Elmo invaded Jacey's World!

We had Jacey's party this weekend.  I cannot believe she's almost 2!  It was a small party.  Just a few of her friends (4 friends total for her - that whole thing about the number of friends equal to how old the kid will turn has apparently gone out the window with us).  This was supposed to be my no-stress party.

I will say, I wasn't really all that stressed out on Saturday.  Except about the floating fish.  But that wasn't all that bad and I'll get to that later.  I wasn't stressed out because I had been up late all week turning my pinterest finds and other ideas into reality.

The result: Jacey LOVED her party and I think everyone had a good time  That equaled success in my book!

Activities
Elmo's Music Magic was playing in the background on the TV (kudos to my genius of a hubby for that brilliant idea!!), and there were a few times that I noticed that the adults were busy watching the show and the kids were doing their own thing.  Interesting. Apparently Elmo appeals to a wider audience that I originally thought.

We played Place the Nose on Elmo (thank you Maw Maw for finding this activity!!). The kids had a blast with this once they understood what it was they were supposed to do (and a thanks goes out to big sis Tatum for demonstrating the process).

We got video of each of the little kids placing the nose on Elmo, but I'll only post my kiddo here.  I will; however, share the video with each of the families for their viewing pleasure.  Spinning a preschooler who isn't yours (or who is, for that matter), can be quite entertaining.  I'm glad we have those moments on video.

There was also a coloring station with Elmo coloring pages and crayons for the kids to color and take home (with individualized cups filled with crayons to minimize tantrums or fighting!) 

We also had a tattoo parlor, and all of the girls were able to get Sesame Street themed tattoo's for their wrists/arms.  The birthday princess got two (mommy saved her one of the Elmo ones and then she picked out her mommy's favorite, Ernie, herself!).

I had intended to have story time, with both Paw Paw and Grandpa taking turns reading a story, but we never did get around to that....I think the kids would have loved that!

Food
We had Elmo cupcakes and a larger (half cake) Elmo.  We also had cake balls/pops (my first attempt - see separate post on that fiasco).  I must have blocked out those cake balls so much because of it that I almost forgot about them...I remembered them about 30-45 minutes into the party!

Happy Birthday was sung and cupcakes were eaten in the dining room (I think I may have had a nightmare or two about two-year olds and our light carpet...).  So we staged her cake area first using the "Jacey's World" sign I had made for her and the Happy Birthday banner Maw Maw had gotten.

It took a while to get Jacey to actually blow out the candles.  I kept trying to get her to blow on them like she blows on her nails. Yeah...that's the reference I used on my princess at her 2 year-old party. Yup.  Incidentally, we had just finished painting her nails as her guests were arriving because she wanted them 'pretty' and I wanted them red for the party.

Considering it was really red frosting, I considered it a smashing success when all of the kids faces, hands, arms and a few legs were red-stained.  I knew I chose the dining room for a reason!

We had Oscar the Grouch and Elmo veggie trays and a Big Bird cheese tray as healthy(er) options for everyone to snack on throughout the party (and down where the kids could reach them).

As you can see from the picture above, we also had goldfish crackers in a small goldfish bowl.

We had small 'grabby' snacks of jellybeans, red hots, and more goldfish crackers as well, and the kids could put them in red cupcake liners (just the right size for two-year old hands).

I had orange and red buckets with water, capri suns and an assortment of cokes in them for beverages.  Oh, and dear sweet hubby cooked hot dogs, and we served the buns on a red tray and everyone ate on red plates.  (Obviously, we went with a primarily red and orange theme).

Party Favors
I initially decided to go easy on the party favors, and just decorate bags with Elmo on them and use those as part of the decor.

I set this up one night and the next morning, Jacey come out - gasps - and then I hear her singing, "Ya ya ya ya, Elmo's world!"  I took that as a positive sign.

And then, since I was letting Jacey watch Sesame Street and listening to it for ideas, I kept hearing, "Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayons, too...." I had the idea........

Goldfish.

Not just for snacks.

But since I'm not that crazy, I did send text messages to the parents of the girls coming to the party and ask permission to buy their children goldfish.  Luckily, they all said yes.

The fish were all doing wonderfully, by the way (in case you were wondering about my earlier reference). Unfortunately, hubby and I hadn't communicated well about the actual number of girls attending, so I had one bowl with two fish in it (for Jacey - and as a spare in case one went belly up before the party), but when I realized that I needed another whole set up, I didn't have time to acclimate the fish to the new water, so.....it didn't adjust to its new environment very well.

So all of the girls took home fish and Jacey and I went and picked out two brand new fish Sunday afternoon!!

Making Memories
Part of the decor was a five foot replica of Sesame Street that Maw Maw found and we hung on our wall that had a cast of the characters on it.  So, naturally we lined the girls up for a photo op.  I wanted ALL of the girls and then each of the girls individually with the birthday girl.

One of the dads was wary about my grand idea and didn't think I could manage to pull it off.  I just looked at him and laughed...I don't think he's been introduced to the lengths my stubbornness will go to get what I want.  Especially when pictures are involved. 

We decided to leave up a lot of the decorations until her actual birthday, and then we'll take them down.  So we have a couple more days of living in Sesame Street!