Name: Cameron (2)
Location: Washington, DC
Our daughter Cameron LOVES monkeys and has an impressive collection of sock monkeys, but her favorites are pink and red. So we decided for her second birthday party to do a modern, funky sock monkey brunch focusing on those two colors.
Because, like everyone else, I'm obsessed with chevron right now, we used chevron as our main pattern and mixed in some polka dots. To bring in some funk and whimsy, I settled on circus fonts for the invitation and decorations.
I worked with Tania Peso through her totfulmemories Etsy shop and she came up with a wonderful party package, including the invitation, pendants, and patterned papers. I especially loved the patterned papers, which I used to come up with the circle garlands and signage. I found some great red and white chevron envelopes at Zazzle.com, lined them with the polka dot paper, made some funky labels (inspired by Cakes Likes a Party) and put a sock monkey stamp (also from Zazzle.com) on each one.
I purchased several red and white chevron tablecloths from the Exclusive Elements Etsy shop and wrapped one around a piece of artwork we had. I used that as the focal point for the backdrop and hung on it a custom made hot pink "C" in circus font I purchased from Vintage Shore's Etsy shop. We heart Etsy in our house.
Tissue paper sunbursts (from Pretty Little Party Shop and Shop Sweet Lulu) and handmade hot pink and red poms rounded out the decorations. And of course there were plenty of sock monkeys scattered about.
We made most of the food ourselves -- banana french toast, egg and sausage strata, fruit skewers, and monkey bread. We had strawberry champagne punch, beer, juice, milk and sparkling water. I like using reusable drinking glasses so we went with 8 ounce mason jars for the adults and plastic milk bottles (from Jilly Bean Kids) for the kiddos. And I used pink and red striped paper straws that I decorated with flags.
For sweets, I bought several flavors of cupcakes from my favorite D.C. cupcake shop, Baked & Wired. And the BEAUTIFUL chevron cake was made by Maggie Remudo from The Cake and The Frog -- she literally cut out the fondant over the invitation letter "C" to make it match perfectly. It tasted as good as it looked. I made the little banner hanging from two paper straws. Instead of goody bags, I had a little sweets table set up with red and white and some banana flavored candy (all from Candywarehouse.com).
We had a blast monkeying around!
Thanks Rebecca! Readers, visit Rebecca at her blog, Not-So-SAHM.
(Images: Rebecca Green)
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those invitations are amazing -- even matching stamps!
No offense, but what's up with all these elaborate and no doubt, expensive, toddler and kid parties? I hate this trend and it keeps getting more insane. It's not about the kids, its about the parents. Whatever happened to pin -the-tail on the donkey in the basement w/ a few balloons and cake?
No offense but I hate it when people start a sentence with no offense. who cares. she probably had fun planning it. live and let live.
Yikes....did they mean to put their home address up on here for all to see?
Cute party though! =)
I agree with the first comment on over the top birthdays for kids. I did them for my first born, gorgeous parties, very elaborate and YES, I had fun doing it...BUT the truth of the matter is that kids don't care. The best parties for them are the grocery store cake, pin the tale on the donkey and old fashioned fun!
I'm starting to feel the same way about these parties. As a mom of four, I've been envious of these featured parties for some time, but honestly, they're starting to seem strange to me. I don't know, I guess I'm starting to think it's tired. I don't mean to pick on this particular party, but just decided to voice my opinion. Maybe this family had an amazing time with the party and all its details, but as my daughter's birthday is upon me as of next week, and I haven't planned a grandiose affair, maybe I'm feeling inadequate seeing these posts. I guess part of me thinks I've come to start dreading my kids' birthdays because I haven't come to have one of these storybook celebrations for my kids, really. Maybe it's time for me to think of my kids, celebrate their lives, and not stress about the little things. It makes me long for a time when we just got a cake from the bakery, played pin the tail on the donkey, and opened some gifts. Feeling the pressure to have a massively planned theme party doesn't seem right to me anymore. What are we promoting? If it's truly about the kids, great. But when I see the littlest details coordinated, I can't help but feel that something's lost in it.
thank you RMIN, my feelings exactly. my friend just did a "very hungry caterpillar" party with six green cupcakes, two red ones for the face, and some cut out fruit, adorable but homemade. this is just silly and totally over the top. I would NOT want to go to this party.
