Ellie's 2nd Birthday Party!

On Saturday morning we celebrated Ellie's 2nd birthday with her friends at our house. As I previously mentioned it was a Baby Beluga/whale party. This is her favorite song! I sing this to her before every nap and every bedtime. She calls the whale "yuck" and we have no idea where she got that from. The party was a success and a lot of fun! All of her play group friends were here (both Monday and Tuesday's group) plus my friends and their children (i.e Ellie's friends, too) and her cousins. My Mom also came to help with the party and Ellie (mostly Ellie) so that we could socialize, too. It was brunch so we had bagels, french toast casserole (a huge hit), homemade coffee cake, donuts, fruit salad, and drinks. I also made the cupcakes and re-discovered my KitchenAid stand mixer. I can't believe I've only used this a couple times before when we first moved into our house. I think I'll be baking a lot more often! I also moved our Keurig to the cabinet space next to our fridge to create a coffee bar. This is the Keurig's permanent home- I love the use of the space here (see a picture below).

I had set up a craft table outside with whale coloring pages, crayons, foam ocean stickers, and play doh. The whale coloring pages were a big hit with the kids! Even though it was a chilly morning, at least it was sunny so the party was primarily outside. It's always where the kids want to be anyway!

The party favors were bubbles from the Dollar Store with stickers on the lids from Zazzle. I created the stickers using a pink whale image I found on Google. I made a photo banner from months 13-23 and hung on the wall. Her birthday banner from R&R Creations was hung on the mantle and matched her party colors. I displayed some of our favorite photos of Ellie on the mantle along with a copy of "Baby Beluga," her framed invitation, and a chalkboard frame with her "favorites." I found the chalkboard idea on Pinterest.

I loved the party's theme colors of navy and hot pink. I even matched Ellie's outfit to the party colors. I bought a variety of pink and navy solid and polkadot balloons to decorate the inside and outside the house. I hung tissue poms (pink and silver) from the chandelier (not pictured). 

Here are some party photos:

The Birthday Girl!

Ellie did a great job of blowing out her birthday candle. As she told me later that night, her favorite part of her party was "Happy Day" (when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her).

I am so happy we had a special party for Ellie's birthday before her baby sister arrives. She deserves it! Her actual birthday is Friday, the 12th and her Daddy and I are taking her somewhere special. On Sunday we are having family over to celebrate, as well. It's a week long celebration for this little girl!