Asher Turns 2!

 We celebrated Asher's 2nd birthday with a candy themed party. 

Much to my demise his most favorite of things includes anything with sugar. 

The invitations were so much fun to create and I loved how they turned out.

 

Guests were welcomed with a few balloons and a Happy Birthday message!

At the front door a bowl of smarties and a large wooden 2 gave hints as to what was waiting inside.

 I am kind of obsessed with how adorable this little cake turned out. I made Martha Stewart's Vanilla Vanilla cupcakes and used the remaining batter to make a two layer cake. I added a teeny bit of food coloring to have the layers be orange and green. Inspiration for the cake found here.

I am also slightly obsessed with how adorable the dessert table turned out as well as those sweet little marshmallow treats. Not only are they super sweet but they are cute decorations as well (and so easy to make! Dip marshmallow in melted candy coating and then dip in sprinkles.)

String lanterns hung from the ceiling for an extra bit of color and fun. (Tutorial found here.) I loved how they turned out and think they would be a whimsical addition to any little one's room. My nephew now has these hanging in his room. :)

 

Little treat bags for the guests to fill with candy! 

Our original plan for the party was to have games in the backyard for all the little ones, but a few days before the party, the weather was hinting at a possibility of rain so I had the task of coming up with some entertaining ideas that could take place indoors. I found this inspiration for the table and thought it was such a cute idea (scan down through the party photos to see how they set up their eating space.) So, I lined our large dining room table with white paper, painted 'place settings' and added a centerpiece of balloons. 

I purchased a digital coloring book from a fellow etsy seller, Emmi Grace Kids and printed it for all of our little guests. For easy binding, I added a solid coverstock page for the cover, hole punched the corners and used a D-ring to keep together. The little guests loved this activity and were excited to take them home too. I would recommend this for any party! So easy!

 

 Menu

Hot Dogs + Chili

Chicken Salad Wraps

Greek Pasta Salad

Veggie Sticks (as seen here) 

Drinks

Lemonade

Sweet Tea

Juice Boxes

 

 The Birthday Boy!!! 

How cute is that picture of him with the bat?! He was so excited!

(P.S. The homemade pinata turned out great except on the outside... it kind of looked like a dinasaur egg! haha. I ran out of time to actually decorate the thing as planned when we realized I had forgotten to put a hook in it to actually hang it. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how in the world we were going to hang a billion pound pinata. Nonetheless, it was a huge hit and the kids loved taking their swing at it... not to mention the amount of candy that came pouring from it!)

Overall the most amazing thing about this little birthday party was watching my little guys have so much fun. I was able to see Andrew interact with his buddies in a new way as he would drop whatever he was doing at the moment and show compassion to the one that was sad. He has the biggest the heart! And as we sat coloring together I thought to myself how blessed I truly am to have been given such a wonderful and sweet little boy.

And Asher was more excited than I have ever seen him! He gripped his treat bag with such fervor that even opening his presents would not convince him to let go. At one point he went running through the house with two bags of candy in his hands screeching sheer happiness! I about died laughing.

 This party is truly one of my most favorite of family memories and I will treasure it forever. 

(And hopefully you found some fun inspiration for your next party too. :)