2nd Birthday Party

 

Carder's birthday party was a great success.  All of the preplanning I had done really paid off as the days before the party weren't slammed with things to do.  Except to finish that darned cupcake stand.  And those Oreo pops that I had grand plans for (which could have been posted on the Pin.terest Fa.il website because I think I bought the wrong kind of chocolate to dip them in).

 

I used a computer program to make 2 pictures into a panoramic one.  I didn't realize until after the fact that it photo-shopped the "R" out of birthday.  Oh well.  You get the idea...

 

We did the grocery shopping on Friday, so Saturday we only had to get balloons and put out all the goodies.  And run a 5K first thing in the morning...

We have a fenced in back yard and beautiful (sunny but not too hot) weather, so we planned to have most of the party outdoors.  I wanted to make sure the kids had fun and organized games are a bit hard for this age group. 

There was a bubble station with several different types of bubbles set up on a table (which was covered with a plastic tablecloth for easy cleanup).  This was a very popular station for all the kids.  I had anticipated it's popularity and placed the table in a shady spot.

There was an art easel with both paper and a chalkboard and plenty of markers and sidewalk chalk.

There was Carder's basketball goal and a plethora of balls.

There were trucks and cars and every riding toy we own in the backyard.

Party guests (well, except for Derek's family as they were already there before party time) started arriving right on time at 4:00.  We had used ballons staked to the ground with golf tees to mark our house and I think everyone found the place fairly easily.

The house and the yard filled up fast.  Even though we invited guests from several different areas of our lives, everyone seemed to mingle well.  The adults had fun relaxing in the backyard while the kids ran all over the place and had a blast.

Carder shared his toys incredibly well and the only altercation between kids seemed to be a slight spat over the Co.zy Cou.pe.

We sang the birthday song and Carder blew out a candle on his cupcake.  And then refused to eat the cupcake.  (Don't worry, I ate it.  We don't waste cupcakes at our house.)

When it came time for opening presents, we brought them all out into the yard so that none of the kids had to stop playing to watch another kid open his presents.  I also brought out the gift bags at that time so that there would be something for everyone to open.

 

It went so much better than I could have ever imagined.  I even had one mom tell me I should write a book on how to throw kids parties, so I will call it a win!