Birthday party extravaganza

Y’all know how I roll… cheap and against the grain. The end of April marked two birthdays in our house and party time was so much fun! But it had to be cheap and simple. Partly because it’s a necessity for our budget and partly because I’m too stubborn and I refuse to go conform to society and go overboard on things. Decorations were as inexpensive as they come, food was delicious and not very costly, and Pinterest rocked this party!  Here’s some of our fun:

Invitations:

I probably spent more money on this than I wanted to, but I had so much fun putting them together! A little cardstock, some scrapbook paper, some fun scrapbooking tools (thanks, Kristen!), and a few stickers (3-D stickers are so much fun!!) and we were good to go. Kate had chosen her princess theme a LONG time ago, and Drew’s obsession with fire trucks dictated his half of the party. I can probably start RIGHT HERE by telling you how impossible it is to find fire truck things. Particularly since I wasn’t willing to pay much for them. Lots of cars, construction things, Sesame Street, trains, and a multitude of other “boy things” for birthdays, but no fire trucks. I had to buy a page of “emergency vehicle” stickers, just to get a couple of fire trucks.

Side 1 of the invitation

Side 2 of the invitation

 Decorations:

Are you ready for this? I bought 4 packages of balloons at approximately $1.25 each. Then, I put my slaves (brother and husband) to work and they blew up 6 of each color. Tie string (we used dental floss because our collection is astounding and it works just as well) to each balloon, and then bundle them together. Drape over/around light fixture. BOOM. Lots of color and lots of fun. Red and yellow fire truck colors in the kitchen for him, different shades of princess pink in the dining room for her. Easy as heck, y’all!!

I also have a really cute utensil caddy that we got for our wedding, but since I was being intentional about sparse decorations, I decided to use what I had around the house: leftover scrapbook paper, stickers, and empty enchilada sauce cans.

Food:

 I found a few ideas on Pinterest and tossed in a few of our family staples, as well.  Our spread included grilled chicken (marinated in a Mesquite Lime mix) for the grownups, pb and j or turkey and cheese sandwiches for the kids, homemade salsa and chips, fresh veggies and dip, our infamous Rainbow Jello, and Princess fruit wands, which were a huge hit (thanks, Pinterest!). I kept it simple with sweet tea and Princess punch (also from Pinterest) as our drink options. Clearly, there were not many opportunities for fire truck themed things. I’m glad he’s two and is not easily offended by such things… A few fireman hats helped to decorate the food table!

 Cake:

I debated (for a total of 3 minutes) being an overachiever mom by purchasing a fire truck shaped cake pan and going all out with the icing and decorating. Wrong. What mom of an almost 2 year old and 3 year old has time for that?! So, Drew got a yellow cake with chocolate icing (one of my faves) and a fire truck perched on top. I re-used Kate’s star pan from last year and a princess wand found its way to the top of her almond flavored pink cake with pink icing and pink sprinkles.

Attire:

Princess dresses and fireman hats, optional.

Party guests:

Friends

Family

Might as well be family

Officially family on July 7. Should we reconsider? Nah, he fits in nicely.

And there you have it! Two birthdays, one party, tons of fun… Hopefully the birthday themes will be just as simple next year!