Birthday Party for Little Loves: Luau Party Yummies

Dear Em,

This is a four part Series covering your Luau Birthday Party. You can also read about the Luau Party Location, Luau Party Invites, & Luau Party Decorations & Favors. 

One of my favorite parts of any party is yummy food. It doesn't necessarily make or break a party, but it can sure give a party some extra pizazz. The thing about your Luau party was that it started at 10am. Not exactly breakfast time for little loves, but not exactly lunch either. Also, you aren't a big fan of most lunch foods, & we thought it would be kind of nice if the birthday girl actually liked the food at her party. We had our work cut out for us.

Sooooo, we went with things you like & a little bit of everything. That's kind of what I do when I'm not really sure what to do.

 We had gone to a birthday party earlier in the year & watched the kids gobble up a fruit salad. You are starting to love blueberries, strawberries, & pineapple. So, we made a large fruit salad. Your favorite food in the world right now is probably yogurt. Panera Bread makes individual sizes of yogurt parfaits with yogurt, yummy granola, & fresh strawberries & blueberries. Did you know they also make large catering sizes? I've purchased it a few times for work functions & everyone loves it. So, we ordered a batch for your party. It was a huge hit (with the littles & the adults), but I should've paid a little more attention to how much it cost. I thought they had charged us in error. It was a hundred dollars! Whoops. In the future I probably would've bought a large thing of Chobani, some granola, & we could've used the fruit from the fruit salad for 1/4 of the price. At least we had tons of leftovers & were able to have yogurt parfait for breakfast for the next week. You loved it. That made me feel a little better about the cost...kind of.

We also had a Rhode Island party staple, bakery pizza (also known as pizza strips). You're not really a big fan of it, because you don't like sauce. Most Rhode Islanders love it, especially your Daddy, & we try to keep his tummy happy. We had covered both breakfast & lunch & also had animal crackers & pita chips & hummus to provide some munchie foods (we totally understand going to a party & having a toddler who refuses to eat any of the food & figured animal crackers would be something ALL the kids would eat in case they didn't want anything else).

The Children's Museum provided all of the plates & cups & forks. They also provided apple juice & ice cream sandwiches. Sigh, I love when things are included.

That just left us with my favorite, your donut cake. We ordered a cake from Allies Donuts. They are so affordable & will make donut cakes in the shape of anything. So far we had gotten a giant donut shaped cake & a cake in the shape of Rhode Island. This time we got your donut cake in the shape of a hula dancer, complete with blonde sprinkle hair to match yours. It was a vanilla donut with strawberry frosting & sprinkles. It was amazing.

They even wrote "Happy 2.5 Birthday Emma." I'm not going to lie, I blushed a little when I told them it was your 2.5 birthday party. 

When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, you beamed as you listened to your friends & family & looked at your donut cake. You blew out the candles all by yourself. I can't believe how much of a big girl you are. You loved the donut cake. I think you were just thrilled to be able to eat so many pink sprinkles. We had leftovers of the cake & you enjoyed donut cake for dessert for the next couple days. It was perfect.

That pretty much sums up the fun we had eating and playing at your luau party at the Children's Museum. This will be the last of the scheduled Birthday Party for Little Loves posts. It's been so fun recapping your Garden Party last year & your Luau Party this year (posted about here, here, & here). I'll be on the lookout for fun ideas for next year & will post some of my favorite ideas. There's a couple ideas that I'm already really excited about.

It's so fun to celebrate you.

I love you so,
Mommy

Birthday Party for Little Loves: Decorations & Favors

Dear Em,

This is a four part Series covering your Luau Birthday Party. You can also read about the Luau Party Location, Luau Party Invites, & Luau Party Food. 

I think we've started a theme with your birthday parties. So, far we've had a lot of fun "decorating" all the attendees each time. Last year your garden party was full of kids dressed up like little flowers & bees. This year your luau was filled with hula dancers.

With your party being at the Children's Museum, there wasn't much of a need to decorate the location. It already looked fun. The only thing we really did was put a "Happy Birthday Emma" sign up on the cork board (we reused the sign that Grandma made you last year) & lined the food table with some grass skirts.

Clearly we needed more decorations than that, right? So, we encouraged everyone who came to the party to become part of the decorations & dress up. We put grass skirts, leis, funky glasses, & flower clips into baskets in one of the corners of the room. I bought almost everything at five below & Oriental Trading Company. Super cheap & super fun= exactly right. Everyone could put on as much or as little as they wanted.

Oh-Em-Gee, it was the cutest thing...especially the glasses. You all were the most adorable decorations I'd ever seen. Even the adults had some fun...you know Daddy & I were in when it came to dressing up.

In hindsight, our choices weren't quite as fun for the boys. While we did have leis & grass skirts in a variety of colors, most of the boys didn't seem all that excited about putting those on. At least we had temporary tattoos. Those were a hit with the boys & the girls. You had your very first tattoo...& then another...& then another. I think you would have spent the whole day filling your body with temporary tattoos if we let you. Daddy & I are a little worried about when you start thinking about real tattoos.

We also gave out hibiscus mini cups (I liked these coconut cups but was worried about spills), passes for a future visit to the Providence Children's Museum, & gift certificates to the gift shop as favors. Those made the boys & girls happy.

I think we'll continue our theme of decorating your party attendees. I already have some great ideas for the next couple years...ideas that are boy & girl friendly.

