The Birthday Bash!

Renae's 2nd Birthday has come and gone already! I have learned that I thoroughly enjoy planning parties. So the fact that next year I'll have TWO kid's birthday parties to plan makes me very happy! I love picking a theme, making decorations, making the cake, and I enjoy the chaos that comes from a party. We had a great time!


Renae with her 2 favorite parents.

The theme for Renae's birthday was a Purse Party. She has at least 4 different purses and will sometimes wear them simultaneously around the house. When we go out, she'll often ask to bring one of hers. So I decided a purse cake was in order and then went crazy with the theme. I'll provide quick "how I did it" in case you want to do a purse party for a little girl in your life.

I can't believe I gave birth to her just 2 years ago!

We decided to have her party in the park this year. There is a large grassy park about 10 minutes away from us, by car. We invited all Spanish speaking friends. All in all I think there were only 4 Americans, and the rest were Spanish.


The purse cake!

I made a cupcake or pullapart cake since I knew we'd be in a park. This made serving a piece of cake (no pun intended . . .) as I didn't need to cut the cake, or forks to eat it with. I just pulled a cupcake off and gave them a napkin. Genius. (P.S. I found a great easy recipe for homemade fondant here. It. Is. So. Easy. I wish I had known before how easy it was to make your own fondant! )

Renae's individual fondant covered cake is at the top.

For crafts, the kids could decorate their own "purses."

This was also an easy thing to do. I found a template online for a purse and printed it off. Then I traced the template on colored cardstock, cut them out and made handles out of plastic string. The kids colored and placed stickers on their purses.

The purse piñata!

Another easy craft. I blew up one big balloon, and then 2 small ones. The small ones were taped to the biggest part of the larger balloon. I very carefully laid the paper-mache strips in all directions over the base to keep the balloons in the right shape. When it was dry (about a day later), I cut fringes into strips of pink and purple tissue paper, then layered them onto the piñata, starting at the base. For this I used a glue stick. I made the "buckle" out of rolled up tissue paper. The handle is wire covered in tissue paper as well.

Renae's only girl friend, Irene taking a turn.

Finally the kids could collect their candy!

This is where the paper purses came in handy. Each child had a "purse" to place their bounty from the piñata.

"Mommy, what do I do with all this candy?"

Renae seemed more interested in getting her candy open than she was in gathering more for the purse. (I think she needs lessons from her Uncle Trey on what to do after a piñata has been busted open . . .)

Blowing out her candle!

Renae only nibbled at her personal cake. Oh well.

The guests around the food table. Best place to be!

By the way, the purse theme stopped at the food. I picked typical Spanish appetizer-type food: olives, cheese, chorizo, crackers, and potato chips.

Opening a gift from Irene!

Opening her gift from Tio Fede. I don't have any pictures of him but he was there!

Jaime is Renae's newest friend from the park.

I met his mom at the park just a few weeks ago and we hit it off right away! She is a flight attendant and speaks great English. So when she discovered I spoke English we found that we are a good match as we both need someone to practice the language with. She's even coming with me to my next doctor's appointment! (P.S. Fede is in the corner of this photo . . .)

The little kids enjoyed playing with bubbles towards the end of the night.

Irene, Jaime and Renae (aka Esther in Spanish)

She's got cute friends, no?

And of course, Renae wanted to play a little soccer with her Daddy.

We had a great time, Renae was full of sugar and dead tired by the time bedtime rolled around. Next year will be the first time she has a birthday party in English!