Party Details!!

I am sharing the details of the party because I was SO PLEASED with how everything turned out! Also, I have several people I need to thank for their help! Oh sure, there were more noble causes to spend this much time, energy, and money on...it is true. I just really wanted to celebrate my babies!! Plus, since I combined their parties into one big party--I rationalize that it is okay! Here is the party invitation courtesy of my friend Laura (link to be added soon). I thought they turned out PERFECT. Oh...and that scratchy color mess in the bottom lefthand corner was me covering up our address and phone number...it was not on the actual invitations.

Reid's outfit. I got it from Lillifee off of Etsy. I LOVE it! It has a lion and a one and then also has Happy Birthday Reid monogrammed on it. This is one of the outfits I will use when I have his quilt made!

Lilly's outfit...I ordered her outfit from Hollywood 6 or something like that off of Etsy. The front has a zebra with a pink bow and "Lilly" monogrammed on it.

And the back has a big 2 on it...and she is also sporting matching bows. She looked so stinking adorable in her little outfit! Both the birthday kiddos looked so precious! Oh, and Ginger--I am having their pictures taken in their outfits and I will post them when I get them in. (c:

This was the welcome sign that hung on our front door. I painted it! I was almost finished painting it and I asked Matt what he thought and he said, "You do realize you aren't using black and white paint, right?" I get no respect! Haha.

I also made these monkey cupcakes. I saw them in a Taste of Home magazine. I have never really even made cupcakes before so I was really pleased (ok proud) of how they turned out. Like, I may have told everyone that walked in the door before they even got to the kitchen that I made them. I also took step by step photos in case anyone wanted to know how to make them. (c:

They had three different faces and hairdos...that is right folks; there was even variety! Ha!

All of the cakes came from Rick's! This was Reid's cake.

Reid's smash cake. We put a goat on it because he eats everything! Hehe. We did it out of love--no mean intentions at all.

Lilly's cake. I LOVE how they painted the elephants nails!!

Lilly's smash cake has a "cock-pea" on it since that is what she called them at the zoo. Thanks to Mike for picking up and purchasing the cakes for us! They really made the decor and were delicious!!

We had ham and cheddar, chicken salad, or turkey and cheddar sandwiches. I have to thank DeDe for making all of the sandwiches while I ran around in a panic trying to finish everything up!

The chicken salad was Jenna's recipe. Jenna and Sydney were sweet enough to come over and help make it Friday morning. Actually Jenna made it and Sydney and I "helped". Then, Friday night I was afraid that we didn't have enough (we did) and made another batch. It ended up working out really well because Matt and I got to eat it this week which gave us a little break from cooking!

Chili-Cheese dip, Chips, Chicken Fries (for the kids), and bakes potato salad. Thanks to my sister for making the baked potato salad for us!

The Goody Bags for our guests! I put them in this corner cabinet so it looked like they were in cages (yes....I actually thought that out).

The goodies. I ordered a lot of it from Oriental Trading including the gift boxes, the suckers (which I got for free with my coupon), the coloring book, and zoo animal bubbles. We also threw in some zoo shaped animal crackers and fruit snacks. We wanted our guests to know how much we appreciated them coming to celebrate with us!

The party table. Jenna came over and helped me make the tissue balls and sand the dining room table before I painted it while our husbands went to Razorback fan day the weekend before. In the background, you can see the photo banners.

Here they are up close. I got the idea to make the "month" photos ready made scrapbook pages so that they could just go into a scrapbook right after the party as keepsakes for Lilly and Reid.

The original plan was for my sister to do half and for me to do half but she called and said she had them all done!

Not only did that lessen my time constraints but I was also relieved because hers were sooooo cute! Whichever child I would've done would've been jipped! Haha.

My sister is sooo talented!

I also need to thank my Mom for coming over Friday night and helping us hang all of the pictures in our house and Lilly and Reid's letters in their rooms so that the house would be completely put together for the party! She was really tired after working all week but helped me anyway!

And, of course, my wonderful husband who went to Wal-Mart at least three times for me on Friday without complaining once and stayed up late in a good mood helping with whatever I asked him to do!

What can I say?? I told you guys we were super-blessed! Oh, I also made a "Happy Birthday Reid and Lilly" banner that hung on the fireplace but I forgot to get a picture of it. This party was pretty detailed and elaborate....mainly because anytime I would think about my babies turning 1 and 2, I would start planning the party so I wouldn't focus on how fast they are growing up!!! I am sure I forgot to thank somebody but know that I am grateful for any and all help!! The party and the decorations couldn't have been any better!!!