Needed relaxation.

After the busy day I had yesterday, I am definitely enjoying a lazy day at home today! 

Carter's party went fabulously, and we are so thankful for the friends and family that came to help us celebrate our little prince turning 2!  We had delicious food, if I may say so myself, and great company...  here's a recap of how the party went.

We started off with opening presents...  yes, presents! Carter could hardly contain himself while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.

**Lesson learned for Momma and Daddy- Save the toys for last (after we opened a toy he wanted to play with it, rather than opening the rest of his presents and then playing with all of his toys, I know typical for most kids).

Next came dinner, baked spaghetti with italian sausage, french bread, and salad...  YUM!

Then dessert, the moment I was waiting for.  First I had to set up the beautiful dessert table and then take pictures, pictures and more pictures, all while the kids were practically begging for cupcakes.  I was very happy with how the completed table turned out, see for yourself.

Last, but not least, it was time for Carter to blow out his candles...  he did such a good job and had so much fun with help from his cousins and best friend, I hope to post a video soon.  ADORABLE!

And finally, a picture of our prince, our love, our everything!

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Now time for the details!

I had so much fun making so many of the decorations for the party, I can't wait for my next opportunity to plan a party!

1.  The outfit-  A cute button up striped shirt from Target paired with his special Birthday Edition tie made by me, and in red of course because it was an Elmo themed party.

2.  A Happy Birthday banner made by Grandma Cathy and myself.   I first printed out the outline of the letters for Happy Birthday Carter from the comput,r in the font I wanted, and then I colored them in to look like the letters on Elmo's World.  Grandma then cut all of them out while I was glued them to a piece of art paper that Carter had drawn on earlier that day (this part was not planned, but was perfect and personalized the banner even more.)

3.  I made the fabric bunting with two fabircs that I happened to find on sale one day, and they just happened to go with the colors of the party...  PERFECT! 

4.  We bought a few Elmo decorations including some balloons, cupcake liners, dessert plates and tablecloth.

5.  We chose to have the simple table decoration of a picture of our prince in a bold and fun frame that matched the green color we had chosen for decorations.

6.  Dinner table-  We planned for the food we served for dinner to be all of Carter's favorites, spaghetti, salad with ranch dressing, fruit and veggie trays, and french bread.

7.  The Dessert Table

• I made cake pops, in red and white candy coating, that I displayed in a plastic popcorn tub that I picked up at the dollar store... perfect since Carter loves popcorn. 
• I also made all of the cupcakes, I chose to make two flavors and did them in both regular and mini size.  The flavors were Cookies n' Cream with vanilla cake and Strawberries n' Cream with strawberry cake and drizzle...  my favorite was the strawberry. 
• I found some really cool paper straws that I got in red and aqua. I then knew I wanted clear glasses for the milk and chocolate milk, which looked really cool with the paper straws. I really would have liked to get glass milk bottles, but I felt the $12 for the 200 cups (one word...  Costco) was a much better buy than the $30 for 6 bottles, especially when I needed at least 20.  And in the end I LOVED the look of the glasses with a colorful straw!
• Carter's cake-  Made by me again; nothing too fancy, but more importantly... made with LOVE by Momma!

I had such a great time planning and excuting this special party and I hope you enjoyed it, too!  Until next time!

Love

Steph