Our 2nd Birthday Bunny Party

My little monkey turned two on Sunday… a whole big two… two years of extra special love, giggles, early mornings, CBeebees, middle of the night cuddles (and screaming sessions).. Two years filled with baby loves, tiny fingers and toes, stinky nappies, learning how to be a mom, new friends, fewer glasses of wine, more pureed vegetables than I thought was possible, but more than anything 2 years of absolute happiness and blessings.

We had a party on Saturday to celebrate this big milestone in our lives, and it was just the most special day that I could have asked for. Surrounded by friends, in our home, with the squeals and giggles of little people all around. Ok, and my cake turned out half decent which I admit I was quite relieved about!

I chose a bunny theme, because our little monkey is just bunny mad at the moment and I knew she would love it… she didn’t disappoint…

Here are a few photos from the day, and I’ve also linked to a lot of the templates / recipes etc that I used for the party in case anyone else is thinking of a bunny theme any time soon.

Blowing out her candles (so much fun we had to do it about 4 times!)

Some of the decor and food ideas we had (I tried to stick within a DIY budget as didn’t want to go overboard with spending, so used lots of free templates off the internet and the most expensive prop we had to get was the paper!)

I got some orange card stock and rolled them into cones, punched some holes in the top, threaded some green wool and filled with popcorn… What would a bunny party be without some super sized carrots.

We did of course have real carrots as well. I would have preferred to not have used the carrot balls, but Woolies let me down with only having these in stock… One of the mom’s told her little guy to stop eating so many cause she thought they were those apricot sweets we used to get…remember them?

And suprisingly, the bunny poo was a big hit with both kidlets and big people…

I followed a recipe that I posted in my last post for these jelly squares – seriously, sooo easy and they were perhaps the biggest hit at the party! So much of fun (and you know i can’t resist a bit of fun and colour)

A bunny hopped right up into our house (using these templates from Activity village)

I made these little pom poms (using this tutorial to make pom poms just using your fingers) and tied them to elastic for some bunny tails – they were so cute on the little kidlets, our monkey didn’t take hers off until late in the afternoon.

I got this recipe for a carrot cake off the Your Family website and turned it into cupcakes (only because I wanted to use the cute little bunny ears that I had found!) The recipe was so easy, seriously – I mean that, and was yummalicious.

How much of cuteness is this little marshmallow garden that one of my very talented and creative friend’s made for the party… Too precious huh..

I found these free printables from Mr Printables to make some bunny party packs, and filled them with a few sweets, some stickers and some bunny tails… Nothing fancy, but I’m not a massive believer in excessive party packs!

The bunny tails were similar to these ones from Eighteen 25 – I forgot to take a photo of the ones I did..

And that’s basically a wrap of our Bunny Party…

Stripey Straws

You’ll have to agree with me that these stripey straws could brighten up any occasion… they’re almost what you need on a Monday morning to drink a glass of milk with just to have a good start to your week….

Love these coloured straws, available from Etsy

Love the aqua and red colour combination from Miss Indie Design

And this turquoise with the chocolate milk from Shop Sweet Lulu

Love this idea for a Bridal Shower from Erin Ever After  – drinking bubbly out of milk bottles, through these cute red stripey straws…

 

Love these marshmellow ‘cake pops’ and especially love how they used the straws… very pretty (from Mommy Gaga)

Aeroplane Party

One of the funny thing about all our little creatures is the ability they have to change their minds even quicker than their moms. One such change of mind was one little dude being completely digger crazy to now totally aeroplane crazy – there goes that awesome idea of a digger cake for his digger party 😉

How cool are these aeroplane propellor pops (marshmallows dipped in chocolate)!

And when serving food, don’t forget to make it look authentic like when you’re on a real aeroplane trip! (Ok, the ones where you still get the free meals and not the budget flights that we’re always on!)

Paint (or use masking tape I reckon) down the middle of the table cloth and park aeroplanes down the middle to turn the party table into a landing strip…

All the above ideas are from a post on Frost Me Blog – be sure to check the post out with a heap more stunning ideas for an aeroplane themed party!

Here’s another blog post on a plane theme – I loved this party pack the best! (pop over to Milk Tea and Polka Dots for the full post and more gorgeous pics)

And last but not least, how totally cool is this invitation from Design Dazzle

 

Some colourful birthday party inspiration

I’ve still got 4 months to go to our little monkey’s 2nd birthday (2nd birthday, how the hell did that happen, it was a few weeks ago I was posting pics from her very first birthday!) but came across some of these ideas for some table decor and thought I’d share! (I’ve got no idea what theme we’ll be doing, so I guess I’ll be on the look out for the next couple of months)

This idea is from Jacolyn Murphy’s blog.

