Oh TWOdles Second Birthday Party!

If you know me, you know I’m a party lover. I even went to school to major in it 😉 All jokes aside, planning events and creating party décor is a big passion of mine. So whenever there’s something to celebrate, you know I’m going big or going home.

When Jaxon turned one, I knew the party would be mostly geared towards the adults. He was just a little thing toddling around and wasn’t going to remember the party much anyway. We went with a Mr. ONEderful theme and kept it black and gold since it was his golden birthday. I knew this year would be different! We have made loads of little friends this year through school, markets, and other extracurricular activities – Jax has little friends now! And what’s a party without toddler friends?!

I feel my number one piece of advice for any party or event is to pick a theme and stick to it. Themes bind all the elements together and help guide your decisions – from decor to food. Jaxon had a handful of things he was fascinated with at the time – Thomas the Train, Mickey and Friends, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. After a quick Pinterest review, I knew Oh-TWOdles would be a huge hit! Themed after the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, of course. While we don’t watch the show, Jaxon is very familiar with Mickey and friends and I knew his friends most likely would be too.

So now for the décor… believe it or not, I like to keep things simple and modern sometimes. I knew black, white, and red would be the perfect palette for the party! Classic, modern, and Mickey!

I created a backdrop for the cake using dollar store table cloths and made a 2 out of dollar store foam board, some silver paper, and some sheering scissors. I used this tutorial from Style Me Pretty to help with it! I changed up the process a little bit but loved the way it turned out.

We had all of the table cloths and runners from previous events so we saved loads of money there. Believe it or not, the runners are made from IKEA fabric that can still be found there today!

Entertaining the kids was my #1 priority with this party. We put a lot of time and focus into keeping them busy and happy! With that in mind, we made a kids table specifically for their little selves. The table was filled with sugar cookies to decorate, coloring pages featuring Mickey and Jax, and some Mickey stickers they could take home with them. The kids loved decorating the cookies and I had a blast turning Jax’s school photo into a coloring page (thanks Photoshop!)

Moving on to more decor - I made all of the graphics for the party. I love having signage around and feel it keeps the theme consistent! I was able to plaster his cute little Mickey face all over the place ;) I had initially planned on printing out photos of him and Mickey but time got away from me and…. pregnancy.

I also made a balloon garland to hang over the party. I absolutely adore balloons and they are a quick and cheap way to up the decor of any celebration - especially one with kids.

I unfortunately didn’t snap any pictures of the main course, but we had a waffle bar complete with Mickey waffles! This little Mickey iron was perfect and we provided berries, syrup, chocolate chips, and whipped cream for toppings. We also had pigs in a blanket because what’s a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party without the hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity-dogs!?

Finally, for the adults, we had a Minnie’s Mimosa bar because….toddler party. The Mickey stickers we found on Amazon are actually chalkboard stickers so you can write on them. I LOVED these stickers and put them everywhere. They looked fantastic!

We wanted to keep dessert nice and simple! We actually made our dessert the “favors” for the party. Michiko Cookie Co., a local baker, made THE most stunning cookies for our party! I was honestly speechless when I picked up these treats - they were almost too beautiful to eat! The favor bags were found on Etsy and made by Sweet Home Darlings. In addition to the cookies, we got Mickey and Minnie ears for all the kiddos to wear and take home. This pack of 12 for $10 did the trick!

For the cake, we went with another local baker, Floured Cupcakes, to create the stunning drip cake. These two ladies are incredible to work with and so kind! They will work hard to make your vision come to life. The cake was delicious and looked great on the table! The cake topper was found on Etsy and made by Creatively Wild. The quality of the topper was amazing and shipping was very quick!

Finally, we had some Mickey Mouse ice cream bars to cool down that we found at Fry’s. Overall, the desserts were a huge hit! We initially contemplated getting cupcakes too but by the end of the party all the food was gone and we only had two cookies left. Sometimes less is more!

After a few hours of playing, running around in the sprinklers, and coming off a sugar high, Jax crashed and took a three and a half hour nap. I would say that is a huge success! We had an absolute blast and can’t thank you all enough for celebrating with us. We have the best two year old around and loved being able to celebrate with you!