What a day yesterday! There is nothing like a 2 yr old’s birthday party! Fun and Exhausting.  Certainly worth it to make our daughter’s day as special as possible!  Our theme this year was “American Sprout”  My daughter is a HUGE fan of the PBS run Sprout channel.  http://www.sproutonline.com/

Since it was Memorial Day weekend, we decided to incorporate her favorite Sprout characters with a Patriotic Theme.  Our original plan was to have an outdoor BBQ.  We changed this because as incredible as this may sound, It was cold and windy outside!  (Yes, I did say it was Memorial day weekend!)  Not very summer like weather.  Of course the kids could still play outside, but not your typical summer activities. It became an indoor/outdoor event. The kids didn’t seem to mind.

One of the home made decorations I wanted to share with you are the Sprout character pathway signs.  I was very happy with how these turned out and they held up extremely well despite the windy weather.  I found some great birthday character pictures.  I used cardboard, cutting the pieces into squares.  I painted the front various colors (Erin’s theme was red, white and blue) and the backs I painted black for continuity and to cover the cardboard.  I glued the images to the cardboard.  In this case, since I had the Mod Podge handy I used a light coating to glue them down.  I then tried to think of a way to anchor them into the ground and I am not sure what made me think of it, but I had these wooden BBQ skewers that I thought would work perfectly!  They are basically just a long toothpick and I slipped the skewer through the middle of the cardboard leaving half exposed to go into the ground no glueing required!

I also recycled some some old party decorations.  I made this Birthday sign featuring Chica from the Good Morning Show and Jim Henson’s The Pajanimals.

Remember that Mod Podge character tray?  Well it went to good use and the cupcakes didn’t last very long!

It was a great time to celebrate Erin!  Happy Birthday to me XOXOXO

P.S. Do you like the dress?  Another money saving tip: Once Upon A Child. Great bargains on kids clothes and toys gently used.  Erin is wearing spring dress with detachable bolero jacket and  pink tights only $9.50 at Once Upon a Child http://www.onceuponachild.com/ check them out!