Birthday Parties

tiffbomb

I know I might be crazy but I have officially started planning! Anyone else? What theme are you doing? Colors? Cake ideas? Questions? Let's talk birthday parties! 

In my defense, my little guy was born Oct 2 and we are celebrating Sept 28 so it's not that early, right??? 

tiffbomb

Awe that sounds perfect!  I wish I had your cake baking skills!  It sounds delicious!  Luckily, we have a great bakery right up the road, but I'm sure it wont be as yummy as homemade with raspberries from your garden!!!! 

We are doing an airplane theme. Not my favorite, but this kid is obsessed with airplanes.  So, airplanes it is! We are doing it outside at a park/playground (so we are praying for nice weather too!). The nice thing about this pavilion is that there is a giant stone fireplace so if it gets a little chilly, we can build a big fire to help keep the chill away.  

tiffbomb

Super- they actually provide the wood for the fireplace! It's kind of funny, I asked the person in charge of reservations that same question and they told me that apparently there is some kind of tree disease and you aren't supposed to carry firewood across city lines anymore!  For this reason, they provide the wood.  Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. 

lisa- Toy story is the theme of Ds' best friends birthday party I'm looking forward to it!  I know I should keep the party a little more low key but I actually enjoy party planning so I let myself go a little crazy. But only a little. I have a budget and I stick to it

KayD2010

We will be having  a nice small 'family' party this year. We did the big thing for her 1st birthday and now we will keep if pretty small until she has friends and will remember the party. 

I am planning on doing doughnuts instead of a cake though! This kid is seriously obsessed with doughnut holes. She gets them on Fridays at her dayhome and now she asks for them ALL. THE.TIME. So doughnut cake it is!

tiffbomb

AA0417- I love your ideas for having the farm animals "eating" from the snacks! That is such a cute idea  And I think I might do apple cider instead of punch too...just because it's yummy. 

Kay- You really cannot go wrong with donuts! 

I also think I might try to turn my little guys wagon into an airplane using cardboard boxes and have "plane rides".  There will be a fair amount of young kids at the party and I think it would be fun! 

jwls84

We are hoping to have a new house by then so we can have family and friends over for cake and coffee. Probably nothing big, but this kid is obsessed with Cars (the movie) so we will probably have Cars decorations.

Deez10

We are doing what kayd and lisajay are doing - small family party on the night of his birthday. 

But the weekend before, we are driving a few hours to a nearby city and having our annual family pictures taken + hitting up the local aquarium & zoo. 

blu-eyedwife

So most of the kids in my moms group have birthdays in March/April, so I've been gathering ideas since then. 

LBB's birthday is October 2, but we didn't plan early enough apparently because when I tried to book the location in June they were already booked up for the weekends before and after his birthday.  So his party isn't going to be until later in the month.

We're doing a train theme since he's obsessed with trains.  Party at the Train Museum and we're sticking with red and blue for colors.  Food is going to be sandwiches cut in train shapes (Stationhouse sandwiches), fruit skewers (kabob car), veggies and dip (produce car), and a popcorn bar (smokestacks). Water and lemonade (Diesel fuel)  to drink.  We haven't decided on cake or cupcakes yet.  I'm wrapping the goodie bags in bandanas and filling them with engineer hats, train whistles, train animal crackers,  and a little wooden train for the kids to play with on the train table the museum has.

blu-eyedwife

@AA0417 - that's SUCH a cute idea.  And I think mini-oreos would work. You'll have a line of them anyway right?  Because train cars can have more than 4 wheels.

I'm outsourcing a lot this year including the cake, so we're just going to grab something from my favorite bakery.  It probably won't look like a train, but it will be delicious!   I am definitely serving/displaying the food in "train cars" though.  I've already started collecting milk cartons!

Scramblersmom

I am not even close to planning anything yet or even a theme. I have been looking at presents though. We picked him up a wheelbarrow at Costco already and I want to get him a 49ers T-shirt (his mama is a rabid fan). I was initially thinking about getting him a Leap Frog but I haven't decided 100%. What I do know for sure is that we will do a party at home with just the 3 of us then probably a bigger party the next day at his Grandma's house.

Blu, I love the train idea. DS is pretty fascinated with trains right now too along with Elmo. Your party plan sounds like it will be a ton of fun for the kids.

tiffbomb

Blu & AA, If my little guy didn't love airplanes so much, I might be tempted to change my theme! Cute ideas!

blu-eyedwife

AA0417 said:
I have seen the food served in train cars using the disposible aluminum pans. I haven't seen milk cartons used. Care to share?

