Memorables and Mentionables–From His 2nd Birthday Party

Truth be told, I was hoping for a simple and stress-free birthday party. But then again, when you have kids involved…is it EVER going to be simple and stress-free?

Party Theme. CHECK.

We’ve decided on the theme months ago. While on vacation in Orlando, we came across some Little Einsteins party supplies and immediately decided that they would be perfect. Miguel just LOVES The Little Einsteins.

Party Activity. CHECK.

Over the next months I’ve TRIED to think up ways on how to celebrate his 2nd birthday in the middle of Arizona’s August simmer (and the still looming monsoon season). The only thing I could come up with was WATER. Lots and lots of water. Miguel LOVES playing in, swimming in, and jumping in water.

I’ve thought up things that involved water in the toddler pool, water toys, water balloons…just NOT water coming from the sky (last year we got a pretty hard downpour that rendered the backyard useless on the day of his birthday party). Thankfully, despite some rain, wind, and yes, blowing dust up to a day prior, the weather cooperated. The sun shone brightly on party day.

Party WOW Factors. UN-CHECK and UN-CHECK.

I had grand ideas in the back of my head for some additional OOMPH for this party (I wanted to make a home-made Little Einsteins Rocket pinata, as inspired by this blog post; and I also wanted to create some melted crayons reshaped to form Rocket to place in the giveaway bags, as inspired by this blog post). Unfortunately, these didn’t quite materialize (maybe in another time, another place, another form…they will). Cool as the Rocket pinata and crayons might have been, they would have taken so much effort on my part, only to be destroyed in mere minutes at the party.

Thankfully (or more like, SUPER thankfully), our guests–both young and old–were über easy to impress…

Miguel WOWED at the simple party banner that had his favorite characters (Leo, Quincy, Annie and June! He made sure to name them all…)

Kids went crazy over these party blowouts I got (note to self for future…GET extras of these!!!)

My Mom’s labor of love cooking had guests–even non-Filipino ones–coming back for platefuls of dinuguan, kare-kare, her own version of pancit Malabon, and mami. And the kids and grown-ups enjoyed even the no-cook meals we added on (rotisserie chicken, store-bought lumpiang Shanghai, baked vegetable lasagna, and the dinosaur chicken nuggets from Costco…gosh those were such a hit!)

Outside, it didn’t take much effort for the kids to play with–and enjoy–the kiddie pool, slip and slide, and bevy of sprinkler-type contraptions Terrence had set up. They enjoyed it so much that we all forgot about the water balloons (a shame…because I was looking forward to those!!!)

And to think I was considering renting a giant water pool/slide for this party! Insane.

Inside, we all equally enjoyed the Carvel ice cream cake my sister bought for Miggz. There is an enormous lack out there of Little Einsteins cake decor. You can buy them…but I guess due to Little Einsteins being not-too-popular any more…the little supply of cupcake decorations and cake toppers bearing any resemblance to Little Einsteins come at a premium. My sister instead, had my brother DRAW Rocket on the ice cream cake. It was INGENIOUS!! And it came out great!

To think my sister ALMOST paid $80 to commission her co-worker to make a proper a la Cake Boss Little Einsteins cake!!

At the end of the day, we all DID keep it simple. AND fairly low-stress. I think it’s so easy to get carried away with going over the top for a birthday party that we forget what really matters: celebrating a milestone in your child’s life…

Seeing that smile, could all we’ve prepared have been enough?

I think so.

And NewMammas out there…if you think a simple birthday song and your son about to blow out his two-year birthday candles don’t have the power to move you to tears, you better think again.

I almost did.

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Here is a look back on that day, in photos:

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