffs were a big success and I got so busy I didn't even put out the ABC tater tots we bought.
(Blue) French Onion Dip with chips and individually packaged Fish Crackers
Popcorn and Kettle corn - in these cute snack boxes
I didn't get any photos of it out on display, but they were filled and lined up in a dotted box
Water with Custom Water-proof Labels & Juice Boxes with Big Bird and Elmo for the little ones
Chocolate Covered Brownie Bites (Pillsbury Sweet Moments)
Various Candies (gummy worms, large lollipops, etc)
Wrapped Utensils
These weren't really used. I displayed them in Elmo buckets from the dollar section at Target, but because most of the food was finger food and I handed out forks with cake, we have most of these left over. Simple way to use solid colored items but to personalized for your theme.
This Party was brought to you by the letters "M" & "2" so I made, decorated, and packaged these cookies
ATTIRE
Birthday Crown- $1 foam crown and pink feather material from Michael's, Cut out pink sparkly paper and Abby image.. She kept it on longer than I thought she would
Monkey's Shirt- I created an iron-on with Abby Cadabby and the number 2. This photo looks like a mug shot of Maddie and her BFF + Birthday Twin. We haven't figured out how to get them to BOTH smile at the same time. :)
Mommy's shirt. I ironed on a design to a shirt I knew I'd be comfortable in. I didn't get a great photo of it from that day but it turned out super cute and super easy to do.
I asked my hubby to wear this shirt and I was so glad when he did! Me LOVE Elmo + Me LOVE my hubby.. (this shirt has never been seen in the light of day since the party day.)
PHOTO BACKDROP- didn't turn out exactly as visioned but after cutting 120+ circles and gluing to a foam roll, I was ready for it to be done. Next time a cool patterned fabric or sheet would be much better.
The great part about it was we got a photo of everyone that was there before they left
I think the most fun I had was with the gift bags. I found these really cute Elmo backpacks at the 99 cents store. The dollar section at Target had cute Sesame Street storybooks to add. I also made homemade play dough (so easy- it's basically flour water and salt) with Cinnamon added for a sensory twist
Contents
Audio CD with popular Sesame Street Songs. Used my Lightscribe drive to make the design right on the disc
Each bag had a tag to identify it's owner. girls vs boys had slightly different things
Homemade Play dough in green and blue
Despite all my careful planning, we did have a few hiccups... we had some missing chocolate lollipops that didn't make it on time and a photographer who cancelled that morning but we survived and managed to all have a really great time!
She was born at 10:09 PM on Halloween Night, 2008. Six months later, I started forming ideas and planning her birthday parties for the next 12 years! :) I figure I at least get 2 or 3 before she gets to decide on her own.
Months and months of planning went into little Miss Cheeky's 2nd Birthday party. Small details that only I would notice didn't get overlooked, except that is, one very important detail... the NUMBER of CANDLES on her birthday cake!!! My husband pointed out the next day there was only one candle instead of two... oh my! Will somebody please remind me next year we need three candles?
On to the stuff I did get right!
THE THEME
Monkey watches Sesame Street every day (how else would I get to shower). She loves Elmo and Abby Cadabby (the fairy in training). At first I thought of an Abby party, but she has more boy friends than girl friends so I decided to include all the characters. I didn't want it to overwhelmingly be an Elmo party so I used primary colors in dots as an element to tie everything together. You'll find it used throughout the day.
Abby Cadabby Banner - This was one of my first projects. I created the background papers and template and hand cut out these scalloped circles.. everything was tied together with purple and blue ribbon
THE INVITATIONS
These were hand cut but so much fun to make. I think it set the tone for the party and got people excited to attend. Lots of mommies said their kids ooh'd over them as they hung from the fridge.
This Sesame Street Scene Setter has been discontinued but I was lucky enough to find one on Ebay. A super inexpensive way to have a large decoration and potentially could be reused for a child's bedroom or playroom.
