Minion Madness: practical steps for a simple-ish birthday party
I LOVE birthdays. Always have, always will. It should be no surprise that someone who deeply loves her Creator would also love to create. Sadly, I can not even blame my birthday creating madness on Pinterest, it is simply a direct result of my love for birthdays and my love for celebrating those I love.
When Jude turned 1, (pre-pinterest) I stayed up late every night for at least a week straight creating banners, birthday picture montages and cupcakes from scratch. Jude always has such fun ideas for birthdays and it is hard for me to tame myself. Every birthday I say I will keep it simple, and then he presents me with ideas like a superhero birthday, Wolverine/Batman birthday and last year it was Super Mario. SO MUCH FUN!
Now that we have 3 kids, and never ending busy-ness (necessary busy-ness) it is not possible to spend so much time on creating a birthday party from scratch. Honestly, I would still like to have my cake and eat it too (yes I did) so I simplified the birthday party process so that I can still enjoy a bit of creation and keep it all at a fun minimum.
Last week our sweet baby girl, Gwyn, turned 2! I can not even fully convey the emotions my heart feels when my last baby is growing so quickly and every birthday seems so salty sweet. Gwyn is incredibly fun, she has a sweet and sensitive heart. She adores her brother and sister and is the best combination of both. She is a treasure and we are so incredibly thankful to God every day that we get to be her earthly family. Here are some sweet photos from the family shoot we recently did of our Gwyn Estelle.
Here are my "keep it simple-ish" birthday staples: disclosure, I am not a professional decorator, designer, or birthday planner so all the following are simply personal preference.
- Even if you choose a themed birthday party, stick with a couple colors for banners, balloons, centerpieces and tableware. I pulled yellow and teal from the minion theme which was still fun and girly for my girly 2 year old and made a couple of appearances from the minions by way of balloons, candles and cake plates.
- Choose one place to make your focal point for the decorations. I feel like decorations throughout the house (fireplace, table, posts, doors) can be a lot of work and look very busy. I place treats on the table and banners on the fireplace since this is where we gather for gifts.
- When creating a banner, triangles, fabric strips and tassels are great! Limit your banners to 2 max. 1- decorative, and 1- Happy Birthday. Tip: Grab 1 (or 2) chalkboard banners at Target! These can be used over and over again for multiple occasions and holidays. When you stick to colors for the fabric banner, they can be re-used for future birthdays as well! I pulled the teal strips from Lila's 2nd Birthday and just re-glued them to this simple tassel banner I found at Target on Clearance.
- Cake pops are a big hit at our gatherings. I love keeping them simple by keeping them one color, sprinkling some pretty sprinkles on top and then adding a pretty ribbon for a bow. (Let me know if there is an interest on how to do cake pops and I might throw a bonus post out there. Although, I am sure there is ample advice and tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube.) Here I mixed some cake pops with some easy cupcakes. My mom actually loves to decorate cakes and without any instruction she brought over these cupcakes that went perfectly with my cake pops. Like Mother like Daughter?
- I usually do not do a ton as far as goody bags go, but I found these really cute minion bags in the Target "dollar" aisle and could not resist! We have 7 kiddos on my side of the family and these bags came in 4's so I grabbed 2, filled them with some minion munchies and called it good.
- Finally, I print one photo to place as an 8x10 or 11x15 for the entry way or centerpiece.
Other birthday supplies to keep in stock: jars of all shapes and sizes and baskets of all shapes and sizes.
I do not advocate extravagant parties that cost crazy amounts of money, because that is not what it is about. This is what works for me and the balance I have found to create because it is a desire and love of mine, and to celebrate these humans that are so near and dear to my heart. My hope is that they look back and see the love that was poured into creating a special day reserved only for them and not the stuff they were able to accumulate.
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
— Abraham Lincoln
Cheers to many more healthy, joyous years ahead!
