Jack’s birthday week has come and gone and I’m so excited to share his party with all of you.
My party planning formula really comes in handy– it divides and focuses the work.
You guys know I love puns and coming up with “In Two the Woods” is the only reason I was really determined to get this party together. Excuse me, two-gether.
I drew inspiration from the musical, having some quotations here and there.
I also used just general woodland decor and themes. And all the puns.
To simplify things, we had the party in late afternoon so I just made my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe and had other themed desserts.
Of all the birthday parties I’ve done for the kids in North Carolina, we’ve only had good weather for one of them. Unfortunately for me, the themes I come up with for these parties are always outdoors-focused. We have this big yard and I always have to come up with some way for the kids to have fun without it! It’s good practice for my creativity, I guess, but super inconvenient. I had planned on doing a scavenger hunt for the kids outside but as the percentage chance of rain kept rising and rising, I knew I had to come up with something else. And in true Elizabeth fashion, an idea didn’t come to me until the night before. I had been thinking I could just have the kids do general arts and crafts. I have construction paper and markers and crayons so that would be easy enough. Just not curated enough. I remembered this sensory DIY activity I’d seen for babies using contact paper and then I remembered I had some left over after the Pink Room project. And I knew I could modify it and dress it up to be fun for bigger kids. I taped the contact paper to the wall with the sticky side facing out.
I cut out different shapes– trees, flowers, houses, bushes, butterflies, etc. that the kids could put up and make their own little woodland scenes. I also included things like buttons and pom poms for the younger ones who wouldn’t necessarily make a picture. I put each child’s supplies into a little bag with their name on it and let them have at it.
And it was a big hit!
Even Jack participated, which was not a given. I loved that it worked out and that I didn’t have to buy anything extra to reconfigure the party to be inside.
If you can believe it, the showstopper gave me even more grief than the activity. I started a few different showstoppers during the week actually. But I could never quite figure out what I wanted to do and what I could actually do. It was like throwing spaghetti at the wall or, in my case, taping a bunch of different things to the wall only to take them down an hour or two later. So I knew I had to simplify. I looked at what I had: some craft paper, a lot of paint samples, gold rings, bud vases, some greenery, and an undying love for ombre. I stopped watching TV for a few days before the party (it doesn’t matter what the show is, TV always stunts my imagination) and I started to see a picture of what I could do. I had always wanted this party to be simpler and I was losing the point. It was just to celebrate my son turning two. So he got two simple showstoppers.
The ombre, the beanstalk, and the plants tied into the theme but weren’t overwhelming for the casual atmosphere.
This party was somehow so easy and hard to put together. Changing things last minute, coming up with things last minute– all kind of stressful. But all the changes and ideas were simple and fun and all Jack needed. He was a little late to the party and pretty unhappy I woke him up for it, but because it was a party fit for a two year old (rather than a party exactly fit for my curated tastes), him acting like a two year old made perfect sense. At least that’s what I’m telling myself!
Until next time!
xo
eb