Jansen turned two on Sunday. (HOW??) So we threw him a fantastic birthday party on Saturday and themed it “ducks” since Jansen has always had a special place in his heart for rubber ducks. Think that’s a weird theme? Last year we did a Wheel of Fortune party.
We didn’t serve dinner. It’s too hard and expensive since people aren’t very good about RSVPing, so we did snacks instead. We had a Quacker Bar with chips, veggies, dips, etc. And then we had a Create Your Own Trail Mix area with all sorts of fun stuff like Chex, pretzels, dried fruits, M&Ms, and peanuts.
We served beer, water, flavored tea, and lemonade. And we had red velvet cake pops and Guinness cupcakes with Bailey’s icing. All in all, good eats.
I’d like to share some pictures with you. Everything was yellow, orange, and bright blue and most of the items were found at the dollar store or in my house.
This is the Quacker Bar. My sister designed the signs and printed them on her printer. I glued them to some scrap cardboard from a Diapers.com box and then roughly cut it out with an Xacto knife. We then attached a dowel rod to the back, stuck it in some of that green foam that’s made for flower arrangements, wadded some blue tissue paper on top, and then added a tiny duck.
This is the Create Your Own Trail Mix table. I ordered these adorable little bags from some online restaurant supply store for super cheap. Then we just printed these little “Please Don’t Feed the Ducks” tags and glued them on.
We already had this big duckie at our house. It’s very “bathroomy” but it was too cute to leave behind.
Here are the cake pops! This is something that the internet doesn’t tell you: CAKE POPS ARE HARD! I thought it would be cute to make white cake pops and surround a big duckie with them so they look like bubbles. I only ended up making half of them because it was SO FREAKING HARD. They’d fall off or get lumpy. How in the world does Bakerella make such perfect circles in her hands? She is a machine! I even watched a tutorial and she makes it look so easy.
They didn’t turn out exactly like I had pictured, but I’m still pleased.
I made some delicious cupcakes that I wouldn’t have made if there were actually children at the party. Since there were only about 4 children and 2 don’t eat solids, I went with it. I bought some mini rubber ducks at Party City and planned to stick them on the top of the cupcakes. Then my mom found duckie cupcake toothpicks at Hobby Lobby and they were so darn cute, so I did a little of both.
This is the only thing I stole from Pinterest. (Why aren’t there any duck parties on there?) I saw a photo of a rainbow party where the host froze water balloons in all different colors and then used them as the ice in her drink tub. I thought it would be cute to do that with white balloons in a blue tub so it would look like bubbles. My sister decided they looked better as giant balls of ice instead of in the balloons. The balloons stretched funny and looked kind of weird.
I thought the party turned out pretty cute. I was able to pretend to be crafty and cute for a day. We also had a “decorate a duck” arts and crafts table. People were to decorate a duck and write a message to Jansen on it. This will go in his birthday scrapbook. (Last year we wrote messages on Wheel of Fortune wedges.)
What do you think? It was pretty cheap since we had just about everything already. We had to buy some bowls and containers, but that’s about it. Sticking with a color scheme is the way to go. Get cheapy solid napkins, tablecloths, and other decor. Or don’t. What do I know? This is only my second party to plan… You probably ought to consult Pinterest.
It’s fabulous, Chelsea! How clever of you! I figured it would have something to do with those rubber duckies he loves so much. Cake pops are hard. I’ve made them once and I haven’t been tempted to make them ever again. And, yes, color themes are much more simple to stick to. Big impact with little prep. My favorite party was Nora’s first – lime green, blue and yellow.
Oh, and the bubble ice is too cute!
Why are there no duck partyies on pinterest? Because you are too creative! Great job, I love your theme. The Quacker bar is so original.
You are so flipping creative! I love this!! I’m pinning the heck out of it–I hope you don’t mind if I copy your duckie party one day. It’s awesome. How cute would this be for a baby shower? LOVE IT!
Everything was darling and so dang creative! Wish I could say you got that gene from me….
sooooooo cute!!! you really did an awesome job. love all the details in everything. meanwhile, how is he already 2?!?!?!?!
CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! You girls are amzingly creative!
As someone who attended, I loved it! I hope my kids’ birthdays are half as creative. I can’t wait to see how the photo album turns out.
Also you should’ve gotten a picture of the light up ducks in the pool! Those were awesome. Oh and the cake pops were absolutely delicious! So glad you made them even though I agree they’re hard to make. I decided to make some that were little wedding cakes for a family friend’s wedding… it VERY quickly became a family project.
Cutest party!!! I loved the cake pops and the ice bubbles in the drink bucket. From what you’ve said before, I’m betting Jansen LOVED his duck party!!
So creative and cute!