Savannah's 3rd Birthday Party

After spending so much time and thought on planning Hudson's 1st birthday party, I was wore out on party planning and really lacked the creativity to turn around and plan another party. I try to pick a party theme based on something that the birthday kid likes or something that just makes me think of them. For some reason, I couldn't decide on the 'perfect' theme to fit Savannah this year. She's really into Dora the Explorer, but I really didn't want to have a Dora themed party. 

I already had the party date picked out and knew that we would be doing a swim party at home, so with each passing day I was losing planning time. I was leaning towards a typical pool or beach theme, but really wasn't loving the idea for this year. Finally, while browsing on Pinterest {surprise, huh?}, I came across the idea of a "You Are My Sunshine" party. Prefect! This makes me think of Savannah, immediately, and it fits with the outdoor swimming part of the party. Now I was excited and eager to get the planning underway.

First, I needed an invitation. It was already less than three weeks until the party and I didn't have a clue on an invitation. I knew I didn't have time to custom order anything, so I was glad to find a 'print it yourself' option on Etsy. I also didn't have time to get professional pictures taken, so I took a picture of Savannah just outside our house. And here is the invitation:

(Sorry for the low quality, I couldn't find the file on my computer, so this is just a photo of the invitation.)

 

To keep things semi-simple, I planned to just order pizza as the main food. I still wanted to make some finger foods, so sticking with my yellow and white color scheme, I made:

Banana pudding parfaits 

Macaroni and cheese bites {these were a HUGE hit!}

White chocolate dipper pretzel rods with yellow drizzle

Lemon bars

 

 And a mini candy bar with yellow M&M's, yellow Jelly Beans and yellow rock candy

 

I made the candy jars and stands after seeing this idea via Pinterest {where else would I find cool ideas?}

Another idea I stole from Pinterest was this "You Are My Sunshine" canvas. Being slightly OCD with perfection on crafts, I knew I would stress myself out too much over making this. I already had so many other things I wanted to do, so I enlisted my artistic sister to make it for me. And what a fantastic job she did!

The cute little sunshine cupcakes were strawberry (since pink is Savannah's favorite color) with cream cheese icing. They were made by a 12 year-old girl, Mackenize, who runs her own cupcake making business from home. She makes some seriously good cupcakes!

I covered an empty box with yellow wrapping paper and added a decorative ribbon to set these table center pieces on:

  I decorated the '3' and the picture of Savannah was taken in a nearby field of sunflowers.

Here is a broad view of the table before it was completely set up:

 

And this is a closer view of the final look:

 

As with every birthday party, I had a special birthday book for the guest to sign:

The drink table:

 

Savannah had such a fun time swimming with her friends!

 

 

Eating yummy food and playing in the yard was fun, too! We were so happy to have so many friends over to play and celebrate with us.

 

My mom had a fun, new idea. She took the picture from Savannah's invitation and added a little note saying 'If you find Savannah's birthday balloons, send her a letter and let her know how far they traveled.' Don't worry, only our P.O. box address was put on the card, then laminated and tied to balloons. The intention was to have Savannah let the balloons go. Only one problem: she didn't want them to 'go in the sky'. So Caleb ended up letting them go later when she wasn't looking. 

 

 

I hope someone writes a note to Savannah and lets us know where they found the balloons.

 

After the party was over and most of the guests were gone, our friends that traveled the farthest (nearly an hour) to party with us, stayed a couple more hours. We had fun visiting with them since we don't get to see them often and watching the kids play together.

 

And when they had to go home, we let Savannah stay up even later to open her gifts.

Once the theme was decided on, planning and preparing for this party was so.much.fun! The whole day made Savannah so happy. She could not have been more excited to have her friends come over to swim for her birthday! I'm thankful to everyone who was able to come and help make her day special.