It Takes Two...

2 years ago... March 17, 2010

Peaches McGee made it to two years old. I'm not sure what it means when my doctor (and Peaches' doctor as well), pats me on the back and says, "Congratulations Mommy.  She made it to two."  


With this huge "milestone," I wanted to throw a special party for her.  Something small, simple, not too complicated.  


45 people later.  Yes, I said 45.  


It all started with an invitation that I created.  I channeled the inner graphic artist in me, instead I found a former Marketing Manager with only Microsoft Publisher to edit it.  Alas, I got as creative as I could with my beloved Chevron print, then printed it on white cardstock, and fastened it to a piece of green cardstock with a square brad.  

Publisher File

Don't worry, I did include my address and RSVP information; I just don't need to share it with the world :)

My theme was set!  


Who am I kidding?  After having a baby on St. Patty's Day, I decided that I would take advantage of this theme until she is old enough to give me a different one.  Does that mean one or two more years of this theme?


I had many grandiose ideas on what I would do in terms of decor, food, ambiance, etc. but I planned the party for a day and a half after we returned from Mexico, so only a few got done.


Here's one that I did... water bottle covers.  


What's the point?  Who knows, but they looked cute, so I did them.


I downloaded the template from HowDoesShe.com - and printed them on white cardstock, cut them out and then glued them to the water bottle with a glue gun (I used my cool temperature glue gun so as not to burn a hole into the bottle!)

I also made some marshmallow pops.  Inexpensive and tasty (though not recommended that children have more than one - I know of at least two children who couldn't nap after the party) 

To make them:

1. It's probably easiest to use proper lollipop holders, but I didn't make it to the craft store in time, so I took wood skewers and used tin snips to cut them into thirds.
2. Insert skewer into the top of a marshmallow 
3. Dunk about 1/2 of the marshmallow in a glass of water
4. Roll the sides of the marshmallow in green sprinkles/sugar that has been poured in a thin layer on a plate

For some entertainment, I wanted to do a guessing game, so I bought a five pound bag of Gummy Bears at Costco and separated the green gummies from the rest (so much for equal gummy rights).  

I counted the green gummies and then created a form for the guests to record their guesses.  I used the same basic graphics as the invitation:

Another form of entertainment was a rendition of the whole "photo booth" phenomenon that's going on right now.  Renting one wasn't really in the budget, so I decided to use the cream closet doors in our dining room as a backdrop.  To add some St. Patty's Day pizazz, I created three different paper bunting banners by cutting out triangles from scrapbook paper, and then punching holes and running ribbon through them.  I also provided a bunch of different props, many of which can be found at The Paper Source here:

Me and my lovely husband

Even though I wrote, "No presents necessary" on the invitation, almost everyone brought one, so I uploaded each party-goer's picture to Postagram on my iPad and sent them a thank you note with their picture.

I don't foresee party planning in my future, but this was pretty fun!