And how cool are these instead of balloons… More pictures and a tutorial on how to make these over at Design Dazzle

And not forgetting the all important colour and  bling  that every party should have a touch of 🙂 This gorgeous party inspiration from Hip Hip Hooray

Doll House Party

So there are some parties that I see that I have to store in my ‘So going to do this for my monkey one day’ and then there are others that I can only be in awe of, and just admit right up front that there is no ways that I would come anywhere close to getting right…. this theme is one of them.. Love the idea, and just can’t believe the detail that these various moms have gone to for these parties… wow… all I can say… is can you imagine their weddings one day 😉

You should pop over to Amy Atlas to see this party!

How cool would this biscuit decorating activity be!! How amazing is the detail – party seen on Kara’s Party Ideas.

And how about these for cupcakes for the party – from OhDeeDoh

Oh I do love Balloons

Starting off with this birthday balloon wreath to put on your front door when ever a family member is celebrating their special day. See how they’ve made it and how it looks on a door over at Landee See Landee Do

And then, just because we’re talking balloons, how cute is this balloon tree from So Cute Party…

And then if perhaps one of your girl friends is away for her birthday, or across the world and you’re missing being able to celebrate in style with the girls, why not send her a bunch of balloons, each with a special message from her friends that she can blow up on her special day. Love this idea from A Subtle Revelry

Such a simple idea from Martha Stewart using balloons to decorate – all they’ve done here is use double sided tape to create the number on a well with balloons.. I like…

I’ve blogged about this before, but I do love the idea of a balloon fairy visiting the night before the birthday. Can only imagine what it feels like to wake up in a room filled with balloons. (Saw this one from The House of Smiths)

 

 

Gift wrapping ideas

I think gift wrapping is as much of an art as selecting the perfect gift for someone. When someone takes the time and effort to beautifully wrap a gift, I think the value of that gift goes up ten times instantly, just because of the extra love that goes into the wrapping. That said, if you’re like me, it’s always good in theory and it’s wonderful to ooh and aagh at other peoples beautifully wrapped gifts, but I always wake up too late (like 5 minutes before walking out the door to wrap the gift) to get the wrapping part right… here are a few ideas I found that are nice and simple that I’m going to try out on a few gifts for kiddies coming up. Let me know what you think?

(Image Source: Older and Wisor)

(image from Older and Wisor)

Love this idea from Tip Junkie

And lastly…

Wrapping ideas from Babble

And lastly – next time you either need to wrap a gift card, or you need a ‘birthday card’ for a littlely, balloons (like this one) are always such a winner I think!

You make me happy when skies are grey

I just love love love these words….. this song… My little monkey really is my Sunshine and I try and tell her every single day…

Print available from Etsy

How amazing is this birthday cake for a ‘You are my sunshine birthday party!’ from The Party Wagon

These amazing biscuits are from the same party from The Party Wagon

How cute is this “you are my sunshine” dress up costume from Parenting

(Image from Tumblr)

Hold me closer Tiny Dancer

 

I was never much into my ballet as a kid, I think partly cause I looked and felt more like a tiny little elephant hopping around, rather than a petite little nunu dressed in pink, flitting around. Only time will tell whether my little dancer will pirouette around the show, either way – I can’t wait for the obligatory ballet lessons all dressed in pink looking too cute…

Such a cute little ballerina 1st birthday party from Pizzazzerie

(Image from Tumblr)

(Image source: We Heart It)

You can get the pattern for these adorable knitted leg warmers from Smashed Peas and Carrots

Oh the fun you can have while a new born sleeps!

(Image from Pinterest)

How’s this cute ballerina card you can make with your kids (from Simply Modern Mom)

Surf’s up Dude

So this last weekend a group of us mom’s went for a surf lesson. What fun, and a different way to spend a morning while the Dad’s looked after the little ones. I have to admit that I was more scared to get into a costume in public than actually getting onto a surfboard and  felt a little like one of the ladies in the picture below to begin with.

(Image from Travelettes)

Anyway, it wasn’t too long before the adrenaline kicked in and the fun started… So you can guess the theme for today’s post!

Cute surf bunting from Etsy

Don’t you just love the decor for this surf party from Design Dazzle… they actually made these surfboards for the party!

I wouldn’t have minded coming across this scene this morning! (Such a lovely photoshoot from Drew B Photography)

Lucky for us we didn’t need any lifesavers this morning 🙂

(Image and ideas from The Princess and the Frog)

 

PS – high five to us mom’s for standing up and actually catching a few waves…