So, The Good Son turned two over the summer. We had a cake and ice cream party. I have heard that the second kid always gets the shaft.
Sorry about that kiddo.
Actually, I try and alternate having one "big" party for the kids and this year was The Good Daughter's turn. Since TGD's birthday is at the end of June and TGS's is just two weeks later (to the date) AND 4th of July is squeezed between the two, I was a little over party planning. I know, I need to get my head checked. I still managed to make a cute little set up for TGS, though. One of his first words was "car" so that dictated the theme.
Another shitty frosting job on the cake, but it was cute nonetheless. And I created a banner and cars from generic clipart.
I wanted something colorful and bold for a boy.
I mean, look at that face. Happy Birthday, Buddy!!
Oh, I don't know why, but I've always loved the idea of summer, and sun, and all things hot...
Winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle but put me in summer and I'll be a ... happy snowman!!
If you are a mom of young kids, you just said that above in Olaf's voice. And now that song is stuck in your head. You're welcome.
Just like with my Winter, Spring, and Fall Planners, you can use this planner to keep track of everything you want to do or make in the summer.
Get it HERE! You can check out my Pinterest boards to get ideas for Independence Day/summer activities. Our summer is actually kind of crazy this year. Having two kids' birthdays back to back and kindy starting this fall, I am in DO ALL THE THINGS!!!!! mode and this has been a great way for me to stay on top of everything. And thanks to global warming, the weather has been abnormally cool, so we can do things instead of just stay in the house watching movies all day. How is your summer going?
So The Good Daughter turned 5 last month. 5! It's trippy to me that she is now the age that I can actually remember being and its weird to think of what little snippets will actually stick to her grey matter. This year she wanted an ALL THE FUCKING PRINCESSES!!! GILTTER!! PINK!!!1!1!!ZOMG!!!! party. Not being a fan of the mass produced disney stuff, I bought a party pack from Etsy, gillter-bombed everything and went typically nuts in the way I do for birthday parties.
Pink and purple were the dominate colors.
I made some turrets out of cardboard so if you squint, you could image you were walking into a castle gate.
A glitter sign welcomed everyone to the Royal Celebration.
Treat Bags greet guests on the way in so they don't forget to take them home with them. The bags were filled with princess candy, mini paint Tangled palettes, stickers, pencils, a notepad and bubbles.
I made centerpieces with all of the princesses. And I will say that finding something with all of them - Jasmine and Tiana, included - was kinda hard. TGD specifically asked for those two and I can't blame her. I Tiana is my second favorite princess (best dressed princess overall) so I'm not shocked TGD loves her too.
Ariel and Cinderella, all glittered up. Glitter, AKA the herpes of the crafting world, was a huge mistake. I am still finding glitter in the dining room a month later. I ended up with glitter in my hair, people.
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, AKA the boring ones. The glitter did look cute.
Belle and Rapunzel, AKA the best princesses. Rapunzel got extra glitter.
Jasmine and Tiana, AKA TGD's requested girls. Tiana got some extra glitter. Two colors, too, natch.
More princesses and a pink castle cake.
I also made some construction paper turrets and pink chocolate stars.
Castle cake using one 9x13, one 8 inch round and 5 cupcakes with 3 sugar cones covered in pink chocolate. I really need to work on my frosting skills.
The obligatory food photo. I wanted to keep the menu finger foods/tea party. Stuff that was light and you could pick up easily and not too messy. This year we had (starting from the window and working forward) cocktail weenies and meatballs, Cowboy Sushi dip with crackers, chips and french onion dip, chips and guacamole, veggies and dip, fruit and dip, tea sandwiches of ham, smoked cheddar and mayo, cucumber and cream cheese, and turkey, brie and pear, and BLT tomatoes.
Instead of making Cowboy Sushi, my most popular dish, I decided to make a dip out of it and save myself a ton of work. I threw all the ingredients (subbing dill relish, drained very well, instead of whole pickles) into a bowl, added a packet of green onion flavored powdered ranch dressing mix, and blended it until combined. I lined a mold with plastic wrap, spread the dip into the mold and refrigerated overnight. Easy.
Outside I decorated our official birthday party tent with more pink and purple princesses. The centerpieces were also out here.
And we got a princess castle bounce house.
Which The Good Son loved more than anyone. Even me, who jumped in that thing with him for an hour.
We also had some wading pools for the kids, since both kids have a summer birthday and they can get seriously hot outside. But look at that cutie!!
TGD had an amazing time too. This is how you can tell anal retentive tendencies run in my family. That is a present from my mother, a present of princess (Rapunzel and Belle) dress up clothes, in princess paper WITH Jasmine and Tiana. WIN!
Overall, TGD had an amazing time and ate entirely too much cake.
I love you, my fierce one. Here is to another great year!
