Ice Cream Party for 2 & 1/2 Year Olds

Over the weekend we celebrated our 2 and 1/2 year-old twins.  No, we do not think our children need more than one birthday a year!  But since their actual birthday is December 29th and nobody seems quite ready for a birthday party four days after Christmas, the last two years we've had a party for them on their half-birthday {or thereabouts :)} instead.  It feels a little odd, and I don't know if it'll fly when they get older but for now, it works and it's quite lovely to be able to be celebrate outside on a warm summer day.

Here's the little Ice Cream Party we threw.  I decided to do ice cream to make it a little less formal since we did have a little cake with singing and candles on their birthday in December {just no party or presents}.

It worked out superbly.


My greatest satisfaction with the party details was the colors.  I started with this little dress from Janie and Jack for inspiration.  


 
Then got the fabric for the bunting I showed you last week.  The fabric behind the table is actually a thrifted duvet cover my Sister found awhile ago. Perfect.
And the little man's bow-tie was made by my Sister out of left-over bunting fabric. Love it!
{And no, I did not force my little man to wear a tie on his birthday - by some happy chance my boys are actually excited to get to wear ties. I think they see it as their compensation for not getting girlie things like nail polish and purses :)}




It was quite fun finding foods and supplies that worked with the color scheme.

I'll post about the details, including a couple other little party projects and sources tomorrow... and more pictures, of course. ;)

My greatest dissatisfaction with the party came from the challenge of trying to both throw a party {i.e. manage and enjoy it!} and photograph a party... many hurried, blurry ones.
Does anyone else find this nearly impossible to do?
And though I tried prepare wisely and early I still ended up throwing everything on the table in the last ten minutes without as much thought as I would have liked.  Oh well.

It is worth considering why go to this amount of work for birthdays!  And honestly I do it largely just for the creative satisfaction of it - it's just very great fun to put together.  But I hope that if not fully now, someday my kiddos will look back at their childhood pictures and see that their mother counted it a great joy to make big to-do for them. 

Overall it was a happy, sweet time together.

And getting to see the happy delight on these two faces...

...that, of course, was the cherry on top.

See the Party Details, Sources & Lidded Mason Jar Tutorial {HERE}

{Linking to Life Made Lovely Monday ,Bowl Full of Lemons 
Tip Me Tuesday ,Lollipops, Just a Girl, Funky Junk Interiors, & Serenity Now}