For her first birthday party, I had everything picked out online at Party City and then scratched that and a month before her party, started on her 'new' theme! I know, A MONTH BEFORE? Really? YES! I like to just do pieces by piece and pull it all together in the end. I do most of my computer formatting at night after everybody is asleep and I'm catching up on my junk reality shows!
We had a Milk and Cookies party based off the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It was my first attempt at hand-making everything. It's become a little more elaborate over the years!
I can't believe how young she looks now. I remember thinking, 'wow, I can't believe how much she has grown' and now....
We had Oreos, whatever those yummy chocolate and vanilla straws are (Addicting), mint chocolate chip cookie (MY favorite and I get requests for those at every party/holiday.)
I loved watching her eat her smash cake, devoured it! Poor girl has mommy's sweet tooth!
I ordered her birthday banner, high chair banner, and party hat from a shop on etsy (she no longer has her shop open. After this party, I started doing my own etsy and making things for a couple of friends' kid's parties. (I'll post those pics later). I really wasn't emotional about this birthday b/c K was still very dependent on me, two was rough, but I did tear up picking out pictures for the timeline. Time flies by way too fast so I have made it a point to take too many pictures! (Honestly, is that even possible?)
My little birthday princess! We had such an amazing time even though we were all squished like sardines in my house, we wouldn't have had it any other way! Good grief...how was this already 2 years ago?!
Fast forward 1 year...Kinsley is now somehow 2. Little miss independent and mommy DOES NOT like it! I miss my little one year old but while fully enjoying the greatness that was K's 2's! We had such a girly sweet first birthday and then Kinsley had an obsession with SHREK! We were ALWAYS watching it...ALWAYS! When we weren't watching it, we were reading about him. Honestly, I even had a few dreams where Shrek and his friends creeped in there! Zach and I could quote the movie and Kinsley knew exactly what was going to happen before it happened! So....Shrek theme it was. I went a bit above and beyond but I don't even care b/c K loved every bit of it and every time I would make something new, she had to run and show daddy and she always thanked me for it!
Maybe I cheated and DIDN'T make the oreo pie! Love the moral of Shrek, just be who you are! LOVE IT! I made the BEWARE OGRE sign out of left over refrigerator box cardboard (I used most of the box for the large tree/Shrek's house). Free handing Shrek for the sign was quite the task b/c I can't draw AT ALL but it worked, I think! I knew back in December that we were doing a Shrek birthday party so I saved the ginger bread house we decorated at Christmas, I knew I wanted to use it as Gingy's house. It was also my first time baking gingerbread cookies and those also get requests at Christmas! (Nothing special, just straight out of the bag!) We had guests sign a pre-cut leaf with ribbon tied around it and once it was signed, they hung it on some branches I had on the favor table by the front door!
What little kid doesn't love cheetos and PB&J? It was a must! This was the first year I started making K's t-shirts. After seeing the easiness of making this shirt, I make her and my son's shirts for every holiday now. Super easy! We had the best time in the bounce house, she LOVES them and I can't say we all didn't have a blast either! Bounce House Rental-A1 Dallas I was surprised at how 'cheap' it was. We paid $130 for the large bounce house and had it literally, all day! They dropped it off and set it up at about 9 am and then came back to take down at 7 pm. NOT BAD! It was the perfect weather that day, we were def. blessed! Kinsley slept sooooooo well that night...makes me want to invest in our own bounce house! ;)
Even though we had a cake, which K's Godfather bought for her, I still made cupcakes. Probably b/c I had the topper and REALLY wanted to use them! ;) The buckets were favors for the little kids that were there, most items came from the dollar store...which by the way...it is SOOOOO hard to find Shrek stuffs!
We have so many picture of K on her Bday but I loved this picture of her sitting at her 'birthday table' (which I got from McKinney Trade Days for $12! She now uses it in her kitchen as her dinner table! Worth it! K's favorite 'junk food' is still and was M-e-m's (M&Ms)!
