This week is this girl's birthday...
We have Sunday dinner at Adam's family every week and celebrate a lot of birthdays with 2 parents, 8 siblings, 6 spouses and 20 grandchildren who regularly attend. Elle's birthday is only one day after her cousin so the plan was to celebrate both birthdays on Sunday. I told myself to keep it simple this year (I don't want to set an expectation for her that she gets a big party every year) and have a cake for her at Sunday dinner and then Pinkalicious cupcakes and dinner on her actual birthday for just our family.
But...I just couldn't stop myself. It became quite apparent I have issues. Friday I called my sister-in-law with an idea to throw an Opposite Party. I thought we could play off an "opposites attract" concept because they were born only one day apart but are opposite in so many ways...he's a blonde/she's a brunette, he's blue-eyed/she's brown-eyed, he's a boy/she's a girl. Luckily, she was on board and I think we pulled off a fun party in basically one weekend. I think it may become a tradition for our Sunday birthday celebration for Elle and Ayden.
Party Invite - sent by email.
Party Favors -
for the boys: gummy worms, gummy fish and candy rocks
for the girls: candy necklaces, candy lipstick, candy rings
Table Decor:
Elle side: pink, girly, flowers, sparkles, white ornate frame with photo, pink dessert plates, pink napkins
(notice the opposite silverware! thanks megan for that added touch)
Table Decor:
Ayden side: blue, boyish, rocks, sticks, simple
silver frame with photo, blue dessert plates, blue napkins
Table Decor:
We made the center of the table between the pink and blue more neutral and added dessert snacks to eat at the table.
silver candlesticks with white candles (big/small)
clear vases filled with chocolate and white opposites
white chocolate and milk chocolate pretzels (dark/light)
yogurt raisins and chocolate raisins (black/white)
hershey kisses and white chocolate chips (big/small)
Birthday Sign:
Happy: big, blue, uppercase letters, print
Birthday: small, pink, lowercase letters, cursive
Elle's Cake:
pink frosting (girl)/chocolate cake (brunette)
cake (round and small)/cake stand (square and big)
white sprinkles (small)
Ayden's Cake:
blue frosting (boy) /white cake (blond)
cake (small and square)/cake platters (round and tall)
white sprinkles (big)
Food (unfortunately only one picture):
The food was served on a variety of white square platters and white round bowls.
pink lemonade (sour)/blue rasberry kool-aid (sweet)
grilled chicken with dipping sauces
buffalo sauce (hot)/ranch (cool)
barbeque (red)/honey mustard (yellow)
peas (small, round)/sweet potato fries (long, square)
sticky white rice scooped into round balls
I printed out opposite words to describe the food, punched them into circles and squares and taped them to the serving dishes. I wish I would have had more time to really make this element better.
Party Outfits: I like our clothes to coordinate. I know it's cheesy but I can't help it. :)
Mom and Dad in blue (Adam had on a yellow tie that morning. When he came home from his meeting he saw our pink and blue and changed his tie to blue without me even asking him. He's learned that the tie must coordinate!) I used one of Adam's ties as a belt because I didn't have anything else blue. It worked great.
Elle and Liv in matching pink dresses with bows.
The two 3-year-olds
The Party Details:
We had dessert first (white ice cream with chocolate sauce)
Usually the mom's get food for the kids and themselves before the men, so we had the dad's get food for the kids and themselves first followed by the women.
Everyone sat on opposite sides/ends of the table from their normal seating place.
For this Halloween, we were on a trip to Tennessee and Kentucky to watch my sister Lauren play volleyball, and my brothers, Matt and Sam, play football. Elle and Liv dressed up as Auburn cheerleaders and my nephew Case was Aubbie the tiger - the Auburn mascot - complete with jersey signed by Cam Newton. Unfortunately, Liv fell asleep at the beginning of the match significantly reducing our photo opportunities of the three of them together. Why does it always seem that whenever you want photos - they just don't seem to cooperate. :)
I've been looking for a healthier alternative to Otter Pops and found these molds. I think they look perfect. Has anyone tried them???
Liv turned 1 the day I got back from New York so we stuck a candle in a frozen Otis Spunkmeyer cookie to celebrate. She loved it, but I still wanted to do a little more for her birthday celebration at Sunday dinner. I didn't have much time and was way too lazy to even go to the grocery store (thanks Rachel for supplying more eggs Sunday morning when I ran out!). There are definitely a lot of things I'd like to do better or try in the future. Fortunately, we always celebrate with a porcupine theme for 1st birthdays (it all started with my first birthday and my parents made a chocolate cake with a cupcake head and decorated it with 6-month-old candy corns).
I also think 