Lesson Learned.. do not spend 5+ minutes on each (Martha Stewart) tissue paper ball before hot gluing to cardboard. If I ever make a large M+2 again, I'll just cover them in tissue paper like I did and then scrunch up tissue squares and glue.. that would have been MUCH faster! Plus it was very hard throwing them away after the party after spending so much time on them. boo hoo
Each year we try to have our pumpkin carving match the theme
Centerpieces- canning jars filled with cookie crisp cereal, crayons for Elmo, and bird seed for Big Bird
THE CAKE
I found a very talented lady on Craigslist to make the cake and cupcakes. I sent her photos of ideas and even created a spec sheet for her to follow. It turned out different but wonderful just the same. Everyone thought the Zoe, Elmo, Oscar and Cookie Monster cupcakes were adorable and the tie dye cake was really fun. The cake looked cute and tasted good too... she even delivered it!
Jenny Prado jennyscakes4all@yahoo.com or 805-263-3711 Contact this girl before her prices go way up!
GAMES
Pin the Nose on Elmo- Kids liked putting the stickers on elmo and it had double use as decor
Rubber Ducky You're the One- First to Pick the ducky that had a number "2" on the bottom won a prize.. I held the winning ducky in my pocket until each kid had one turn. As soon as the game was over, the water was moved. Water crisis adverted!
Oscar's Trash Toss- This turned into more of an activity than a game. Kids liked tossing the bean bags into the bucket
Count The Candy- Guess how many candies in the jar. Oldie but a goodie game that the adults like to play... at least my friends and family do!
FOOD
Because the party was from 2:30-5:00, I didn't feel as though a full meal was needed. We served some munchies and sweets. The spinach pastry puffs were a big success and I got so busy I didn't even put out the ABC tater tots we bought.
(Blue) French Onion Dip with chips and individually packaged Fish Crackers
Popcorn and Kettle corn - in these cute snack boxes
I didn't get any photos of it out on display, but they were filled and lined up in a dotted box
Water with Custom Water-proof Labels & Juice Boxes with Big Bird and Elmo for the little ones
Chocolate Covered Brownie Bites (Pillsbury Sweet Moments)
Various Candies (gummy worms, large lollipops, etc)
Wrapped Utensils
These weren't really used. I displayed them in Elmo buckets from the dollar section at Target, but because most of the food was finger food and I handed out forks with cake, we have most of these left over. Simple way to use solid colored items but to personalized for your theme.
This Party was brought to you by the letters "M" & "2" so I made, decorated, and packaged these cookies
ATTIRE
Birthday Crown- $1 foam crown and pink feather material from Michael's, Cut out pink sparkly paper and Abby image.. She kept it on longer than I thought she would
Monkey's Shirt- I created an iron-on with Abby Cadabby and the number 2. This photo looks like a mug shot of Maddie and her BFF + Birthday Twin. We haven't figured out how to get them to BOTH smile at the same time. :)
Mommy's shirt. I ironed on a design to a shirt I knew I'd be comfortable in. I didn't get a great photo of it from that day but it turned out super cute and super easy to do.
I asked my hubby to wear this shirt and I was so glad when he did! Me LOVE Elmo + Me LOVE my hubby.. (this shirt has never been seen in the light of day since the party day.)
PHOTO BACKDROP- didn't turn out exactly as visioned but after cutting 120+ circles and gluing to a foam roll, I was ready for it to be done. Next time a cool patterned fabric or sheet would be much better.
The great part about it was we got a photo of everyone that was there before they left
I think the most fun I had was with the gift bags. I found these really cute Elmo backpacks at the 99 cents store. The dollar section at Target had cute Sesame Street storybooks to add. I also made homemade play dough (so easy- it's basically flour water and salt) with Cinnamon added for a sensory twist
Contents
Audio CD with popular Sesame Street Songs. Used my Lightscribe drive to make the design right on the disc
Each bag had a tag to identify it's owner. girls vs boys had slightly different things
Homemade Play dough in green and blue
Despite all my careful planning, we did have a few hiccups... we had some missing chocolate lollipops that didn't make it on time and a photographer who cancelled that morning but we survived and managed to all have a really great time!
I find inspiration everywhere and at any moment.. unfortunately sometimes that means getting up from bed at 12:30 to write these ideas down. I've always said my favorite ideas come from a google search. :)
Obviously these products that were created were not licensed Sesame Street products. I do not own copyright on them and therefore if you wish to purchase a recreation, you'll be paying for materials, my creative design, and time only.
Simply amazing!! You thought of everything. Love your creativity Angela :)
ReplyDelete