Sunday, August 30, 2009

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.


Italic
"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!

16 comments:

Nate and Natalie said...

Looks like her party was a all day and night event. Very cute cake and very creative party ideas! Glad to see Renae had a wonderful 2nd birthday.

rebadawn said...

Julie, you are soooo creative!!! I love the party theme, the cake, the craft, pinata and everything else!! By the look on Renae's face in all the pictures it looks like she had a ball!! Can't believe she is two already! Can't wait to meet baby brother very soon!! :)

Mandi said...

Oh Julie I love it!! Like I've already told you, you are one of the coolest moms I know ;-) You did a GREAT job on everything! Man, I want to attend one of your birthday parties in Spain!! :-)

Jenny said...

Amazing cake, Julie! I'm gonna hire you to do Aiden's parties from here on out. I was just telling Natalie that I can't wait til he's old enough for parties at Chucky Cheese....pizza, games, and they clean up the mess. What's not to love? Hehe! Next year, I WILL BE at Renae's 3rd Bday party!

Senegal Daily said...

I love, love, love her pigtails!!

Julie, the party looks awesome. I'll definitely be tapping into that whole mother-teacher thing you've got going when we have kids.

Senegal Daily said...

purse party - so did jesse wear his fanny pack?

Scott & Julie said...

@Jonathan et Kari - Jesse wore his man purse! :-)

Julie the cake looks amazing! Good job. Only you would go to all the troup to make your on pinata.

Anonymous said...

Great cake and pinata, Julie!
Renae was cute as always!
-Britt

kpjordan said...

Thank you so much for sharing Little Peanut's birthday with us. Very, very cute in her ponytails. And the purse cake is way cute!

P_31Girl said...

I'm jealous! I want a purse party!!! Julie, you do an AMAZING job party planning! Looks like lots of fun. Sad that we couldn't be with you guys for Renae's birthday...but there's always next year!

Jack and Sheryl said...

So cute, Julie. Love her dress. Loved her smile in that first picture. Loved the cake--although obviously you have marshmallows and shortening in Spain or did you get those shipped in? I start months in advance thinking about my girls' birthdays..parties are too fun:) Job well done. :)

Unknown said...

Can you come plan my next party??

Looks like you had a blast and that cake (and the pinata and the crafts...)soooo impressive!!

Kari said...

I wish I loved planning like you do! I hate it!! You did a great job with Renae's party :) She is so cute with that cheese smile!

Andy and Kaye said...

I'm so proud of you Julie. The purse theme was awesome. Renae will appreciate all the trouble you went to as she grows older. For now, all of us that are already older can really appreciate it! You rock Mom. She's darling blowing out the candles. Love you all. Nana Kaye

Anonymous said...

o my! Renae's face on "mommy, what do I do with all this candy?!" looks just like Jesse!!

I'm praying for you all.

much love
Kayla McVicker

Anonymous said...

Julie and Jesse....What a fun party!! You did an awesome job. I am glad all of that is in the past for me. I got tired just thinking about all you did but I loved birthday parties too. And I love you!! marie N.