2nd Birthday Party

a550571 · June 2014

Hello,

I wanted to get some views on throwing a 2nd birthday party. For the first birthday, we invited everyone under the sun, had a theme, and had it catered.

For the 2nd party, we definitely want to minimize the guest list, and probably do pizza or barbeque. But I still want to have a theme and make it fun for the kids. I'm planning on having an Alice in Wonderland theme and make decorations and games. My husband thinks that we should only invite immediate family, which would be about 20 people. But I think we should invite our friends with kids and some of our cousins.

She is our only child right now and I don't see a problem with having a larger party. DH looks at the money side and always reminds me that she won't remember it. (Insert Debbie Downer).

What are your thoughts and plans for your child's 2nd birthday?

SJandVA · June 2014

We aren't doing a party. We are going to take her somewhere instead. I love a party but my DH doesn't really and our house is too small to host.

I love the Alice theme! We will use that at some point. DD2 middle name is Alice and we have an adorable Alice in Wonderland dress that DD1 wore.

twinkletoes3126 · June 2014

We are having a 2nd birthday party. It will be immediate family which is about 20 people and our friends with kids close in age. I watch 2 other kids a few times a week so I am sure I will invite them. That brings me to a total of about 30 invited but I am sure they won't all come. We are going to BBQ and as long as it's nice out, we will be in the backyard (we have a large yard and huge deck). My son is obsessed with Mickey so that's the theme and for now that's all I have figured out. It will be about the same number of people as his 1st birthday but not nearly as nice. We rented out a room at a really cute restaurant for his 1st birthday and spent a small fortunate, definitely not this time around.

vvvvvfee · June 2014

i wouldn't even do a party if it were up to me- i'd rather just go do something fun with DH and DS for the day. i know DH is going to insist on inviting our parents and his sisters/husbands and their kids. it would just be a barbeque. i don't want to spend a lot of money. we had about 25 people for pizza, salad, soda/beer, and ice cream cake for DS's 1st birthday, and it still totaled a surprising amount of $$$. all of DS's cousins are older (ages 9+). if there were kids DS's age that were attending, i might be more into the theme idea with fun activities for the littles.

Jeffreysmom24 · June 2014

We love entertaining at our house so we are definitely having a party! So I vote yes! We don't have a theme yet - I had been leaning towards Elmo but he isn't as excited about that anymore. He recently started loving trains but we did Thomas the Train last year and I don't want to repeat.

Msbean22 · June 2014

I feel badly about Evie's 1st as well. We live away from family too and haven't been in town for that long, so I only knew one couple with a kid her age, and of course my niece came too. So just the two kids and about 7-8 adults. Bummer

So, I wanted to do a big thing this year since money is so much better, but I'm torn because I have no one to invite. Evie has never been invited to a party by any of the the other daycare kids, but I'm considering inviting the ones near her age. Is this a faux-pas? Does it seem present-grubby? Honestly, I'd rather they bring no gifts - we have a small house and she has plenty from relatives.

What do you think?

Oh, and our theme is butterflies because she is obsessed with them.

SJandVA · June 2014

@Msbean22‌ I think if she has friends at day care and you want to invite them that would be fun. I've never assumed someone is being gift grabby when we get invitations.
DD1 had a bunch of friends(from a moms group)at a Chuck E Cheese for her 2nd.
If you didn't want to do a party you could take her somewhere fun. Maybe a butterfly garden or something.

KEfam5 · June 2014

I am still on the fence but I think we will be doing a 2nd bday party. We didn't do a party for 1 because we are of the mind that they won't remember yada, yada, yada. It will almost certainly be a small gathering, no theme, probably at a park.

MoFree · June 2014

I would never be cited by Martha Stewart for the most creative birthday parties.
We are having a Mickey Mouse theme because DD fell in love with him at WDW. We are inviting approximately 30 people including family, DD's friends and their parents. We are having a MM character do an approximately 30 minute show for the kids. Since it's so darned hot in AZ the party is in the morning and guests are free to stay and use the pool afterwards.
I haven't finalized the menu yet but I'm planning several cold salads for the adults, lots of fruit and raw veggies, cut up sunbutter sandwiches for the kids since one of DD's friends is severely allergic to PB, and chips.

