Monster Bash!

I am so excited to share J's second birthday party with you. We had a excellent time at the party, but I really actually enjoyed prepping for this party as well. This year we went with a monster theme. My initial though was to do an under the sea party due to J's obsession with Nemo, but I am Nemoed out these days! I wanted to choose something really different anyways. I'm not really into all the tiaras and tea parties kind of stuff, and lets face it... these early parties are really more about what mommy likes anyways. Besides, I like giving my self (and the very talented Marcy with Magic by Marcy) a challenge (hehe). And after I found these adorable monsters from Kelly Medina Studios on Etsy I was set on monsters. (I changed the colors of these monsters)



So I sent the monsters off to Marcy to do her magic. And this is what she came up with! Awesome right?! By the way, you can purchase this invite for your little on in her shop here.

Of course my very next thought was on to J's dress for the party. I looked every where for fabric, but there was nothing monster. So I decided to make my own. Did you know you could do that?
All you have to do design an image and submit an image file to Spoonflower. The give you different repeat options and then you can have it printed on a variety of different fabrics. Totally awesome right!

On to the decorations. I just love this part! Since there is not much monster stuff out there, I focused more on the colors and patterns when picking out the decorations/paper products. The first things I picked out was the silverware, straws and ice cream cups (which were filled with yogurt parfait). I got the straws and cups (which came with the lids and spoons!) from an awesome Etsy shop called Pink Lemonade Party Shop. And I got the blank wooden utensil from Charmios Handmade also on Etsy. I simply stamped the polka dots on the handles. I found the plates and napkins at my local PartyCity and we where set.

For the overhang, I combined some yarn chandlers with some coffee filter paper balls for a fun whimsical look. I tied the table in by adding this fun yarn garland to mach. (You can check out how I created each of them by clicking on the links). It might have been my favorite part. Although I am really crushing on my chevron runner. Can you guess what it is made from? Tissue paper! I know right... BRILLIANT! I came up with this idea for the baby shower I gave my sister-in-law and I love it. You can have something new for every party and the best part is you can trash the mess!  

Next up... the food (some might say the best part). We decided to the the party in the a.m. for many reason (one being to avoid having it in the middle of nap time). So we decided to go with a brunch theme for the food. I had so much fun creating all this brunch inspired, kid-friendly finger foods. My mom is gluten-free, so I made some gluten free quiche (in bacon cheddar and spinach feta). We also had fruit kabobs (because kids love anything on a stick), bacon (which is missing from the photos - notice the empty plate - because we had a bacon mishap... i.e. I burnt the crap out of it and had to make new), yogurt parfaits, and mini-pancake stacks (toppers created by the awesome Marcy again). For dessert we had cupcakes from Lucy and Leo's (because no party is complete without them), marshmallow monsters, and a monster cake (which was suppose to be gluten and sugar free, but that was an epic fail! I've only made the recipe 10 times to practice and the one time I actually needed it it looked like burnt pudding... UGH!). I just love how the cake turned out! It was a Pintrest success for me! And I want to give a HUGE thank you to my sister Savana for staying up with me until midnight to help me cook all this food. I would have never finished without her help. We just had to much fun hanging out on Friday!

The party was a blast. J's favorite part was opening the mountain of presents. And we are all so grateful for the time spent with everyone who attended. I still can not believe my little girl is two!