Do you all remember a while back when Daniel turned one and I just couldn’t believe how quickly that first year went?! We celebrated with his preppy Apple of Our Eye party and I cried for a week. Well, his second year went just as fast! We celebrated his 2nd birthday back in October and it’s taken me….gulp…..6 months to get this post up on the blog! Since today is his half-birthday, I figured it was finally time to share!
Daniel is obsessed with all things that go. Cars, trains, airplanes, buses, and trucks. Definitely trucks. He’s a preppy little mama’s boy, and that is just fine by me (at least for now!). I tossed around a few different theme ideas for his birthday party, but just couldn’t narrow it down to one mode of transportation….so we included them all! His “Things That Go!” party was full of preppy stripes, gingham checks, monograms and silhouettes of his favorite vehicles.
I will be adding this new collection of party goods to the shop, but here are a few decoration ideas to look out for while you scroll thru the photos:
- The invitation included a custom pattern featuring all of the different modes of transportation and I just love how it turned out in the preppy navy blue, green, yellow and light blue color palette.
- Guests were greeted at the party to colorful balloons and a coordinating welcome sign.
- We hosted the party at my parents house and they have a big staircase in their foyer. I wanted to make a festive statement when guests first walked in, but it’s a big space and people wouldn’t be in there for very long. To decorate it, without spending a fortune, I used navy blue stripe banners from Target and added big yellow bows in between.
- The family room held a festive kids table, the bar and the dessert table – so I had to make it all work together! The kids table was set with a navy blue and white stripe table runner, white pots held grass plants and monogrammed centerpiece sticks, with 36″ yellow balloons coming out of them. My favorite detail were the gingham melamine plates (coming soon to the shop!). Each child had a personalized plate at their spot, and it served as both the placecard and a party favor!
- I set up the bar on my parent’s buffet, and kept it really simple: lemonade in a drink dispenser, water bottles with coordinating labels and green river bottles tied up with striped ribbons and our foil-stamped straw flags.
- I wanted to get a little playful with the food, so we served truck and car shaped cheese + crackers, car shaped turkey sandwiches for the kids, and sliders for the adults. Fruit kabobs looked party-ready on our foil-stamped wood stir sticks (they featured the helicopter), and I got a little cheesy with the signage, such as the “choo! chew!” sign next to the napkin rolls.
- One of my favorite custom decor items was the decoupaged letters I did for the food buffet, spelling out his name. Each one featured a different pattern, edged in a wide grosgrain ribbon. And then I added greenery, gerber daisies and berries around the base.
- To keep the little ones entertained, I had a bucket of paper airplanes ready to construct. With a charming “Come Fly with Me” sign, of course.
- The dessert table was fairly simple and included a tiered cake featuring the different vehicles and an oversized acrylic monogram topper from Scrappinplus on Etsy, the most adorable sugar cookies from Sweet Nelson’s Bakery in both his monogram and all of the vehicles, stoplight brownies that I made using m&m’s, and mini cupcakes with gummy airplanes on them. The backdrop was really fun to create: I ordered fringe garlands in my color palette from ALittleMerriment on Etsy and draped them across the large window the table sat in front of for the party.
- The kids all brought home their melamine plates and a popcorn box full of transportation-themed small toys and treats. Mini race cars, paper airplanes, a train lollipop, etc. Daniel was in car heaven!
