Everly's 2nd Birthday Unicorn Brunch
Everly's 2nd birthday has come and gone and I still don't believe I have a two year old! I love this age so much. She's learning to talk, has so much personality and finally wants to play with other kids! This made planning her party way more exciting because we got to invite some of her friends instead of just family (like last year). Obviously her party had to have a theme, and Unicorns just seemed like a no brainer. She got a Unicorn book and stuffed animal from her Auntie Selena at Easter and she loved it and would walk around saying Uni. We also started seeing them everywhere in stores and she would notice them and would always point at them and get so excited. Since she doesn't watch tv she doesn't like any shows or know any characters, but I wanted to find something she would "recognize". Unicorns it was!
When people ask me what I would do if I went back to work, I always say I would be an event planner (even though I went to school for Finance and International Business). I LOVE planning parties. Birthday's, baby showers, weddings, events, anything. I love picking themes, searching for unique items to include, having some diy projects and seeing it all come together. Doing my girls birthdays and friends baby showers will be my outlet for now until I can start up a full time business. I'm definitely more excited for Ev's parties than her, especially at this age. She did understand it was her birthday this year though, knew she was turning 2 and was really excited about the cake, donuts and balloons. Check out the gallery below and scroll down to read about all of the details!
Decorations
Balloon Garland
I knew I wanted to make a balloon garland after seeing a few on Pinterest. They are so simple, inexpensive and make such a statement. I bought 60 balloons from the dollar store and blew them up over a few evenings while I watched TV. I got white, and then three different shades of pink. Then my mom helped me build the garland by poking a needle with fishing line through the bottom of each balloon and pushing them tight to the end. That's it! Then you just hang it wherever you want. I suspended it behind the table and put a big unicorn balloon from Party Stuff at the end. Above the garland I wanted to have some sort of saying, so I used these gold letters I had from her first birthday party and put "Be a Unicorn in a Field of Horses", which I think sums up Ev to a T. She's so beautifully unique inside and out and I want her to stay true to that growing up and not conform to the world.
Streamer Wall
Again, another simple and inexpensive decor item. I bought 4 different colors of streamers from Party Stuff, cut strips the length I wanted and taped them all to a long piece of cardboard. Then I filled clear balloons with confetti and blew them up to line the top of the streamer wall. I mounted this behind the dessert table using sticky tack.
Unicorn Accessories
I bought unicorn plates, cups, napkins and party hats from Party Stuff. I also bought a table cloth that I uesd on the dessert table.
Blow Up Unicorn
I found this little unicorn floaty to put a drink in for pools at Claire's, so I bought it to put candies in on the dessert table.
Food
We did her party at 11 so I did brunch type foods. I didn't want to do too many sweet items because we had the cake and donuts already.
Parfait Bar
I bought little ice cream bowls and spoons from the dollar store to put the yogurt and toppings into. Then I put out plain, strawberry and vanilla Greek yogurt, my homemade granola, pumpkin & sunflower seeds and diced strawberries.
Ham & Egg Cups
These are super easy and were a big crowd pleaser! You spray a muffin tin with cooking spray, line each hole with a slice of ham, and then crack an egg in and season with salt & pepper. Then you bake at 400 degrees for ~15 minutes or until the white of the egg is cooked through.
Fruit Bowl
My in-laws brought a fruit salad and made this super cute watermelon bowl to serve it in! It had the number 2 carved into the front and was so perfect.
Other Food: Croissants, cheese, pickles, crackers and bacon
Dessert
Unicorn Cake
This was for the guests to eat and to add to the unicorn theme :). Jason's cousin Cassidy made it for us! She's so talented. You can find her on instagram @cassidyandjohannascakeboutique. It was a banana chocolate chip cake with buttercream and caramel layers and it was amazing! We still aren't giving Ev sugar so she unfortunately didn't get to try it herself. We did sing to her and she blew out the candles, but I gave her a sugar-free donut that I made instead. By the time she was halfway done the donut she had forgotten all about the cake! We almost caved and gave her a piece - but I'm seriously in no rush to have her addicted to sugar like the rest of us.
Donut Wall
I saw this while perusing Pinterest and really wanted to have one. I actually intended to use it for my sister-in-law and brother's baby shower in a few weeks, but thought I would make it early and get two uses out of it right away! My brother is a contractor so he provided me with a beautiful piece of wood, and then I measured where I wanted the holes and then Jason and his dad drilled them and cut down dowels to push in place. Even Ev helped out a bit with the sanding of the dowels. Then I used some gold letters I had on hand and put TWO at the top of the board. Then we just bought an assortment of donuts from Tim Hortons and then I made half a dozen sugar free donuts for Everly (and any other young kids who weren't having sugar). I will share the recipe soon!
Activities
I had a few things planned for the kids, but between the food, the dessert, presents and playing in the basement we didn't get to many of them. It was a beautiful day so I had water balloons in the backyard (which the kids loved), a bubble wand, sidewalk chalk and a kiddy pool. Not all of it got used, but it was good to be prepared because you never know what kids are going to want to do!
Gifts
She got so many wonderful clothes, books and toys from her friends! Then my parents and Jason's parents got her a Strider balance bike. We love biking so we want to get Ev used to biking at a young age. Hopefully it works, so far she isn't really interested in it. Then Jason and I got her a few outfits, toys for the lake, water shoes and some outdoor toys. Everly loves being outside so I wanted to get her things that would entertain her through summer. Jason and I aren't big extravagant spenders, and I knew he wouldn't want me to break the bank for her 2nd birthday, so I started looking at used toys on Kijiji. I found a gently used water and sand table (1/3 the price of a new one) and a chalkboard and drawing easel! Used toys are where it's at, especially because kids never notice and will get it dirty right away anyways.
Overall the party was a huge success. Most of our family could be there along with some of our close friends and their kids who are close to Everly's age. She got a little overwhelmed during the present opening (as all of the kids wanted to help her open them) and once nap time got close near the end she was all partied out. Thank you to everyone who made it out and for the extremely generous birthday gifts!
Best,
Stacey