It's mainly just for shape and easier/cheaper than buying pans or plates.  They're already square like boxcars!  The plan is to cut off the tops so I have just the bottom (third? half?) and then cover with paper and make paper wheels. 

I got the idea from etsy:

The shop sells the coverings, but you have to supply your own milk cartons anyway, so I figured I could probably do something (less elaborate) myself playing off the idea.  And for things like the popcorn, I can lay a carton on its side and cut little holes to hold the cones.

lisamonkee11

The farthest I've gotten is to say it's going to be small. Her 1st birthday party was huge & insane. We'll limit this to immediate family & a couple friends that have kids her age.

Stewartandmaura

I have basically planned out E's bday. I am going to try to have anything I will need to make finished before DS arrives at the end of Aug.
We are doing a Sesame Street theme (heavy on the Elmo).

kagl08

We are doing a small family party. Very small. Probably going to be pirate related since DS LOVES Jake & the Neverland Pirates. Provably will do a cake that is pirate somehow and some fun plates and a banner maybe. Nothing much. We went all out last year and no one came. Not doing that again!

mamaZbo

I am leaning towards a pirate theme for DD; either that or Sofia...she loves both. I don't really think we are going to do too much. I might try and get a pavilion at the local park that has a carousel and train ride, along with a playground. Or DH and I may take her somewhere and just celebrate ourselves.

Snickerdoodle24

I went a little crazy with E's 1st bday party, i blame pinterest. We had a pretty big party with extended family at our community clubhouse, and I did a ton of work with "apple of our eye" decorations and food/bev ...while I loved the way everything turned out, it was honestly pretty stressful. I MAY have been a little bit of a partyplanzilla. Sooo, I promised DH we would do something low key this year.

We'll have a party at home with just immediate family and maybe a couple friends (~25 ppl). I'd still like to do a theme, but not sure what yet. E is currently obsessed with puppies, playing dress up, cell phones, bubbles, coloring, the alphabet, and wearing my thongs around her neck like a necklace. Don't know how to turn that into a party theme though...

vitan

susienick24 said:

I'd still like to do a theme, but not sure what yet. E is currently obsessed with puppies, playing dress up, cell phones, bubbles, coloring, the alphabet, and wearing my thongs around her neck like a necklace. Don't know how to turn that into a party theme though...

That's what we're doing. Her theme is "my favorite things" since she loves bubbles, cupcakes and balloons so it just works out. I also went ALL OUT (invited pretty much everyone we knew) last year so we're keeping it to just those with kids cuz she also loves other kids.

punkin05

You ladies are way more organized than me! I honestly just clued in to the fact that his birthday is only ~2 months away, so maybe I should start thinking about what to do. Last year was really low key (just immediate family on both sides were invited), and this year will pretty much be the same. Our house isn't that big (1500sqft) and we actually had snow the morning of his birthday last year, so I pretty much have to plan it as an indoor party and if the weather cooperates, that's just a bonus.

AngLK987

We're doing an Elmo party, possibly at MIL's since their house is bigger/laid off more openly, I plan to order pizza's and do fruit and veggie trays I'll make an Elmo cake and cupcakes and she can wear her Elmo shirt... just close friends and family nothing like last year, too crazy. 

lynnblack

We are going to do a bubble theme. It will be at our house assuming we have everything fixed up by then. That is as far as I have gotten other than pinning some ideas on pinterest.

cinsin

My LO had hand foot mouth last year for his birthday. LAME. So this year I'll be making up for lost fun. Rocketship theme in the park near our house.

pennysuedog

I've got it mostly planned out.  We are having it the last Sunday in September.  The theme is Puppies! Although lately I'm thinking I should change it to chickens and goats. LOL!   I have alot of things pinned:
https://pinterest.com/pennysuedog/it-s-a-puppy-party-v-s-2nd-b-day/

pennysuedog

How do I edit?

* a lot

ellewoodsSC

DD is obsessed with Elmo and SS, so we might make that her party theme.  It will be a small turnout with just the close family so I won't go overboard this year.  We'll probably do a cookout at a local beach park.  I was thinking of getting her an IKEA play kitchen and some accessories, but I might end up getting that sooner since I need to keep DD entertained while I'm busy with the baby.  

Elsa1984

Since she is nicknamed Gator, we are having a "bayou/Gator"birthday party. We rented a local indoor pool for an hour and then get an hour in the party room. Since we cannot be in the party room until our exact time frame, there is really no time for set up. So there will just be balloons. Easy! Then we are doing dinner with our family for her actual birthday. The pool party is for her and her little friends.