Another big event amongst all this moving madness was our T-Rex's 2nd birthday. I cannot believe that my baby is TWO! It seems like just yesterday I held her in my arms for the first time, demanding Hubster help me unwrap the little burrito so I could hold her skin-to-skin. We threw a huge Sesame Street bash and I am quite proud of my work, so am going to share the details with you.
T-rex LOVED her slide from Hubster and I! She didn't even want to get off of it for cake!
I'm pretty handy with some Heat'n'Bond and fabric paint! Behold, a custom Elmo shirt!
T-rex's νονά (God-mother) gave her her cross. In Greek Tradition, after a child is baptised they receive a cross from their God-parent(s) and are meant to wear it every day for the rest of their lives. I don't have my original baptismal cross, but my θεία gave me one for my 10th birthday and I am wearing it as I type. Thank you, Jojo! T-rex's cross is absolutely beautiful and she will treasure it the way I treasure mine!
First, decorations.
The first thing was the "T-Rex Street" balloon wreath. It took a lot of time and balloons (about 200), but it turned out great! I pinned T-Rex Street to it, but we plan on using it for each of our birthdays and other holidays.
I got the idea and instructions here. I used a Styrofoam wreath instead of straw like she suggests, only because I couldn't find the straw ones at the store I purchased from.
When you entered the house, all T-Rex's favorite Sesame Street characters were there to greet you! I found a great Youtube video on how to make pom poms. Can you believe these are just some folded and fluffed tissue with card stock faces?
Left to right: Oscar the Grouch, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Moster, Zoey, Elmo, Rosita, and Big Bird
Next was the fireplace. We had a birthday banner, as well as the favor bags and items to go in them. I got white paper bags from Michael's so the kids could color on the bags.
The favors were fun and fit the theme perfectly! I handmade Abby's Wands from paper straws and multi-color yarn. I found a great Youtube video that helped guide me through making the poms. Then I punched holes into the top to the straws, tied the poms to the straws, and hot glued them to make them secure.
Now onto the food table!
Our main lunch items were sandwiches. We had ham, turkey, and tuna salad sandwiches. The tuna salad was a new recipe I found and it was delicious. I found it here. I already had this Elmo sandwich cutter, but I had wanted to include other characters and could not find other similar cutter.
I ended up finding this neat sandwich cutter with character stamps and it worked perfectly! The sandwiches cut into perfect child portions and the stamps were just adorable.
The cookie dough dip was a huge hit, as always (this is probably the 6th time I have made it for a gathering). It may not be the healthiest of treats, but it definitely rose to the occasion for the party. You can find the recipe here. I also used a great recipe I found on Pinterest for the cupcakes and cake. You can find the cake recipe here. The cupcakes are seriously so moist. They are also surprising low in carbs! They are made with coconut flour. The recipe calls for either coconut oil or veggie oil. I have tried a few batches with coconut oil, which are delicious, but are definitely coconutty (is that even a word? I think I just made that up! Tee hee hee). For the party, I used melted salted butter, instead. They were just as great, but with a less overwhelming taste of coconut. Also, the recipe is meant for cupcakes, but I used it for the square cake as well. I used a 6 inch square pan and made two layers.
I used my own recipe for the cream cheese frosting. I tripled this recipe to get enough frosting for all the cake(s).
Eleni's Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz. of cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 a stick of salted butter, softened
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- about 1 c. powdered sugar, just enough to get your desired texture.
- In a large bowl, add cream cheese and butter. Beat with mixer until fluffy.
- Add vanilla and mix until combined.
- Slowly mix in powdered sugar, until frosting is desired texture.
I had ordered some natural powdered food dye and was excited to try it out for the party. Unfortunately, it did not ship or arrive in time, so I ran to the store and got some gel dyes for the cupcakes. I used red for Elmo, royal blue for Cookie Monster, rose for Abby's face, and violet with a dab of rose for Abby's pigtails. Their smiles were half an Oreo cookie, their pupils were chocolate chips, and Elmo's nose was an orange peanut MnM.
I also love the "2" Elmo candle that I found! T-Rex loved seeing Elmo on her candle as she blew it out. She even had Hubster light it a few more times so she could blow it out again and again!
On to the activities!
For Ernie's Rubber Ducky Pond, I made a sign for the yard and added some fun duckies to the pool we had set-up. We also had water squirters and water balloons. This was a very easy activity to put together!
Our other activity was Big Bird's Bird Seed Search! T-Rex usually uses this container with oats for sensory play, as she still sometimes puts things in her mouth so we can't use sand. For the party, I filled the container with some Sesame Street character rings, noise makers, and little bottles of bubbles. Then I poured bird seed over all of it, making sure everything was covered. I add some scoops, spoons, and funnels so the kiddos could dig for the prizes and continue to have a fun sensory activity with the bird seed. T-Rex and her friends loved it! I only wished we had done the bird seed before the water games. As you can see in the photos, the kids were covered in bird seed! It was well worth it though, because they had a blast.
T-Rex had such an awesome party! With all the planning and cooking and decorating, I couldn't be happier that my precious girl had such a blast to celebrate the moment she entered our lives. That girl is my whole world, and I would do a silly party like this every day if she wanted me to, just to see her smile!
What themes have you used for your little one's party? Share your party ideas and thoughts on this post in the comments. We always love to hear from you!
Until next time!
Φιλάκια,
Eleni