Rebecca, I'm so sorry that people have made such jerky comments about your cute party. I think it looks like loads of fun and I'm sure that the little ones loved all the bright colors and patterns. And sock monkeys - you can't go wrong! I'm planning a party for my daughter now and while it's not everybody's cup of tea, I've found that putting together a zany kids' party can be really fun. Whatever, haters!
by all means, you shouldn't do a party like this if you don't enjoy planning it (especially for a 1 year old)! but my husband and I had so much fun planning my daughter's 1 year rock and roll party that was on here earlier this week. truly.
of course our daughter only understood/enjoyed some of the elements (she liked the bean bag toss but could care less about the coordinated food tags) --- but she did enjoy the party overall, and I think that's all that really matters. the rest is just a fun bonus.
who knows if our daughter will be amazed and appreciative when she sees the pics when she's older, or whether she'll think we were crazy and we'll all have a big laugh. either way, it will be nice :)
In respose to SLOPE saying you wouldn't want to go to this party, I just can't understand that. It doesn't look stuffy at all - it's at someone's house, after all! I know from our daughter's party pics that the kids had a GREAT time, and adults were talking about it being fun for days. plus at the party above, they even had champagne punch!! I'll go!
I love sock monkeys. the party is very cute. I like colorful and creative things but I do have to agree that these all cutesy parties are getting old. I guess I am just jealous as I can't figure out who has the time to do all this stuff. I can barely make it through a work day and then clean the house or do minimal chores. Maybe in another life....
Lovely party! There are two things that I learned about planning parties: 1) no matter the budget big or small it is a celebration make sure you and your guests have a great time 2) always you make sure you have enough food ( don't invite a ton of people if you can't feed them). It's your child, your decision, your money end of story.
I only invite people I care about. If you are going to be judgmental enough to not come because of the amount spent/size of the party/etc. you wouldn't be a person who would be invited anyway. Would you teach your child to treat a peer like that?
I'm a fan of simple parties--it's what we usually do for our kids. But if someone wants to throw a big bash, so what? Their money, their child, their business. Saying you wouldn't want to go to a party like this is ridiculous, in my opinion. Big or small, one balloon or deco galore, the kids have fun. I don't know about anyone else, but if my kids are having a good time, it's all good.
And for the record, I'm planning my son's upcoming birthday and I shamelessly admit I'm having way too much fun planning it. It's the first year he has asked for a specific theme, which he's really excited about: a NYC subway system party, more specifically of the R train/line. And it's so easy to find cheap or free stuff since we're NYC dwellers, that it's been nice, knowing it will put a huge smile on his face. And to me, that will make it all worth it.
i would love to get an invitation like that in the mail!
If you have the time, money, and ability to plan a fun party with thoughtful details, why not? It's a creative outlet for some people, leave them alone! I love sock monkeys, and think this is a great, gender-neutral idea that looks like tons of fun! Great job!
Rebecca, your party looked fantastic! I love that you really incorporated your daughters favorite toy - the sock monkey - into every little detail. That's so thoughtful and FUN. I actually didn't think this party seemed over-the-top at all. There are some I've seen on here {and pinterest} that are nuts...but yours wasn't. Don't let the negative comments from grumpy readers get you down! I threw a party very similar to yours for my twin daughters' first birthday and got a really nasty "Anonymous" comment on my blog about how "ridiculous of a party it was for one-year-olds." It made me feel bad! We tried for five years to have children and to finally be able to throw a birthday party was a big deal for me so yeah, my twins couldn't have cared less about the coordinating cakes and invitations, but so what? It's as much a celebration for you as it is for your child when they're young. Toddlerhood is hard and they're only young once! {And just because there aren't pictures of the children playing games and having fun doesn't mean they didn't have that. They could've been playing pin the tail on the sock monkey for all you guys know. Give this talented mama a break!}
I think that the thing about it is that people tend to like the featured parties when they highlight easy, creative ideas. (I'm thinking of stuff like the spy party when she made a 'laser' obstacle course using red string. So creative and easy and cheap!) This party is beautiful but the mom does say on her blog that she spent MONTHS planning it and obviously spent several hundred dollars on etsy, collecting all the cute details. There is nothing wrong with that, if you have the time and money, but I don't think many people need advice about how to spend loads of cash on a kids party. Thats easy. But where is the inspirational idea in this party?
Got some reeeeal jerks in this crowd. It's a 2 year old's birthday party, short of being the birthday grinch how could you find negativity in this? This party looks like it was a glorious affair.
FUUUNNNN. love love love the cake! That is amazing. Will try to pin it later :D
I didn't mean to pick on these people. Of course, they should do whatever they think is appropriate for them. Elaborate kid parties have been a sore subject for me since my daughter first started getting invites to them (she's now 12). Since I had the opportunity to comment, I decided to make a general statement about how things have gotten out of hand and maybe simple is better for children. The children themselves get bored at these things and even start to criticize each others parties as the get older. It becomes a competition among parents to outdo each other year after year. My daughter's very favorite parties that she still talks about were an old fashioned bowling party for 8 and a backyard barbecue with a sprinkler and slip'n'slide. I'm an illustrator and designer, so I like to put my stamp on things as well, when I plan a party...just keep it in perspective and make the kids the priority, not the parents. Now I just have to make it through the future Sweet 16's!