Our babies turned two a couple of weeks ago. It is amazing how fast time has flown. I get email newsletters from the Baby Center and they started out calling them babies. Then, they changed to toddlers. The latest one I received called them ‘preschoolers.’ They will always be my babies, but when I look at babies under one, ours do not look like babies any more. I call them all my Sugar Snap Peas, and shorten it to Sugar Snap. They have individual nicknames too, but Sugar Snap is a universal nickname that I use with all of them. So, in light of their new age milestone, I will start to refer to them as the Sugar Snaps, rather than the babies on the blog.
The kids can all say, “Elmo” and love their furry red friend. It does not matter if he is a plush toy, on a balloon or on a cake. They say, “Elmooooo” with the same reverence. They also believe he can hear them and see them when they wave and say ‘hi’ to him. It was not a hard decision to pick Elmo as the theme for their second birthday celebration. It was fun to see them excited and to see that the have more understanding about birthdays than they did last year. I had fun decorating the house in an Elmo theme. Some of the house is still ‘Elmofied’ because they enjoy it. I found two Elmo costumes at consignment sales for between $2.50 and $3.50 each and another one online for a little more and used them in the decorations. One was used on the punch bowl, another on the stairs and another peeked out from behind the couch. I made Elmo Invitations, an Elmo headband for Capri and Elmo Fedoras for the boys (tutorial here). I also made an Elmo dust mop puppet (tutorial here) which they love to play with and hug.
Their Elmo Cake was made complete with edible pictures.
An Elmo costume and red faux fur fabric were used wrapped around a real punch bowl to make the Elmo punch bowl. I made felt goldfish using this free template with google eyes on dollar store glasses shaped like fish bowls. I glued on the felt fish with rubber cement which made it very easy to take them off after the party. I also used the same glasses with the fish glued on and filled them with goldfish crackers. When the party was over, I removed the felt fish and I use them as part of a sensory bin with beans and to help the Sugar Snaps learn to count. Since there were far more adults than children, the adults enjoyed strawberry mojitos from the punch bowl. We also had live goldfish in fish bowls throughout the house to represent Elmo’s fish Dorothy. The live goldfish can be party favors for the children. Our niece, Emma, enjoyed picking out her very own goldfish.
Elmo Fruit Salad
Elmo layered bean dip
Elmo finger Jello
I found out that candies melt when they come into contact with Jello, so I used tiny pieces of cheese to elevate the candy eyes and m&m’s. A black food pen was used for the mouth. If this was a make and eat project for older children, this step would not be necessary as they would eat it before the candies had time to melt.
The Dollar Tree sells Elmo balloons filled with helium for just one dollar each. I ordered them a week in advance so they would be filled for the party. Some are still up after more than two weeks.
I covered a Kleenex Hand Towels box (disposable towels) with red faux fur, google eyes, an orange pom pom and black felt mouth and placed it in the bathroom.
I put Elmo’s featured on a red net circle (used for making favors) and taped it onto a balloon. Otherwise, the balloon may have popped if I glued the features directly on to the balloon.
An Elmo costume makes a cute greeting wrapped around the Bannister on the stairs with a bow.
Grayson, sporting the Elmo Fedora eats goldfish crackers out of the goldfish bowl with Capri.
Ryder also enjoyed eating the goldfish crackers right out of the bowl.
I made Capri an Elmo Tutu to go with her Elmo Headband by sewing on the felt and pom pom features. If you want to see other examples of Elmo tutus you can do a search online. Most of the ones I saw had the skirt go all the way up to the chest, making it more of a dress than a skirt.
Each of the Sugar snaps got a piece of cake featuring their picture.
Xayden devoured his cake and had an Elmo cake face and hands.
Capri and Ryder savored their cake slowly. Capri avoided eating her picture.
It was a fun party and we appreciate the friends and family that joined in their celebration. Guests flew as far as 350 miles and drove two hours or more to be with them. What themes have you had for your children’s parties? I would love to read your stories and thoughts. As always, comments are welcome.
We had an Elmo 2nd birthday too, well it really ended up being all of Sesame Street. Its perfect for that age. You did a great job!!
Thank you Katie.
It is an age when Elmo is magic and they can say his name.
: 0 ) Theresa
So cute! I love those little Dorothy fishbowls!
This is so cute!!! Your daughter looks so cute in her tutu outfit. I really like the elmo fruit salad too!! Great ideas!! Thanks for linking up to Party Time on Moms & Munchkins and we hope to see you next week!
Thank you Cheryl.
It was a lot of fun.
: 0 ) Theresa
Thank you Jacqui Odell.
She still plays with the Elmo tutu. Thank you for hosting Party Time.
: 0 ) Theresa