Told you I kind of went crazy. Hot glued torn up moss to ribbon and hung that on the ceiling, went to Sears and 'reserved' a gently opened refrigerator box for free. I just had to paint it and then tear up some discounted branches to stick into the cardboard...I think it turned out just like Shrek's house! K had the best time watching me put everything together, she even started calling our formal dining room, Shrek's swamp! The most tedious part of the party decor was the silhouette cut outs of Shrek, Fiona, Puss, Donkey, dragon, and Gingy (all of which are still hanging in her play room, I couldn't bring myself to toss them after all of that and K really likes them in her play room! I borrowed a projector from my mom's work and found images online of each character. Taped my paper from hobby lobby (roll of black paper with a 40% off coupon), traced and cut!
2 was tough for me, I spent the whole day holding back tears, my little miss dependent was now little miss independent! She is worth every bit of it and so much more!
Fast forward again another year....3 years old! STOP GROWING!! Kinsley even told me she would stop growing when she was 3...so far, she is failing, miserably!
K started mother's day out this year at a local church so she has made her own friends outside of my friends' kids. We invited 11 from school, 4 of my friend's kids, and then I have 4 young cousins who joined. I did NOT want to have that many kids crammed in my house, for their sake, that and I was tired of cleaning the house before AND after the parties. I love having people over but it seemed overwhelming this year with a 3 month old on top of the normal stuffs. Like I said, K loves bounce houses...lets be honest, she loves anything that allows her to run, jump, climb,etc...she is ALWAYS on the go! We found a place in Southlake that is a huge warehouse type building that is JUST bounce houses. JumpForFun
It was a little on the expensive side but proved to be soooo worth it! The kids got to bounce for an hour and a half, we had our own private party room, and THEY did ALL the set up and clean up! (I sort of took over the set up of K's party b/c I still did my own decorations, which, let me tell you, you have to get crafty when the place doesn't allow you to tape, pin, tack, etc anything to the walls! I managed and K again, had the best time showing off her decorations to anybody we had over! I even had to print out extras so she could 'cut her cupcake toppers'. Along with mommy's sweet tooth, she also apparently, got my crafty gene! Watch out Hobby Lobby!
For MONTHS leading up to her birthday party, she was adamant about having a 'pink princess tea party birthday'. With baby #2 on the way, I started preparing for her birthday WAY before November (Colson was born on 11/26 and K's birthday is 2/26). I only had a chance to get the princess banner done and nothing else so when Kinsley decided that she really really wanted a Dora birthday...well, I couldn't say no to that little face! She loves her Dora and Zach and I sure don't! Oh well! K had a blast and enjoyed everything, that's all that matters! Again, we ordered an amazing cake but I wanted to use toppers again, so strawberry cupcakes I made! We didn't do a birthday hat so I made a birthday ribbon for K to wear. Super easy! Shop the ribbon sale at Hobby Lobby when they are 50% off and it's so cheap! I first bought the pink flower, already made and then added felt to the middle and hot glued everything on. I hot glued the ribbon to the back of the flower and then once that was done, hot glued a piece of circle felt to cover the back and make it look pretty! I def like this idea better than a hat at this age. She could even wear it to school! The most time consuming part of this party was her 'backpack' favor bags. Cutting out everything and then double sided taping it all....NEVER AGAIN (at least until next year!). <---being honest!
LOVE her excitement! This was right before we walked out the door to head to the bounce house place!
Told you I would find a way to have my decorations! Hobby Lobby again, used my 40% off coupon on 2 pieces of foam board that were originally $5.99/each. (total cost of $7.18ish) and I ended up reusing it for our Easter picture backdrop.! I plan to keep the board and maybe just change out the fabric! K was so excited about her Dora shirt, she still wears it and everytime she does, I have to sing happy birthday to her! I made this one too but had a friend sew it, as there was a lot more detail and I didn't want it falling apart while jumping!
Our private party room! It was nice to have it being so quiet in there and not bothered by the other parties! K saw a picture online of some centerpieces and we both thought they were 'awesome'. So....here is my version. I used some old vases and covered with scrapbook paper (hot glue to the glass and it peels right off later). The sequin sticks, I found at where else...hobby lobby for 70% off!
Kinsley had a great party and we loved watching her enjoying every second of it!
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