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September 5, 2012

Cookies & Milk with Kate! Happy 2nd Birthday!


I am finally getting around to blogging about Kate's birthday party!

A bit of background - I picked out {what I thought was} a precious theme for her party. I started brainstorming, planning, and envisioning everything I would do. One thing I didn't do? Talk to Alex about it. I honestly didn't think he would care about the party theme.

Well friends, I was wrong. Very, very wrong. I just happened to mention the party planning to Alex about six weeks before Kate's party. And he HATED my idea. The man who couldn't care less about things like this absolutely hated everything I had planned out. 

So, I started from scratch and planned a party in a short six weeks. I browsed many party planning blogs and finally settled on a Cookies & Milk theme! And I have to say, I am so glad we went with this theme over my original idea! I loved how everything turned out and Kate, who is absolutely obsessed with cookies, had a blast!

Before I started on any decor, I went to Sarah to have the invitations designed. She is amazing (she did Will's announcements) and I absolutely love with what she came up with!


It really set the tone for a pink, chocolate, cream, and white color palette!

While browsing the internet, I came across a cookies & milk party Anne, of A Party Style, did for her daughter and was IN LOVE. This party was probably my biggest inspiration (and is obviously where the cake design came from). It was elegant, clean, and not to "babyish". I am just not a huge fan of parties that scream "baby/ toddler" and I know this is probably the last year that I can get away with doing something I love rather than something Kate selects. I know Dora, Elmo, and Mickey parties are in my future so I wanted to enjoy this year before character parties take over!

I decided to focus on our dining room fro decorating purposes with a few accents in the kitchen. I knew that the living room would be where all of the kids played so I didn't want to spend to much time with details in that room.

I transformed my dining room into a cookie buffet! I wish I had more detailed pictures of everything (a huge regret of mine- I simply ran out of time getting everything together) but, I really loved how the final cookie table came out!

And can we talk about this cake? OBSESSED! And it was oh so yummy!

The china hutch and buffet were emptied and decorated as well! I ended up keeping it pretty simple but I really love how it looked.  And, tooting my horn a bit, I was really impressed with my DIY for the hutch. I don't DIY. It's just not my thing. But I did just about everything for this party (painted letters, made all of the ribbon wraps for the cookie containers, did the tissue poms, used a hot glue gun - this is HUGE for me) and am so proud of the time and effort I put into it all.




Before anyone arrived, we let Kate climb up on the table and go to town on all of the cookies! She was amazed and kept saying "cookies? cookies for TayTay? I eat dem? Mo?"
 
How precious is her SheShe Made dress? Will had a matching bubble but he slept during most of the party. I'm glad he wasn't awake and fussy but I wish I would have gotten a few family pictures.
 
Girlfriend is serious about her cookie eating
 
We were worried how Kate was going to do with so much attention focused on her. No clue why we were worried because she loved it and totally hammed it up during the entire party! She kept walking around saying "I two".  She also adored opening all of her gifts. She studied each and every present she got and told everyone thank you!

Caleb, a fellow BMT patient that lives in Wisconsin, was in town for his annual testing and we loved having his family here to celebrate with us!

Kate also loved having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her! She waved, looked around, smiled, and said thank you while everyone sang! Little Miss Social Butterfly!

A huge thank you to Melissa, our great friend and photographer for pulling out her camera at just the right moment to capture this picture!

While I loved planning this party and making sure everything was as perfect as possible, the most important thing about that day was seeing our friends and family come together to celebrate Kate. I know I am constantly talking about what a miracle her life is but every single day I stop and thank the Lord for watching over her and allowing us to continue to parent her here on Earth.

While we loved filling our bellied with tons of cookies (that I made from scratch - never again) we really loved celebrating Kate's sweet life and look forward to celebrating many more years!

A big thanks to Maxine Webber of Grace Photography for editing several of the pictures I took at the party. Another huge thanks to Melissa Pickens of Melissa Pickens photography for pulling out her camera at just the perfect moment! Both of you have allowed us to have memories we will always cherish!
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16 comments:

Shannon Dew said...

Amazing! OMG I love this theme! So great! Kate looks absolutely precious too!

Unknown said...

Love, Love, Love the party theme and all the decorations...you may have just given me an idea for Emmalee's 2nd birthday!

Taylor said...

So cute!!! I love it and you did a great job!!

Lindsay said...

Such a sweet party! I love the theme and you did a great job!! And Kate looks so happy and adorable!

Catie said...

What a cute theme and party! You did an awesome job and sounds like Kate really enjoyed it.

Colleen said...

I love all of it!!! so sweet for an adorable little girl. I am cracking up though about your husband not liking the first theme. I am curious what it was. My husband never says much but once in awhile he'll have an objection to something. it's funny!

T.J. said...

Great job on the decorations. What was your first idea that Alex hated so much?

Laura said...

So, so cute!! I love it! I have to know...what was your original theme that your hubs hated?! That sounds like something that would happen to me! ha! Mine has an opinion about the most random things!

CZYK Publishing said...

What a cute idea! I love the decorations. What a great theme. I bet the parents liked it too!

Gina said...

I LOVE this...especially the bottles and stripey straws.

But I kinda want to know what your original idea was. Hee hee.

Happiness Is... said...

This is darling and so original! I love it! And, you're right - cute without being too baby!

Naturally Caffeinated Family said...

Everything came out so cute! Great job! So creative and cute! Looks like she loved it! :)

Erin said...

I cannot stop looking at these photos. Everything turned out so beautifully. What a wonderful party!

Annie said...

This is the cutest party idea, Lindsey! I love it all. & I love Kate's dress. She is adorable!

Lucy Marie said...

This is probably the best party theme I've ever seen. I love it. And it kinda makes me sad I'm not doing a party for Eva this year - I had so much fun planning her first. Oh well. Gwen's will come before I know it :/

Samantha said...

Hey Lindsey, I'm planning a gingerbread themed 2nd birthday for Mia and Alexa. I'm having trouble finding glass milk bottles but have found reasonably priced plastic ones on etsy. If your used glass (they look like they are glass in your pics) and you have any tips, can you email me at cherrypietwins@gmail.com?

It looked like a beautiful party for Kate! I'm impressed with your DIY... I'm not a DIYer either but I have high hopes for this party :)

Samantha

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