Msbean22 · June 2014

Bluenoser4ever said:

We are doing a monkey theme party and inviting everyone we invited last year. We don't have a ton of family to invite so we invite close friends as well. I think there will probably be ~20 guests. We will do BBQ like last year.

Oh my gosh, I read monkey as "donkey" and I was like....whaaaat?! Monkey makes way more sense

binklesss · June 2014

I did a lot of DIY stuff last year and am still kinda burned out and considered no party for a while. But then family started asking what we were doing and I realized that if we don't do something, everyone is going to want to do something separate, so we'll end up doing 3 different things and spending way more time that way. So I think we're going to do immediate family only and not go so overboard on decorations. I'm thinking a rainbow theme.

HoneyBunn24 · June 2014

We are going to rent a picnic pavillion thing at the local park and then bring a BBQ and just have a relaxing afternoon.

We went to my grandparents house last year, and I ended up in tears because my grandmother laid into me because I wasn't prepared enough and then was as nice as pie to DH and joked about how unorganized I am and no wonder I'm late all the time. I was furious, and told DH we won't be using her place again. She did welcome us back (she told DH, not me) but I declined the offer. I'd rather put out a bit of money and feel comfortable with what's happening.

Anyway..we were going to do Bubble Guppies theme...but I don't know how it will work with us being outside. We may still do the decorations, but we will see what we can do. The cake will be Bubble Guppies though, there's no doubt about that. I might see about getting a Bubble Puppy for DD's little cake, haha.

ks3pink · June 2014

I started working on this yesterday. Thought is was going to be so much smaller. It's not. Just family is 50 people! I don't think we will have more than 30 show up though, maybe less. We are going to do a super why theme but for plates, cups, balloons, streamers, etc I am going to do primary colors to match the super why stuff. Pinterest inspired

shakinros · June 2014

We'll be doing a backyard BBQ. Last year we had a potluck picnic and because we lived across the country from family, it was 10 of our friends and no other kids. Very fun though.

This year, we expect lots of family and probably 10 friends, three of whom also have toddlers. Such a different vibe! I was thinking Daniel Tiger themed but she's cooling on that show. It's all Elmo, all the time around here.

Not sure if I should schedule this before or after nap time. What time are y'all doing your parties?

Msbean22 · June 2014

Oh my, it is Daniel Tiger all the time at this house. I desperately wish there was more than one season on Netflix. My husband and I are forever singing songs from that show. I was complaining about the weird noise my car makes, and he sang, "find out what it is, you might feel better!" I could have punched him.

I think maybe early - we're having a huge office party on the same day and I'm obligated to go. MIL is going to stay overnight and watch Evie after the party, but I'm still needing to pack everything up and then get ready, since it's a semi-formal work party, and an hour away no less. I was thinking maybe 1pm and have out a lot of snacks and do food pretty quickly, but I'm on the fence. I don't know, I guess.

piphigirl · June 2014

I have two ideas:

Have a party like last year - family and friends invited. I picked Charlotte's Web as the theme because DD loves farm animals. (Also, her name is Charlotte.) I'd mail invitations and pick up some themed party plates, napkins, tablecloths, etc. and make food for a crowd. It'd basically be her first party, with a couple more guests and a different theme.
Skip the big party. Have a dinner with family (no cutesy theme) and take DD out on a day to do something super fun with DH and me. If I'm not doing a big party, I would bring some small party favors and a healthy snack to her daycare, which is where all her friends are anyway.

I don't feel like one option is necessarily better than the other, but I do need to make a choice by the end of this month so that I can order invitations if necessary.

Reilly626 · June 2014

I bought tickets for "Thomas the train"- they convert the train to Thomas and go all out. Then we will go back to the house and have pizza and cake. I'm not into big parties but I don't have a gigantic family.

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