The Cupcake's 2nd Birthday

The Cupcake turned 2 on Thursday.

We celebrated by going to Storytime. She got a free cookie from the cafe, and all the kids at Storytime sang the birthday song for her. The rest of the day (the whole week pretty much) was spent trying to prepare for her party today, Saturday.

It was a Winnie the Pooh party, of course. :-)


I designed the invitations myself (the blue (purple?) square is hiding my RSVP info).

I would be lying if I said I was truly happy with the party. It was absolutely a great time, and R had fun with all of her friends, but we did not give ourselves enough time to set up. The party started at 10, and I rolled into the parking lot at 10:03. Senpai was there already, setting up an elaborate tree decoration in the middle of the park pavilion (that we did not get pictures of!!! SOB), but there was still so much else to do. I rushed to get food arranged on tables, accepted all help that was offered by guests, and then we settled into the party without having taken pictures of anything (sob!). But it was a blast. I must emphasize that. As disappointed as my perfectionist self is that everything was not arranged and photographed "just so," I have to let it go and admit that it was still a fun party.

This is the only picture where you can get a hint of Senpai's tree inside the pavilion. Beautiful birthday girl, though.

UPDATE: Senpai pulled this still shot of the tree from some video we had taken. You can see my beehive piñata hanging from it, as well as a couple of goody bags. You can't see it here, but a Pooh garden statue is also hanging out in the tree. The strong wind that day gave life to the streamers and flowers as they fluttered and snapped in the breeze. It was truly enchanting to watch.
  


She had 7 friends show up!


Senpai and I spent a couple of nights last week making papier mache beehive pinatas. We each made one.


Here's the one I made. Senpai decided mine was too pretty, so his was the one that the kids demolished for candy. I wasn't sure how well two-year olds would do with a piñata, but it was actually really cute to see them all take a whack at it with the stick.


I ordered the cake from a local bakery. I had waaaaaay too much else to do to worry about how to make a Pooh cake.


We had served lunch of pulled pork that I cooked through the night, fruit and veggie trays that I cut myself (a friend helped to assemble them at the party; thank you!), beans, potato chips, and we also had huge tubs of potato salad and hummus that never made it out of the cooler (!!!). Sigh. Lots to do.


Here are the food labels I had worked on last night as my last project for the party. They got set aside somewhere at the park, forgotten about, and then not found until we were cleaning up. I wonder if more people would have tried the iced tea if they had known that it was honey green tea. Oh well.


This is what the goody bags looked like. I am happy to report that every child left with a goody bag; I didn't forget anyone! This one was leftover because we had a no show party guest.


We had balloons! There were these three mylar balloons and then we also had ten red ones. A friend tied some balloons to trees around the pavilion (thank you!) and the rest were just clipped onto the grill. So much for table decorations, lol.


R didn't spend too much time on the park equipment, but she did have a fun moment with the swings here.


Here is R on her "birthday throne," aka the travel potty set up next to the trash cans, haha. I'm happy to report that she made it through the party with no accidents! The whole day, even! And she's getting better at waking in the night to go potty. All of this means that we have a diaper-free two year old! Big girl!!!


After such a fun, enjoyable party, this is what we get to look forward to tomorrow: clean up. :-P



Happy Birthday, Cupcake!!