Hi! I am Jessica of Jess Nicole Photography. I recently did an awesome birthday party for my sweet, darling daughter Ava's 2nd birthday! I decided to do a Sesame Street theme because Ava was really obsessed at the time. I wanted to do a whole party for about 20-30 people for under $250. I got pretty overwhelmed when I began thinking about food, decorations, invitations, and party favors. I turned to my beloved Pinterest for inspiration, my crafty background for the leg work, and my hubby, mom, and aunt to help me pull it all together!
Decorations:
First, I decided to go with a rainbow Elmo theme with a really cute rainbow chevron pattern. I found the perfect accent fabric (which really tied the whole thing together) at this Etsy shop- $20: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShuShuStyle I ended up serging around the edges and using it as the food table runner.
I got 3 blue metal tubs during the Wal Mart summer clearance sale for $2 each. I used them to hold iced water bottles for the adults and the other held iced juice boxes for the kiddies. The last one held party favors on her gift table.
I splurged and bought 2 linen table cloths for $20 total in lime green and fushia. I will be able to use these again and again.
The most expensive decoration, which was by far my favorite was 2 wreaths I made. One Elmo feather wreath ($15) and one yarn and felt Cookie Monster Wreath ($10).
I bought a fish bowl for $3 at Michaels to hold the Goldfish crackers.
I also bought, which I got *so* many compliments on, a Wilton 3 tier cake stand from Jo-Ann's. It was originally $35, but I had a 60% off one item coupon. Bringing it all the way down to $14. I can't wait to use this again!
I went to Hobby Lobby and used their 40% off coupon to purchase a small helium tank that was $27, but the coupon made it about $17 and 2 packs of balloons for $4.
For her gift table, I bought a book for everyone to sign birthday wishes in. I chose "If you Give a Pig a Party" by Laura Numeroff. It's a sweet little tradition we started on her first birthday.
I sat her Sesame Street Characters all around the food table and gift table. It was a really cute added touch.
Food:
I decided on a simple menu. One pleasing to adults and toddlers alike. I chose homemade chicken salad with crossiants, Italian pasta salad, hummus, cut up veggies for dipping, vegetable dip, fruit kabobs (huge hit!), Goldfish, and Alphabet cookies from Trader Joe's. I made all of these except the fruit kabobs the night before, and truthfully, that should have been done the night before also. It couldn't have been done with out my aunt! All of the food was under $60. The paper plates, napkins, and forks I actually traded for. They were new in the pack and I put a "in search of" post on a local Knoxville trade/swap group. That's a wonderful and economical way to get things you need or want. We bought a small cake and 30 cupcakes from Sam's Club, totaling $24.
The Breakdown:
Food: $60
Decorations: $121
Cake: $24
Photographer: $40
Total: $245
Finally, on her actual birthday morning, I made her Cake Batter Pancakes from Chef in Training (found via pinterest) : http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/06/cake-batter-pancakes/
They were good, sickeningly sweet, but a great way to start off her life as a two year old! She loved them, in my opinion, they were a bit tough. I have no suggestion as to how to fix this. We ate them, nonetheless.
