Two for Two

The girls celebrated their second birthday party in California.  We flew back the day before their birthday so one could still sit in my lap and I only needed to get two plane tickets.  Their actual birthday we were just relaxing and recovering at home.  But their party in California was a nice celebration with family and one of my friends made it with his little boy.

I chose a rainbow theme this year because I figured it would be easy to pick up decorations for once I got California.   I saw a rainbow backdrop idea on Pinterest and really liked how it looked and how recyclable it is.  I bought 2 yards of tulle in every color (except Walmart didn't have orange tulle and I never made it to Joann's).  I put them together in order, tied the top with a rubber band and then taped it on the wall.  Then I spaced out the bottom how I wanted and taped it as well.  I put white balloons as clouds to cover up the tape (and a blue one because I only had two white ones in the pack).  It was easy, looks good and I can still use the tulle for future tutus.

For food we did brunch with hash browns, French toast casserole, frittata muffins, fresh fruit and baked oatmeal jam bars.  My sister helped me out so much with the food (along with having the party at her house), thank you! 

 

The fresh fruit tray turned out gorgeous following the theme with watermelon, raspberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, green grapes and blue berries (that we picked ourselves).  A big thank you to Nea for cutting so much fruit up to help us out.  I made rainbow layered jello, which looked really neat but was not well set.  I'm not sure if it was something I did wrong while making it or if we just left it out too long and it got a little too warm.  At least it still looked pretty, even though we couldn't really eat it.

For their birthday cake I decided to stick to cupcakes.  I used a store-bought white cake mix and divided it up into six portions that I dyed with food coloring.  Then I layered the colors as best as I could in the cupcake wrappers. They turned out nice and the kids thought they were delicious.

I kept decorations easy, mostly balloons and streamers.  But I did have the nifty idea to hang umbrellas upside down and tie rainbow colored balloons so they were streaming down out of them.  It turned out really cute and I must say I am rather proud of coming up with that one myself instead of getting the idea from Pinterest. 

I slapped together a bunting banner with the girls names on it at last minute and it turned out cute.  I had been planning it for a couple weeks but just did not have the interest in actually doing it until the night before/ morning of the party.  It still looked great though.  I cut the bunting from felt that Oma had on hand and printed out rainbow colored letters for the girls names.  Then I taped it all together on a rainbow colored ribbon.   Some pieces fell apart every so often but were easy to fix.  It worked out well since it wasn't roughly handled.  Oma will still be able to use the felt pieces for her projects so it was another decoration that will be easily recycled. 

 

I ordered adorable rainbow tie-dye dresses for the girls to wear from Zulily and their Leila got matching bows from a friend of hers that makes them.  The girls looked adorable.   

 

 

The dresses were such a pain though.  I ordered size 3T to be on the safe side since the girls are chunks and they were tiny.  I ended up having to cut all the elastic out of the back and change the straps to a halter for it fit them.  It was way too skinny and short for 3T.  Why can't the fashion industry come up with standardized sizes.  It makes it so hard shopping for little kids!  Anyway, the girls looked cute, so everything worked out fine.

 

The girls got to take some pictures with their baby cousin who wore one of their beautiful frilly dresses from when they were 5 months old (aww, the memories).  She was all smiles compared to my serious little girls and it wasn't even her birthday!

 

From their Leila and Pho Pho, the girls received tricycles.  They were so excited, especially Miss T.  They are a bit too bulky to bring back to Arkansas and the girls still need to grow into them anyway.  So the trikes are waiting at Leila and Pho Pho's house until next summer.  They got to play with them for one day though and T was all smiles and bouncing with delight.  

Blowing out the candles was a collaborative effort between the girls and their cousin, with Big H doing most of the work.  The girls haven't quite gotten that skill down yet.

 

 

After blowing out the candles, all of the toddlers got to be the center of attention as they ate their cupcakes and even got seconds.

 



 

I did goody bags this year even though the kids are still so young.  I customized brown paper bags just by running them through the printer.  Figuring out the right margins was annoying but it was fairly easy to do and I like how it turned out.  Plus it helped keep the toddlers busy on car rides and for flights, so a good plus there. 

 

The party was a great success.  Small enough to be manageable but still so nice to see everyone who came.