Birthday Party

Sweet Pea's birthday was such a total blast this year.  I had three goals: 1.  Keep it simple; I mean, we're talking about a two-year-old who won't even remember she had a party!  2.  Feed lots of people; I wanted to include as many friends as possible and feed them a meal.  3. Keep it cost effective; we can't have it catered or anything!

I tend toward a theme because it keeps me organized.  I tend to get over-zealous about ideas and creativity, but my goal was to be simple, simple, simple.  When thinking over the things Sweet Pea loves right now fairies and princesses came to mind, but all of the ideas I wanted to try would really have been better appreciated by older kids.

So, I went with my direction from last year; I built the party off of her favorite book (it turned into her two favorite books) and her favorite foods.  I love using books for a theme because it just speaks to my former-English-teacher heart, and it just seems fitting for a little girl whose name comes from a favorite book of my own.

Sweet Pea loves a lot of books, but the one lately that she comes back to over and over is a funny, random little book called Hey, Pancakes!  I have no idea why she loves this book so much.  It's about three kids who get up and make themselves pancakes.  There is a line in the book that goes, "Hey!  That's a blueberry stuck on my nose!" and Little Miss cracks up when we read it every. single. time.  It's like her first little inside joke.  I can turn to her at any given moment and say it and she'll giggle like crazy.

She happens to love eating pancakes, too.  Maybe that is what spurred the love of the book.  Her other favorite food is blueberries (hence all of our blueberry picking adventures this summer), which made me hunt down and buy the book Blueberries for Sal.  She loves this book, too.

And so, a concept was born.  Blueberry pancake dinner at Nana and Grampa's farm.  Sweet, simple, laid-back.  Lots of whipped cream.  No cupcakes, but s'mores instead.

Don't worry, I sent out a warning e-mail to all the parents letting them know that their children would be consuming mass quantities of sugar.

We played on the farm, Hubby read the kids one of the books, they got to decorate their own homemade placemats, we ate pancakes and s'mores, and basically all enjoyed a gorgeous early fall evening on the farm.  We couldn't have asked for a nicer night or more wonderful family and friends.

(Photo disclaimer:  My camera was in the shop!  These are almost all I took with a borrowed camera.  I wish I got more!  And these are unedited, as pretty much always on the blog!)

She insisted on the wings!

Decorating their own placemats

Homemade blueberry lemonade= my new favorite thing ever.
Thank you Gigi for making it!  It's easy; just lemon juice, sugar, water and frozen blueberries.
Mason jars for Blueberries for Sal.  

Loves her placemat!

Dinner!  Pancakes and sausage with lots of fixings.

We had regular pancakes, gluten-free pancakes and Paleo pancakes!  Something for everyone!

So, just a brief aside.  True story:  I fed over 60 friends and family, did a craft with the kids, did dessert, sent kids home with glow necklaces and bracelets all for under $150.  Not bad, eh?

 

Pretty excited.

Okay, fine, one edited shot:

I wish I had a photo of the dessert.  Up in the back right of the photo above is the fire pit.  I put graham crackers (regular for gluten eaters, gluten-free for six), marshmellows and mini-chocolates in cupcakes holders and passed those out.  So fun!  We just shoved two candles in a marshmellow for Sweet Pea and sang her Happy Birthday, much to her delight.

It was a wonderful evening.  We are so blessed.  Sweet Pea loved opening her presents later and about lost her mind over the La La Loopsie doll she opened first from her Aunt N, Uncle J and cousins M and D.  She pulled it out of the bag and shrieked, "LALALOOOOSIE!"  So sweet!

Share