Emily's 2nd Birthday: Sesame Street!

My second big party was my daughter, Emily's, 2nd birthday party.  Being a typical toddler, she was in love with Sesame Street so that was the theme of the party!

Again, I neglected to take a picture of her invitations.  My favorite line from the invitations was "Can you tell me how to get...how to get to...Emily's birthday party???"  

Our welcome sign made sure everyone knew we were now at 123 Sesame Street.

Just like Sesame Street, we had to have a letter and number of the day.  Both were to honor the special birthday girl!

Since Elmo was Emily's favorite character, he and his goldfish, Dorothy, were guests of honor at the food table!

The desert table!  Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE dessert and will go all out for sweets!  The worms in dirt were in honor of Oscar's worm, Slimy.

A closeup of the ice cream cone cupcakes-a classic!  The cupcake toppers were made by me as well with Sesame Street printouts, cardstock, and craft punches.

Dipped marshmallows on a stick arranged in a vase with peanut M&Ms.  The primary colors were an ongoing theme throughout the day.

 Rhyming cards to label the food was a must!  (The Sesame Street street sign in the center and red with white polka dots side borders were also used on the invitations.)

Finally, our birthday girl (in her Cookie Monster shirt!) sitting with grandpa as we all sang "Happy Birthday!"





Jay's 8th Birthday Party: Magical Mayhem!

I discovered my love of children's party planning when I planned my son, Jay's, 8th birthday party.  It had a magician theme since he wanted a magician to perform at the party.

I can't believe I didn't take a photo of the invitations!  I made invitations by hand out of card stock.  The base was a black magician's hat with the ears of a white bunny sticking out (separate sheet of card stock).  When you pulled the bunny completely out, you could see the party invitation and information. 

An amazing local magician did a half hour show that was funny and entertaining.  He pulled in the use of my son, guests, and even adults.  This photo is one of my favorites...after magically pulling the bird from a balloon, Jay was able to pose with the bird and magician!  He also received a magical coin and paper that were part of the act as a gift.

 One of the games was tossing balls into a magician's hat...at least until my daughter, Emily, stole the hat and ran off with it!

 Kids were also able to make and decorate their own edible wands with pretzel's, melted chocolate, and sprinkles!

 We had a bunny popping out of a hat pinata...I discovered after this party that pinatas should NOT be used when there are more than 30 kids-it was INSANE!

In addition to the other activities, kids were able to jump on the trampoline, play on the swing set, play in the tree house, get their face painted (my sister and her friend had a face painting station set up), and just run around having fun.

The art teacher at the school I work at was kind enough to paint this magician cut-out.  This is a picture of the birthday boy standing behind it.  We took a picture of each guest behind it, printed the photos, and had Jay write his thank you notes on the back.

This was my first major party I planned, created from scratch, and hosted.  It was a large undertaking as we let our son invite his entire class, other friends, and most of the kids in the neighborhood.  All went well and the kids all seemed to have a great time!  This was the start of my passion...