Next week we'll get to the heart of the matter & talk food. Your birthday cake was so fun. I cant wait to tell you all about it.

I love you so,

Mommy

Birthday Party for Little Loves: Luau Party Invites

Dear Em,

This is a four part Series covering your Luau Birthday Party. You can also read about the Luau Party Location, Luau Party Decorations & Favors, & Luau Party Food. 

So, this post is going to be a little lame...mostly because I can't find your leftover birthday party invites. I'm kinda bummed. I've saved all of your invites/announcements since you were born. Sigh, oh well.

I knew we were throwing you a luau party. I had picked up a bunch of stuff for the party the year before when I was shopping for your garden party (more on that later). I was thinking an invite with some cute hula dancers would be perfect. Maybe a flower or two. I had actually hoped to have one of my friends make some fun artwork that I could scan & print out on all of the invites. You know, something cute...something fun. Unfortunately the night before I needed the invites, I still hadn't asked my friend if she would mind making something for us (I was a little overwhelmed & was lucky if I put on clothes that matched that day). Whoops (clearly I won't be winning mother of the year anytime soon).

So, there I was sitting in our office after tucking you into bed (I learned that lesson after making your garden invites last year) trying to figure out what to do. I googled luau and hula dancers in an attempt to steal some artwork from the internet (I know, I'm wicked lame). You know what? Most of the pictures listed on google were sexy hula dancing pictures. Not really the theme I had planned for a 2.5 birthday party.

Luckily, I stumbled on artwork I could buy during my google search. That was something new I had never known you could do. For about $10, I could buy the art work & didn't have to create anything myself. In my time crunch, that sounded perfect to me. I can't remember what site I found (I know, wicked lame again), but there's a lot out there for those that are artistically challenged/in a time crunch to choose from. You can make something original without having to really do it yourself.

I filled the pages of your invites with drawings of a blonde hula dancing kid & Hawaiian flowers. Instead of writing "RSPV" I wrote "Aloha back to Julie." It was fun. It was cute. It was quick. It was easy. So, sorry I somehow didn't keep an extra to show you...or remember where I bought the artwork. It was fun...I swear.

Next week, I'll recap the decorations/favors. I promise I'll be less lame & include things like pictures & intelligent writing.

I love you so,
Mommy

Birthday Party for Little Loves: Luau Party Location

Dear Em,

This is a four part Series covering your Luau Birthday Party. You can also read about the Luau Party Invites, Luau Party Decorations & Favors, & Luau Party Food. 

It's Wednesday, & it's time to recap your 2.5 birthday bash. I was going to start with the invites, but when I think about it there was something that came even before the invites. The first thing we did was to decide where to have your party. Remember, we had your 1.5 garden birthday party in our backyard? The backyard was ideal for a garden party, but it involved a lot of decorating & set-up & cleaning before & cleaning after & cooking...it was a lot of work.

This year we thought it would be fun to have your party at a place that would be lots of fun but also a little less work. I looked at a farm with a petting zoo, a gym, & a few other places. In the end, we wanted something fun, age appropriate, inexpensive, & all inclusive. After looking through the details, we decided on the Providence Children's Museum.

I couldn't believe how much the party package included. We had use of a party space for 90 minutes, unlimited time in the Museum exhibits, paper cups, plates, napkins, utensils, "draw on me" table cloths & crayons, apple juice, ice cream sandwiches, $2 museum gift shop gift certificates for each child, & a complimentary museum pass for each child. The party came at a great price too. We have a museum membership, which includes a discount for parties. For everything the party included, I thought it was an amazing deal.

We actually didn't do much to get ready until the night before. Your nonnie remarked how much less stressed out we were than we were getting the house ready the previous year. She was right, it was kind of amazing.

The day of your party came. We arrived a half hour early to set up. Our room was already set-up with a large table in the center of the room, another table for food on the side, & a smaller table for gifts. Each table was covered in bright, yellow paper table cloths that all the kids enjoyed coloring on. Chairs were set-up on along the walls for extra seating, & fun artwork covered the walls. Nonnie played with you in the museum while Daddy & I set our things up. We quickly set up the food & fun things for the party &  put on some music. In no time at all, we were done. We were ready.

During your party, I was actually able to enjoy it. Instead of rushing around preparing things, I was able to really watch you laughing & playing with your friends. Being able to take in the special moments was priceless.

After the party fun in our private room, we let you kids loose in the museum. You played with Grandma & Papa while Daddy, Nonnie, & I cleaned up. It probably only took us 15 minutes to clear the food & party items & load them into our car. I asked for a broom but was told not to worry. They had people to clean up. We were all free to enjoy the museum.

Everyone had a blast in the various rooms & exhibits. You had fun with water, went food shopping, played with a giant light-brite, pretended to be in a spaceship, built things with blocks & magnatiles, played with mirrors, & got to see how air moves things. Instead of playing as a group, each family who came explored whatever area they wanted to, but we ended up bumping into everyone at some point. You had a chance to enjoy the museum with everyone who came to your party.

Most of the kids left the Children's Museum kicking & screaming, including you. As we drove home, I smiled knowing you had so much fun & there was no mess waiting for us at home. Sigh, what a perfect combination.

I love you so,
Mommy

P.S. Tune in next week for a recap of your invites.