Purple Party

Cole was very specific with her third birthday requests: a purple party with all of her friends, a purple cake, and a big purple ball. Girlfriend is in her purple period! I went to Walmart and bought every purple decoration I could find. We ordered a purple cake from Sweet Melissa and they went wild with the idea of making the cake as purple as possible, inside and out. Cole was over the moon.

Cole had such a blast playing with her friends at our house. We put out some toys and I covered the kitchen table with paper so the guests could color. Our balloon decorations quickly became part of the party entertainment. The kids had a great time tearing them down, then running in circles with balloons in tow.

 

Singing, cake and candles were possible the highlight of Cole's day! She was so pumped to have her friends sing to her and then eat purple cake.

(When I play hostess I LOVE for someone else to take on camera duty. Nearly all of the pictures and the sweet video were taken by our friend. Major thanks to VTCarter! )

A Berry Special Day

For Cole's first birthday, we had a Milk & Cookies party because she loved to nurse. This year, we had a Berry Special party because she loves to eat berries. I'm realizing that next year we may need to get away from the food themes lest a trend develop.

Anyway, since we are still new to the area, we decided to have her birthday party be only for family. We invited fifteen of our relatives into our itty bitty house to celebrate our first born. As it turned out, a few unexpected events prevented five of our guests from attending which actually kept the party to a reasonable size. Still, guests came from five different states which was completely unreasonable and such a demonstration of how deeply loved Cole is.

We visited. Provided an audience for Cole as she played and opened gifts. And ate. What more could you want at a two year old's birthday party?

Since my dad works on the weekends, he came up to celebrate Cole's birthday earlier in the week. We went out to dinner and played out the house. Cole just loves all of her grandparents.

A Little Celebration For a Big Birthday

We celebrated Peter's big thirtieth birthday this weekend with festivities on Saturday. Months ago, Peter gave me two requests for his birthday: paintball and gelato cake. Happy to oblige, I got a Groupon for a 6-person paintball package (at 60% off!!) and I ordered a Snicker's gelato cake.  I also gave him a Grizz shirt on Wednesday so that he could be a surprised about something for his birthday. Saturday afternoon, Peter and five of his friends met up at Memphis Paintball Park for three hours of paint balling. They had a great time but Peter was feeling his age.

Later on Saturday, we had a small celebratory cookout with a few friends and their kiddos. Nothing big and nothing too late since all the kiddos were under 18 months. Everyone was so kind, they offered to bring sides to share so I just got the meat, drinks, and a bag of chips. And the requested cake, of course.

For a family that has historically had pretty nonchalant birthday celebrations, this has been a big year for us with Peter's thirtieth and Cole's first birthday parties.

The Birthday Party

We decided to have Cole's first birthday party a few weeks after her actual birthday. It was best for our families' schedules.  Cole was lucky to have a number of her Maryland and Georgia relatives come to Memphis to celebrate. A few of our local friends and their children were also in attendance.

A while ago I decided on a milk and cookies theme. It was a bit silly because I decided on the theme based on the fact that Cole still loves to nurse. The whole party was made easier by the fact that it's Girl Scout Cookie season. I bought eleven boxes of cookies for our twenty guests and they were gone in a flash! I went to Fresh Market for the flowers and ended up getting some local milk there, purely out of convenience.  It worked out though because the milk was delicious!

My sister made some labels for the cookies and milk. 

I printed them on card stock and called it a day. 

I also made a slew of banners to help make our house a bit more festive.
I just love paper crafts because they are super easy and cheap.
I found some medium size rick rack at Hobby Lobby and used that to hang some pictures from the year. 

Rather than a cookie, Cole got a birthday strawberry.
Our precious little introvert did not take to everyone looking at her and singing, but she loved her birthday strawberry!

When it came time to open gifts, Cole was excited.
She examined each of her gifts and even stockpiled some of her favorites across the room.
She and her friends had a real blast playing in the gift wrap.
You've got to love the world through toddler eyes!

At the end of the party, Cole received a special balloon delivery from her aunts and uncles who couldn't make it to Memphis.
Cole is still loving the balloons three days later.

Bigs and Scottie got Cole a doll that she's been toting around the house. 

And Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Phil got her a swing for the back porch. 

Cole was fortunate to get to hang with some of her grands and all of her cousins at the party.