I want to begin this post by saying that I am not creative and I really don't enjoy planning birthday parties...not because I am a party pooper, but just because I don't have a lot of time to spend and again...there is the whole un-creative thing. But, I must say that with the powers of Pinterest and Etsy combined I was able to pull off Carter's 2nd birthday party while looking fairly creative. :) I was very pleased with how it all turned out.
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| Don't mind Nana in the background trying to avoid the picture...haha |
I knew when I started thinking about what kind of party I wanted to have for Carter's birthday, I wanted it to be Peppa Pig style. Peppa is a little British piggy cartoon that Carter is absolutely in love with. Peppa lives with mummy pig, daddy pig, and her little brother George and her favorite thing to do is jump in muddy puddles. Carter gets totally engrossed when she watches it and thankfully, it is not the most annoying cartoon I've seen. It's cute and I don't mind her watching. If you are not familiar with Peppa check out her very cute website here. I began researching peppa pig party ideas on pinterest a while back and created a board just for her birthday party. The ideas ranged from food to decorations to really elaborate creations that I knew I would never do, but hey...fun to look at.
As for the invitation, I found it on etsy.
Follow the link here if you like. This was actually just a downloadable file that I could change the date, time and location on and I was able to print it out at home and create them myself. Thankfully with all the snowy weather we have had lately, I had time to do that. I printed them out on cardstock and then actually glued them to another slightly larger piece of white cardstock to make them a bit more sturdy and professional looking. And, then I didn't get to give many out, mainly because of the snowy weather and not being able to see everyone and also because Carter panicked about giving "her" Peppa to anyone.
I also went to etsy to print out the adorable food tents for the party.
I just downloaded the file instantly and printed them out. I think I spent a total of about $10-$15 bucks for the food tents and the invites from etsy. Not bad at all.
I was able to get an idea for the cake from pinterest and had a local cake baker make the cake for her. She did an excellent job and the cake was delicious. If you live in the area and ever need a cake made, please contact me and I will share her information. She is the only one I would ever go to. She has made all kinds of cakes for me and my mom, including my wedding cake and Carter's 1st birthday cake.
As for food, here's what I served up:
- Muddy Water -- aka apple juice
- George's Favorite Sandwiches -- chicken salad served on croissants (not really because they were George's favorites like the food tent said, just because they were easy to make) and my Mother-in-Law made ham bakes
- Chips
- Grandpa Pigs fruit -- big bowl of fruit salad and strawberries with fruit dip that my mom made
- Granny Pigs Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pigs in a Blanket (looking back maybe not the best choice of words, but a big hit none-the-less)
- Cake & Ice Cream
I had big plans to serve muddy puddles (chocolate pudding cups) and Daddy Pig's Wobbly Belly (jell-o cups) but I just ran out of time and it didn't happen. But, it was fine...realistically they would have probably gone to waste anyway.
For the decorations I went to wally world (aka Wal-Mart) because that is basically all there is here. There actually is a party store, but I had spotted some cute plates and napkins in there a few weeks back and I knew that they would work, so I just went with it.
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| The table covers and vases were from Wal-Mart and they matched the plates, napkins and cups. Flowers I got at the grocery store. |
Since Peppa is British, you can't really find many party supplies here in the states...even most of the things I found online were from British or Australian websites. I did however find some balloons last minute on Amazon and I ordered them the week before the party. They were perfect...if you like you can find them here and here. They were great quality and shipped quickly. I took them to the grocery store to have them blown up. Just make sure that you have a big vehicle to haul them in, because the super huge Peppa's are really super huge! Basically, I think if I would have just bought the balloons and done nothing else for her party, Carter would have been thrilled. She is still playing with the balloons in her play room upstairs. She loved them.
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| Super huge Peppa balloon |
We were able to have the party at our church, which worked out great. Last year we had the party at our house and it worked, but it was a lot of work. I ended up having to clean house before and after and even though our house is fairly spacious, 25 or so people in the house is a lot. I will definitely go the route of having it at the church in the future, the space was perfect. I will say that I am thrilled that baby #2 is going to be born in May so that we can have outdoor birthday parties for her. Having indoor parties for kids is so much harder to coordinate.
All in all I think the birthday party was a success and Carter enjoyed it so much she asked to go to bed when we got home. She was all partied out.
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| The Birthday Girl!! |
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| With her two favorites... Daddy & Peppa. |
1 comment:
Looks like a great party! Now I know who to ask help me plan my next party : )
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