Wow, this was a busy weekend!! As you read in my previous post, this past Friday was my older daughter, Savannah's, 2nd birthday and on Saturday we had her big 2nd birthday bash - an Elmo Dance Party! Savannah LOVES to dance and she LOVES Elmo, so why not combine them both into one great party!
We had a little over 50 people at her party - I know, totally excessive for a 2-year old, but we had to invite all of her playgroup buddies and parents (wouldn't have been the same without them!). My in-laws (Gigi & Grumpy) graciously allowed us to host the party at their gorgeous home (The Cottage Home is a little small for that many people) and it worked out perfectly.
I thought I would share with you a few of the pictures from her party and some of my party ideas:
Invitations
These are the invites I made for Savannah's party. I did two different variations of them because I couldn't decide which one I liked better. I used cupcake liners and flattened them, printed out a birthday picture of Elmo and framed it with a card-stock frame cut-out. I printed all of the party information on the inside of the card.
Party Favors
For the party favors we gave out balloons and I made rice-krispy treat pops. I bought store-bought rice krispy treats from Costco - they came in three different varieties - ones with chocolate candies, chocolate drizzle, and double chocolate. I then stuck multiple colored sticks into each rice-krispy treat. To wrap them up, I put a clear bag over the top with an Elmo sticker and tied them with multi-colored grosgrain ribbon. I think they looked pretty cute in the little basket!!
Party Food
We kept the party food really simple (50 people is a lot of people to feed!). And my Mom and Pepo flew into town from Texas, so I wanted to be able to spend some quality time with them and not be cooking our brains out to get ready for the party. My father-in-law grilled cheese burgers, we had a bunch of different varieties of chips, and had bagel dogs for the little kiddos.
We also had cups of layered goldfish and cheerios for the little ones (I call these kiddo parfaits).
As I have mentioned before, my husband is a home-brewer and makes his own beer and wine. For Savannah's party he made a special beer (for the adults, of course) called "Elmo's Hoppy Birthday Red Ale". It was AWESOME!!
We also served different sodas, sparkling cider (there were quite a few pregnant mama's there), wine, and more varieties of beer.
Decorations
On the front door we had a big poster of Elmo. My friend Elizabeth drew these posters and my mother-in-law and I glittered them and added a glitter border.
Inside we had another large Elmo poster over the fireplace mantel with a "Happy Birthday" banner. I also had a Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird Posters placed on the ledges of some of the huge windows (but with the back-light, I couldn't get any good pictures). We also had a big poster of Oscar the Grouch on the huge trash can.
We just hung some Sesame Street cut-outs with ribbon from the dining room chandelier.
Another big Elmo on the door leading into the pantry.
We had balloons all over the place, but we tied a large bunch to a plant container to make a centerpiece on the huge kitchen island.
On the kitchen table, we had crayons and large sheets of butcher paper covering the whole table for the little ones to draw during the party.
I made a special "Elmo" dress for my daughter to wear to her party. I knew I wanted to make her a dress, but I still wanted it to be girly and Elmo at the same time. Let me tell you......that was kind of hard to come up with since Elmo is so red. But when I received my huge order of Heather Bailey's "Nicey Jane" in the mail it clicked!! I saw the red accents in some of the fabrics and this dress was born.
I created this Elmo applique using a picture of Elmo that I deconstructed to make it out of fabric. I also changed Elmo's nose to pink instead of orange to tie it into the other fabrics. I then hand embroidered it to the apron.
I love big pretty bows on little girls dresses and this one was just right!! The apron is sewn to the dress so I didn't have to worry about it sliding around when Savannah was getting her dance on!
I used a decorative scallop stitch in red for the bottom hem and used polka-dot bias tape to complete the look.
I made a matching birthday hat in coordinating fabric with a big "2" on top. To be honest, it didn't get worn much during the party, but it looks cute!
Party Pictures
Savannah loved having everyone sing to her. I did not make the cake (I am NOT a baker!). I love, love, love to cook, but baking is too precise for me. So my mother-in-law ordered this cake with Elmo, Dorothy and Mr. Noodle from a local bakery.
Mmmmmmmm.......cake and ice cream! We served little ice-cream cups with the cake which worked out really well and reduced the mess with 18 toddlers! This is my Grandma (Savannah's GREAT Grandma) standing by her waiting for some cake.
Trying to sneak a little present before the party even started.........she was caught in the act!
Savannah and Matilda with their guys. From left to right......Grumpy, Great-Grandpa Alex, and Pepo. These men adore the girls and it is SO sweet to see them together!
Brett and his Dad (Grumpy). Is my hubby a good sport or what? He wore this big Elmo shirt during the whole party - way to go Brett!!
Savannah had a great time at her party and got lots of tutus, princess and dress up things - she was in heaven!
We had such a great time with all of our family and friends and were so glad everyone could join us to celebrate our little girl turning 2!!
Cottage Mama's Note: I have listed a version of this Elmo dress in my etsy shop. It is a custom order dress. If you know anyone looking for a girly Elmo dress, send them to my etsy shop and I am happy to help them create something truly special for their little girl: www.thecottagemama.com
I will be listing many more items in the coming month......I'm just getting started!
