Here it is! I give you Samantha and Amelia’s Dr. Seuss 2nd Birthday Party…Part One (because there are, of course, about ten million photos, 89% of which I’m not even posting here).
For the girls’ party, we reserved a pavilion at one of our favorite parks, but since I wasn’t allowed to start setting up until 2 p.m., that only gave me an hour and a half to get everything ready (versus three DAYS of set-up last year).
The party this year was certainly scaled down from last, but myself, Jake and our party crew (Sarah, Mike, my dad, Ali and Michael) were frantically scurrying around to get everything set up in time, nonetheless.
For food, I hired a taco catering company and additionally bought my own “kid food” and extras like chips, salsa, fruit, veggies and over a hundred drinks. That added up to three large coolers and two Costco shopping carts full of food, which almost killed us hauling from the car and setting up– particularly in 80+ degree weather.
Add to that banners, tissue paper pom poms, table centerpieces, and party favors and we had our work cut out for us. If you ask Jake, however, I’m completely exaggerating and the set-up was a piece of cake. While I was stressing out the entire time, he was as cool as a cucumber, as per the usual.
Jake was on banner and pennant flag duty.
Sarah and Mike practically duct-taped on 15+ tablecloths due to wind. Mike and Ali made two trips to the party store to pick up balloons since not all of them fit in their car, while my dad was on ice detail. Aunt Linda and Uncle David came to the rescue by showing up early and helped get the food out of coolers and onto tables. It truly was a team effort!
The sign-in table with Dr. Seuss’s Happy Birthday to You books for guests to sign for S and A.
Next to their books were photos of the girls with their 2nd Birthday chalkboard stats.
The “Truffula Trees” were made from red metal pails I found at the dollar store filled with vase filler and rocks. A wooden dowel was secured in some floral foam inside the pail and some awesome red fur I found at Michael’s was hot glued around the pail. I then stuck a tissue pom pom on top and completed them with red polka dot bows.
My favorite sign.
Grandma and Grandpa had the most important job of all– getting S and A to the party after the girls woke up from naps! Not a task for the faint of heart, let me tell you.
Let’s get this party started!
Our sweet friend, Marsha, couldn’t make the party, but stopped by beforehand to say hello. We were so happy to see her!
Family started arriving and it was go-time!
The baby star of the party: Cousin Noah.
Surprisingly, the girls actually kept their tutus on most of the time. One week later, whenever they see their Thing 1 Thing 2 shirts, they beg to wear them. Maybe they think their outfits will magically make a party appear?
Attempts at family pictures before everyone showed up. Did you find anything up there, Samantha?
And the award for angriest twins at their own birthday party goes to…
The girls turned those frowns upside down after Great Uncle David helped the girls to some tacos.
Yum! Note Anthony, the taco guy, in the background. I sadly didn’t get any pictures of him and the taco cart in all the chaos, but may I say, he did a fantastic job.
My goal for this party was to do as little myself as possible, hence hiring My Taco Man catering to do the main course. Anthony hauled in all the food, plus a grill an hour early and cooked it all in record time. Before the party started, I was getting nervous as to how he was going to get it all done, but I was proved wrong and ended up amazed at how fast he worked!
Our final head count was 84 (not including babies), so cooking that much food was no joke.
The taco selections included chicken, Hawaiian pork, carne asada, and grilled veggies, along with rice, beans and toppings. He also did mini quesadillas for the kids upon request. Anthony– you are amazing and we loved it!
And in a special twist of fate– it turns out Anthony is a twin himself and his twin brother, Hector, works at the same catering company. Could it get any more twintastic?
Tacos in my belly and I’m happy, happy, happy!
Can’t forget the best part– churros! I had paid for mini churros with the catering order, but when Anthony arrived, he said they must have accidentally given him regular size churros instead. No complaints here. Did I already mention we love you, My Taco Man?!
Poor Noah. Just give me a churro!
More family pictures with Grandma and Grandpa.
Aunt Sarah and soon-to-be Uncle Mike. The girls are already practicing their flower girl duties.
Uncle Mike and his girlfriend, Ali, both of whom drove all the way out from Wyoming to be here.
The Arnoff-Yeoman-Whitehead clan. Samantha may or may not be picking her nose again.
Great Aunt Linda and Uncle David.
Zack, Allison and Cousin Noah.
The girls with Great Grandpa.
The Kagel-Gerin-Whitehead crew.
The girls were excited to see cousins Eleri, Rhys, Jack, Great Aunt Annie and Great Uncle Johnny. As an aside, Amelia is now addicted to Perrier sparkling water…with lime, of course.
Samantha with Great Aunt Annie.
In addition to the taco cart, we had a “kid food” table set up with carrots and dip, fruit, applesauce pouches, fig bars, cheese sticks, yogurt pouches, Pirate’s Booty popcorn, cheddar bunny crackers, fruit chews, and juice boxes. Samantha couldn’t quite choose amongst them all, so she just sampled everything.
Socialite Amelia greets her friends as they arrive.
It wasn’t until we gathered everyone to sing Happy Birthday that it dawned on the girls that all this hoopla might just be for them. The majority of the time, S and A did pretty well considering all the over-stimulation.
Speaking of over-stimulation… with the arrival of Elmo and Cat in the Hat, the party could officially begin!
More to come!
Lots of love,
