Sesame Street Birthday Party

Our daughter turned 2 in January. This was my chance to have a big, girly birthday party! I love planning parties, and have only ever had boys to throw parties for. My plan was to have a tea party, and make it as pink & girly as possible. But K's love for Elmo invaded my plans and took over. I didn't want to just do a typical, primary colored Sesame Street Party though. I wanted it girly. Pink or purple please! Abby Cadabby colors would be perfect!

With my Sister-in-law's help (she knows cakes) some lavender colored marshmallow fondant, and my handy-dandy Cricut, we were able to come up with this masterpiece.

Behind the cake, you can see another one of my pride and joys... the streamer wall. I had seen this idea a few times on Pinterest, but again, wanted to girly it up. I found a large container of silk hydrangea flowers (for wedding decorations or flower baskets) at our local thrift store for $1.50. So, with the help of fishing line, scotch tape and my mom, we began taping flowers to the fishing line. (The OCD in me took over after hanging the wall, and I rolled tape and stuck another flower to the back of each flower... crazy?!? I know! But it was worth it!)  I had to conquer a fear of following and climbed on the top of the dresser that we use as a hutch and taped the strings of flowers and streamers to the ceiling and then to the banister. (Did I mention that the whole time I was afraid of following down the expanse that is the stairs to the basement?) The crazy amount of effort was worth it though, and the streamer wall hung in our house for a month after the party!

The decorations were combinations of ideas from Pinterest with my own flair added, the use of my Cricut and a crazy amount of patience (tiny pieces of paper cut with the Cricut assembled with precision to create the Sesame Street friends.) 

 The cookie tray was made with dollar store plates & wine glasses

 A dollar store fish bowl full of Goldfish Crackers

 "Sunny Days. Sweeping the Clouds Away." A dollar store vase with foam numbers glued on holds a beautiful bouquet of sunny, yellow flowers. I had the help of both my 2 year old & my 13 year old with gluing the numbers on. Big Bird welcomed the guests.

Even Dorothy made a guest appearance at the party! The little kids were so excited to see her!!

The balloon characters were the boys' responsibility to make. My 13 & 15 year old boys had so much fun making them! There was much laughter!

We had a few games and a craft for the kids. We decided to have a bit of fun with some of the names of the games and the menu items to give the grown-ups a laugh. "Toss Your Cookies..." consisted of throwing cookie shaped bean bags (sewn with felt and stuffed with rice) into a giant Cookie Monster face that my DH made out of painter's tape on the floor of the store.

Oscar's Trash Toss was simply throwing crumpled up newspaper in a pail. We thought this would be a perfect game for toddlers, but some were compulsive about "cleaning-up" the mess it made. It was funny!

The kids also got to make a Muppet with brown paper bags and sticky felt shapes...

We decided to serve a full meal to our guests. We invited K's friends & their families plus our extended families. I think we had about 25 people here. All the food was planned with Sesame Street in mind and some items had a character label by them.

 Elmo & Oscar Veggie Platters

 Some twisted humor for the adult guests...

 Fairy Rainbow Pops...

Specially made Elmo & Dorothy plates for the kids to eat off of. They didn't seem to notice or care that I ran out of time to make Dorothy a tail. Kids aren't as into details as I am.

The cake was a hit! I used the idea found at Once Upon a Pedestal for the cake, but improvised with cake pops made with frosting and pound cake made from scratch. (I can't eat anything made from cake mix.)  2 layers and a double batch for cake pops equaled 6 batches of cake batter. It was a very heavy cake that took a long time to bake, but was so delicious!!

 Abbey Cadabby was a special gift from Grandma!

 The party was a huge success. I was told it was the "Best theme party ever!" I know that my family thought that I put a crazy amount of work into it. And they should know, they were a big help!! And I know that 2 year old's don't care about details. But all the hard work goes to show just how much I love this little girl and love that she's part of our family & life!!