two!!!

laura's birthday

Today my baby is two years old! I can hardly believe it. Lulu is still such a peanut that she still seems like a little baby to me, and as my last she probably will always seem that way.

We had her party on Sunday afternoon and I think it went well. Although it was quite hot, the deck was comfortable with the umbrellas and the breeze from the woods. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and honestly prep was super easy. Here are a few photos of the way everything turned out.

laura's birthday

We have a tremendous amount of Cub Scout popcorn that we need to eat before sales start again in the fall (argh!), so I decided to give bags away as favors. Why not, right? I made tags that said “Thanks for popping in!” which Drew thought was cheesy, but I didn’t care.

laura's birthday

I kept the favors for the kids really simple. I wanted to avoid giving candy, and didn’t want to unload more junk on the other kids’ parents, so I put a silly straw, a clown nose, and a box of animal crackers inside a plastic popcorn box. Even though it didn’t seem like much, the kids all thought they were great.

laura's birthday

I ended up hanging my banner on the hutch so there was some kind of decoration around the food table. I found a red and white checkered table cloth at Christmas Tree Shops (it was a steal!), so I used that and then I actually had an old light blue valance that I added toward the front of the table because it had a pretty scalloped edge.

Cooking the hot dogs in the Crock Pot was the perfect solution. They tasted great, I didn’t have to turn on the grill, and they were all ready at the same time. We ended up grilling an extra London Broil the night before, just to have a “grown up” option on the table. The popcorn looked adorable in the vintage-style bags I’d purchased and I arranged them all in a vintage picnic basket Drew’s aunt gave me years ago. Most people took a bag for the ride home instead of eating it with their meal.

I never did make the antipasto skewers for appetizers. I just served chips and salsa and bruschetta with baguette slices I toasted myself.

laura's birthday

I was so pleased with the cake bunting! I’d seen several variations on Pinterest and was afraid that just one row wouldn’t be enough. But I think it was perfect. This was easy to do with ribbon. I know I promised a tutorial and I have not forgotten!

The red, white, and blue fit in well with Memorial Day weekend, too — an added bonus!

One comment

  1. Kathy C. says:

    Aww, she is precious. Girlie lost a shoe there! Seriously, she is so adorable. Looks like she was enjoying herself and maybe realized she was Queen Bee?! Your spread was divine, as always. You just have a knack for it, plain and simple. I know everybody looks forward to gatherings at your house.

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