Hi All! Ami here again. I am so excited to share this post with you. Those of you who know me well know I spent 12 years as a wedding and event planner before I decided to leave the workforce and become a stay at home mom. So when I get a chance to plan a party I can sometime get a little carried away. Unfortunately it’s the summer of Covid so big parties aren’t really happening. When it came time for planning my daughter’s 2nd birthday we decided to keep it small with just family, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still plan a fun themed party.
Every child has a stuffy or blanket that they are attached to. For Sadie, it’s her pink kitty lovey. When it comes to picking a theme for a party keep in mind the guest of honor and what interest they have. For Sadie, a pink kitty party was the perfect theme.
Decorations
In addition to pink I decided to add some accent colors and went with a color scheme of blush pink , lavender, cream and gold/rose gold. I made a bunch of yarn balls in a variety of sizes to place around as decorations. These were very easy to make using styrofoam balls and yarn. Make sure to get the balls that have a rough texture and not the smooth ones as you will want the yarn to stick to them. To make: wrap the yarn tightly around the ball about 5 times, rotate about 90 degrees, wrap another 5 times, rotate and repeat this process until the whole ball is covered. Once I covered the whole ball I used a small straight pin to secure the yarn and left about 6 inches of yarn trailing off.
When decorating for a party it’s not always necessary to decorate the whole room. I like to pick one area to have as a focal point and then I can really make this area stand out. This is typically where the cake, dessert or food is displayed. For Sadie’s party I kept things a little more simple. I found a rose gold balloon banner on Amazon that was perfect. I then made the rest of the backdrop by using some of the small yarn balls to create garland and cardstock to make the flag banner. To go along with the theme I hung everything with yarn.
Food
One of my favorite parts of planning a party is the menu. I try and make every aspect of the party match the theme, including the food. Since this was a party for a two year old I wanted to make sure to have kid and adult friendly food. Giving each item on the menu a theme related name is what I have the most fun with. I had a hard time finding cat themed tent cards so I bought some gold confetti tent cards and added cat stickers to them (both from Hobby Lobby). Using stickers or stamps is an easy way to create your own unique food labels and signs. You can find the disposable tableware I used here. Below is the menu I created for the party.
- Goldfish
- Meow Mix (Chex Mix)
- Cheesy Pawsta (Mac and Cheese)
- Avocado Pawsta Salad (Recipe)
- Fancy Feast Pink Salmon
- Cat Tails (Asparagus)
- Feline Fruit (fruit platter)
- Pink Lemonade for the kids
- Mr. Pink Rose for adults
Milk Bar
This was probably my favorite part of the party and was a hit with the kids. I found mini bottles at Hobby Lobby that were perfect for the milk bar. To go along with the theme and the rest of the decorations I tied some yarn around the bottles. This also helped each kid remember which bottle was theirs. The silver paper straws were from the dollar store!
The Cake
Oh this cake! I am absolutely in love with how this cake turned out. I’ve seen animal cakes likes this all over Instagram and Pinterest, but I have never made one. I was so excited to finally get an opportunity to try my hand at this style. I am so glad I decided to add the lavender color and not keep it all pink. I think it really added to the overall look of the cake. Now lets talk about the inside. Sadie LOVES peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so it was pretty easy to land on this flavor. The cake consists of strawberry cake layers, peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream and homemade strawberry compote. The full recipe for the cake can be found here.
Favors
I decided to double the favor as a fun party element. As each guest arrived they got to pick a pair of cat ears to wear for the party and take home. Even the adults got into and picked a pair of ears to wear. Other kitty themed party favors include mini bags of goldfish, cat stickers and plush kitty.
Invitation
I found this adorable kitty invitation on Etsy (Palm Paperie). I get pretty much all my birthday invitations on Esty. There are so many amazing designers to choose from and I love how you can customize your invite with the designer.
I hope these ideas inspired you for your next party! Feel free to leave a comment below and give us a follow on Instagram or Facebook. Thank you for stopping by!
