Saturday, February 4, 2012

Elmo-palooza

Wow. Throwing birthday parties for kids can take it out of ya. I am sitting on the couch, with leftover birthday cake and a beer, barely able to keep my eyes open (even though the KU-MU game is on!). But, you know what? It was all worth it, because toward the end of the party, Charlotte came up to me (entirely unprovoked) gave me a hug and said, "I love you, Mommy." What?!? Too cute. And, my heart melted.

Ok, so, now, for what you're really waiting for. Details from the main event. About a month ago, when I first started thinking about Charlotte's 2nd birthday party, I had a tough time deciding on a theme. She loves Elmo, but I just wasn't sure there was that much cute, girly Elmo stuff out there. Enter Pinterest. Dun, dun, dun ...

Holy Moly, that site is addicting. I love it because it gave me such amazing ideas for C's party. But, I hated it because it gave me way TOO many great ideas for Charlotte's party. And, I felt like I had to do them all. So, maybe the party was a bit too Elmo-ish. Maybe I took on a little bit too much. Even if Charlotte barely left mine or Cory's arms the whole day, I know she had a good time. Well, I'm pretty sure she did. Let's just go with Yes, she had a good time.

Ok, so the whole theme started with working with Elmo, but doing it in girly colors. Pink, yellow, orange and red. I saw the tissue poms on Pinterest, as well as the ribbon ball and the oreo pops. What did I tell you about that site?


I made the banner with printed photos, cardstock and ribbon.
Oreo pops. Oreos covered in melted candy. Delicious. Trickier than you'd think. I finally had to find a tutorial online, here. That helped.
Dessert table.
The cake turned out great. HyVee. Gotta love it. My mom made the cupcakes using another idea from Pinterest. Marshmallows, jelly beans and half of an oreo cookie. So cute.
Yes, I did make all those Elmo hats. And, I was darn proud of them!
The treat bags and some goldfish in a fish bowl.
Made little tags for the back of the treat bags with a play on the words to "Elmo's World." Not sure any of the kids got it or cared. But, well, I thought it was cute.
The food was brought to you by the letter "C." Thus, Coke,  Coke Zero and Corona. Also, some Elmo water and Elmo juice boxes. And, yup, made the labels for the water bottles, too.
We cut out pepperonis in the shapes of Cs and 2s for the tops of the pizzas.
Fruit Elmo!
All the "C" foods.
Games for the party.
Toss the cookies at Cookie Monster. My mom made the bean bag cookies. Really cute.
So, now you've got the whole scene set. Charlotte really wasn't sure how she felt about the whole event. She got down a couple times to play and did figure out the whole opening presents thing pretty quickly.

Family picture before the chaos of the party starts. 
Yes, I made adults wear the hats, too!
After present opening, came the surprise guest himself ...

WHAT?!?! Yes, Elmo did come to Charlotte's birthday party! As you can see from this picture, Charlotte loved him. Ok, well, maybe love is too strong a word. She really enjoyed him as long as he didn't get too close or try to hold her. She did give him a high five, though.

Ella, however, was another subject entirely. That girl was IN LOVE with Elmo. She did not want to let him go. I'm pretty sure she was certain she could bring him home with her.
For some reason, Elmo started dancing when he heard the score of the UNC game.
 (Elmo was being played most patiently by Charlotte's amazing Uncle William. He deserves major props for being game enough to play along.)
Elmo even helped sing "Happy Birthday" to Charlotte. 
So, a successful party had by all. Charlotte has played with every one of her new presents and is now passed out in bed. I'm barely awake on the couch. But, my baby girl only turns 2 once, so it was totally worth the chaos and craziness.


Happy2nd Birthday, little one! May your dreams always be filled with thoughts of Elmo, dancing and lots and lots of cake!


Oh, also, if while you're dreaming, you could choose to sleep all the way through the night tonight, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you very much!
Love, Your Momma


I posted some more of the hundreds of pictures taken on FB, if you're curious. Also, thought about doing another posting on more specific instructions on how I did some of this stuff. Would anyone be interested in that? Not going to worry about it if not.

4 comments:

  1. You did an amazing job and I am so proud of you!!! You are a fantastic Mom!!!!!

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  2. You sure know how to throw a party! I'm so impressed! Can I hire you for Carson's 2nd birthday party?!?

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  3. OMG Amy! you are hired! I could never do this. Looks like it turned out wonderfully.

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  4. By far the best elmo party decorations ive seen thus far!!!!! so nice!!!

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