C's Second Birthday: Airplane Party!

On my bucket list before baby arrives, has been getting a post up about C's second birthday celebration. My photos were scattered across iPhones and cameras, so you can imagine, getting this post organized took me some time! C had a wonderful birthday celebration with an airplane theme for his second birthday. We traveled quite a bit leading up to his birthday, and he loved every minute of the time we spent in airports watching the airplanes coming and going, so the theme for his party was pretty much a no brainer this year! Most of my inspiration came from Pinterest, and the decor ended up being a mashup of lots of DIY projects with a few smatterings of help from Etsy.



We had C's party on a Sunday morning a day before his actual birthday...after a whirlwind weekend of traveling to my hometown for my brother T's high school graduation the day before. Getting everything ready the night before was...shall I say...a bit stressful for me. I did do quite a few of the DIY projects beforehand, but setting it all up and getting food ready by 9am is no joke! C woke up Sunday morning to a house full of all of his favorite people, and was SOOOO excited to grab everyone by the hand and walk them around to show them every little detail of his party.

If you have been following for a while, you'll know that C's absolute favorite meal is breakfast, so he was delighted to sit down to all of his favorite treats after greeting all of his morning visitors. I don't have enough thanks for Grandma S who so kindly offered to bring one of the egg casseroles, and the Hy-Vee bakery who does an excellent job with variety packs of muffins and perfectly decorated cakes! I did pre-order the cakes (one larger cake to share, and one personal cake for C) in advance, and worked directly with the head baker who was more than happy to recreate the vision I had in mind. I may or may not have her personal number saved in my phone for next time! You may be wondering, was the cake truly necessary after muffins and cinnamon rolls? It's like Julia Child said, 'A party without cake is just a meeting.' You only turn two years old once!

ON THE MENU:

Egg Casserole (1 sausage, 1 ham)

Muffins

Fresh fruit & fruit dip

Cinnamon Rolls (2 pans)

OJ, Coffee, Water, Milk

Cake

C's favorite gifts to open definitely came from his wonderful grandparents. A basketball hoop and new outdoor balls to play with from Grandpa T & Grandma J, and a Little People City Skyway racetrack that he has been playing with on a daily basis from Grandpa D & Grandma S. T & I surprised C with a box full of goodies...most of which were more necessary than fun (think life jacket, clothes, new dining set), and a sandbox that he can't get enough of. He just loves filling up his buckets and driving his John Deere sandbox vehicles around. Now, every time we go outside, he is constantly trying to drag me to the backyard to play. If only the crazy hot weather we've been having would back off a little so it would be more bearable to sit outside during the heat of the day in our backyard that has very little shade!

After opening gifts, it was time for cake. Since C's party was in the morning, I opted for a white cake loaded up with all of his favorite fruits. I'm not sure he even actually ate any of the cake itself, but he sure enjoyed picking off the bite sized toppings of fruit!

Yum!!

Next up was family picture time with all of the grandparents. As you can tell from these first three shots, C was a little less than cooperative! He was so excited about playing with his new toys, and running around with cousin J, that finding that perfect picture proved to be relatively elusive! 

Overall, I would chalk up C's 2nd birthday to a smashing success, and so much fun. I had a great time putting it all together, and can only hope to find such a fun theme for next year's birthday!

Sources:

Invites // Airplane Garland // Cake Topper // Muffin Picks // Cloud Balloons // Inflatable Airplane // Die Cast Airplanes // Table Runner // Tablecloth/Plates/Cups/Galvanized Buckets/Red Party Shreds/Napkins/Placemats (white foam cut to cloud shape) available at Hobby Lobby