Our girls turned two and we had a party to celebrate! It's not every day you have two two-year olds after all! And since we didn't do much of anything for their first birthday (post about what we did do HERE), we decided to go all out for this one! It took us a while to nail down a theme. For a while I want to do a "two" theme, but couldn't figure out exactly what to do for it, so we eventually went with something the girls like - Elmo/Sesame Street (because Wall-E was too hard).
For the Elmo theme, we got a bunch of red balloons, taping two to outside of our front door, and two on the ends of our Happy Birthday Banner. The rest just lay on the floor waiting for little hands to bop up into the air. We got an Elmo/Sesame street table cloth, Elmo napkins, red plates and red cups, and white plastic spoons. We also bought Sesame Street party hats (modeled below by my niece). I even wore a red shirt in honor of Elmo (which ironically is my grandfather's name). I am holding my niece.
For cake we made these really cute Elmo head cake pops. Josh and I are no cake-pop makers or much of bakers, so it was quite the experiment figuring out how to make them. And no, they are not picture-perfect, but they sure tasted good! What do you think? Cute or messy?
Elmo head Cake Pops
We baked a yellow cake mix, crumbled it, added chocolate frosting, froze it, then dipped it in red candy coating and red-dyed coconut. We then added pre-made candy eyes and an orange dap of frosting to make a nose. The ones without coconut had red sprinkles added instead. The kids (and adults) love them!
Since the girls party was on Saturday, but their Birthday was on Friday, we made a regular cake for them blow out the candles on (and blow they did!).
We also had them blow out candles again at their party.
To eat we also had chips, Tostitos Queso Dip (addicting!), a 7-layer dip from the store, blue corn chips and hummus, small cups of M&Ms and peanuts, and a punch bowl of Ginger Ale and Sherbet. The food was yummy even if not Elmo-themed.
Josh making the punch and setting out the candy/nut bowls
We tried to keep our party small, but any amount of extra people is a lot in our small downstairs area. So, thankfully it was a beautifully day and we got to spend much of the time outside blowing bubbles, throwing balls, writing with sidewalk chalk (that they received as a gift), and just running around.
We ended up having my brother and his family come from Dayton, Ohio, Josh's parents, and three of our friends and their families. We ended up with 21 guests that day (plus the four of us). Still, we rearranged much of our apartment to accommodate so many people! Hence, the girls wood table and chairs outside.
Opening presents was crowded... I included a video of some of the gift opening. As I was at the center of all the kids it definitely was crazy! But, we got so many great gifts! The girls have been loving them! Thanks everyone!
Their grandparents took them out in the morning so they could "Build-a-Bear" and they came home with a monkey and a fox in frilly dresses! They love them! And Josh and I got the girls two big balls from one of those bins at Wal-mart, as well as two ride-on toys, one Mickey Mouse, the other Dora, from Once Upon a Child, (each for $8.50: talk about a score!) and the girls love them, just like we knew they would! We also got them a bag of Matchbox-type cars from Once Upon a Child. Our girls love cars.
They had a great Birthday and have been thoroughly enjoying their new toys and scattering them all over our house. I think our next place needs to have an official toy room/play area. . . Thanks again everyone for making it a great Birthday for them!
