Here we go! A recap of Nolan's 2nd birthday party :) Apologies for the lateness of the post - there were so many good photos to go through (big shout out to Lauren V for helping with the pictures!) Warning - I weeded through as much as I could, but this post is a doozy with a LOT of photos!
Last year, for Nolan's Birthday party,
we had an "Outer Space" Theme. This year we did "Transportation" - Nolan's current obsession. He is all about pointing out every car, truck, school bus, bike, trains, and ESPECIALLY planes and helicopters! We had the party at home again, and I had a lot of fun incorporating the theme into different areas of the party.
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| Our house with "traffic light" balloons and front door decoration |
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| The best kind of banners are the reusable kind! This one came with numbers to swap out too! |
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| Nonna with the Balloons pre-party |
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| Hot air balloons over the island - made with paper lanterns, twine, and paper cups! |
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Table backdrop - tablecloth and paper airplanes
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Snippets from the party - Number two made with pictures of Nolan from the year, More paper airplanes, Finally put all the monthly photos from Nolan's first year into a frame, and Nolan's birthday crown from Etsy!
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I kept the food pretty simple this year. The main dish was a hoagie tray from our favorite Deli "A Cut Above", and the table was rounded out with hot apps from Trader Joe's, salads brought by my mom, chopped "traffic light fruit", and chips/pretzels.
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| Food on the "road" table cloth |
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Table decorations - Amazon sold a black and grey table cloth, that I added yellow electical tape to make the road, and put some of Nolan's transportation-themed bath toys along with cute plates and traffic light themed cups.
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For desserts, I did cupcakes again like last year. I made 2 flavors - chocolate with chocolate buttercream, and "blue suede" with cream cheese icing. The chocolate cupcakes got either green-colored coconut "grass" or crushed oreo "dirt" on top, and the blue cupcakes got either mini marshmallow "clouds" or dark blue sprinkle "water" on top. Plastic transportation-themed decorations were added to match the terrain :) Easy and cute!
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| Transportation themed cupcakes |
I'm proud that the cupcake idea was original (not pinterested), but this next dessert was definitely a direct copy from pinterest - too cute to resist and they were a huge hit at the party! The cars were "color coded" with yellow, green, and orange wheels meaning snickers, milky way, or 3 musketeers. We also did "spare tires" with store bought chocolate frosted donuts.
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| Teddy Graham Cars |
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| Party Time! |
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| Time to eat |
We were lucky to have a BEAUTIFUL day this year for the party. Lots of time was spent outdoors, which the kids loved of course! We had a good crowd this year with about 15 adults and 6 kids.
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| Party on the deck |
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| Thumbs up |
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| Batman stalking the desserts |
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| Theeeee BIRTHDAY BOY! I got his shirt on etsy - each letter has different transportation-themed fabric |
Present opening was complete and utter chaos this year with all the kids trying to open/take Nolan's presents. It was a challenge to get Nolan to keep opening a new present instead of begging to take all of his presents out of their packages to play with them.
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| Picking the biggest present to open first, of course! |
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| One of the TWO tricycles he got! |
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| The audience! |
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| Plotting his next move |
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| Toys that go with his favorite Mega Blocks! |
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| A semi-controlled chaos |
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| Tongue out in concentration |
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| Nice opening technique! |
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| Elmo Train Set! |
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| Lots of clothes from Nonna and Pop Pop |
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| Elmo book/music player |
Whew - we are so overwhelmed with everyone's generosity! It feels like our house was just filled up with new toys at Christmastime and now we are overflowing. We're definitely slowly pulling them out for him to play during rainy days/long periods at home. It's so fun to have him get all excited over again as we bring them out :)
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| One LUCKY Two Year Old. |
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| Playtime with "Abu" |
After presents, it was time for cupcakes! As I've mentioned already, Nolan absolutely LOVES the birthday song. He was so happy being the center of attention in his little chair and even left his crown alone at least until the song was over.
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| Happy Birthday, Dear Nolan |
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| Serenaded by his parents (and DEAN!) He's not letting go of that balloon. |
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| Showing him how to blow out the candle |
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| Very playful with the cupcake this year (although he still didn't each much more than a little bit of frosting) |
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| Bite! |
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| YUM! |
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| Joy in his eyes |
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| Pretending we're going to eat his cupcake |
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| Daddy got some frosting on his beard! |
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| Sweet Boy |
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| Goofing around with Pop Pop |
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| Can you tell they are related?! |
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| And here's the silly Aunt Peggy sporting Nolan's new birthday hat from Nonna! |
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| Back to his favorite yellow balloon |
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| Playing with Auntie Lauren |
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| Smiles for Auntie Lauren |
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| Nolan with two of my "sisters" Lauren P and Lauren V. I love this photo. |
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| His frosting coated little hand! |
After dessert, it was time to head to the backyard for swings and Tee-Ball (brought over by Aunt Jessica!)
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| Nolan and Cylar on the swings (don't mind the Amazon boxes - I was spray painting out here the day before!) |
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| Dad and Nolan on the swing |
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| Cylar was quite the slugger with the Tee Ball! |
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| Daddy and Son holding hands |
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| Nolan asking yet another question :) My inquisitive kid (with my Italian hand expressions)! |
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| Nanu's Turn! |
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| Moms with their second babies watching - Virginia and Raleigh, and Jessica and Mia |
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| I got all three toddlers that were outdoors in one shot (but blurry!) |
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| My guy! |
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| Nolan running to throw the ball at Cylar (he loves throwing at close range!) |
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| These two make my heart happy. Love watching our friends kids become friends :) |
We rounded out the evening with a few family photos out on the deck. I feel so incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family, may of which drove 4 hours round trip just to attend Nolan's party!
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| Nolan and I with Pop Pop and Nonna |
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| Joe and his siblings |
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| Our best attempt at a family photo with an overtired toddler! |
All in all, the party really was a wonderful time. We had a great group of people come, and the atmosphere felt as relaxed/comfortable as it can be with kids running everywhere :) Nolan was in a great mood, and it really felt like everyone was having fun! It definitely helps that it was one of prettiest spring days we had had to date. After this past winter, we are all in love with Spring! Happy Birthday, Nolan! Looking forward to many more fun birthday parties to come :)
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