Honestly, it does not feel like Jack should be turning 2. When I was pregnant with him, I would cry to anyone who would listen how I felt like I didn’t know who he was and I wasn’t connected to him. And now I feel like I’ve known that boy forever. But it’s only been two years!

Now I wasn’t sure I was going to do a party for him because Ella didn’t have a party when she turned 2 (which was Jack’s fault– morning sickness and DIYs do not go together) but all of that went out the window as soon as I thought of a punny theme.

Jack has a little bear that he loves and there are cute woodland prints in his room and the phrase “Into the Woods” kept coming into my mind. And then it hit me. In TWO the Woods.

So here we are. I, the Curated Planner, am throwing this boy a second birthday party. Here are my ideas so far:

“In Two the Woods” is a pretty playful theme and I’m excited for all the different ways I can decorate. I can draw from the fairytales in the musical (including Jack and the Beanstalk, which I realized several weeks after I came up with this idea) and also use cute woodland creatures and a lot of greenery. Something in me wants the party to be kind of understated (shocking for me, I know) but still whimsical and vibrant.

If we can’t end up using our yard (I’ve had the worst luck with weather for our parties), then I figure I can turn our patio into a sort of forest somehow. The color palette will be greens, blues, with some brown and tiny gold accents. It’s challenging to not be using pink but I’m going with it!

This is normally where I struggle the most but I have a couple ideas that should be fun and easy to execute. I’m trying to figure out a cost effective way to make a scavenger hunt for the kids but I’m still working out the kinks. Ella keeps coming up with activities–some realistic and some not so much. Just like her mom!

We’re doing the party in the afternoon so we don’t have to make lunch- hallelujah! We’re going heavy on the desserts and I have a bunch of fun themed desserts planned (a lot of chocolate “dirt” type things).

Alright, so we have a problem. I am really, truly stumped here. And the party is in less than a week. So my time is running out and I need some creativity to kick in, like, right now. Pictures are normally heavily featured in my showstoppers but I worry that anything that has pictures will be too much like his showstopper from last year.

I have some ideas and words floating around in my head but I can’t figure out a way to connect them yet. “Ombre” is one that sticks out. So I’m still trying to figure that one out. I better get cracking! Jack deserves the best!

xo

eb

p.s. It’s a really good thing my husband never believes me when I say I’m not going to throw a party.