a few of her favorite things...

Those who know me, know I love to throw a party...especially one with a theme. As I begin to plan for my son's 1st birthday party, it got me thinking about the celebration of my daughter's 2nd birthday...that's how my brain works-reliving the fun times! And, since I didn't have a blog at the time, I thought I would share it now.

For Mikayla's 2nd birthday we decided to have two separate smaller parties. One for family and one for her toddler friends. One reason we chose to do this was because we wanted my parents (who live in Alaska for most of the year) to help Mikayla celebrate turning 2, so we had the family party a month early. I am so glad we did because I had so much fun planning for both occasions!

Party #1 Theme - Flowers & Favorites

I thought it would be a good idea for our family to get to know Mikayla just a little bit better by learning all about her favorite things since they don't get to see her every day...and why not throw in some cute flowers to help make the decorating a little bit easier...and sweeter!

Invitation

The guests were welcomed with a table full of yummy goodies that were very much enjoyed by our sweet girl.

I had so much fun making this centerpiece and reliving the memories of the past year and all of the discovery Mikayla enjoyed in finding her favorite things to eat!

For parties, I've decided that since I'm not a great cake designer (or even a "good" one for that matter), I would stick with cupcakes, which I love to decorate. Although if you notice, I did try my hand at a {simple} flower cake for this party!

...and it looks like she liked it!

As a special thank you for coming to her party, each family took home some flowers tied with a ribbon and attached with a note saying "Thank you for helping us celebrate Mikayla's birthday (a little early) and for being such an important part of her first 2 years."

Overall, the party was pretty low-key and I didn't plan a whole lot other than some fun times watching the cousins playing together, eating some good food, and enjoying watching the birthday girl open her presents. I did, however, create a crossword puzzle of all of Mikayla's favorites that the guests could fill out at any time during the party. Many of them were stumped, but it was fun to reveal the answers to them!

And, to top it off, the birthday girl of course had to match with the theme in her flower dress.

Now, onto planning my little monkey's 1st birthday! I look forward to sharing...