Sam's "Kick It" Birthday Party

Sam and I are suffering from a bit of a birthday-party hangover today  (too much sugar and fun), and I'm on a crunch to get this house whipped back into shape before heading out of town in a few hours; but, I wanted to pop in and show you some of the pictures from his fun party last night.

First, the disclaimers:

 - I had the brilliant idea a few weeks ago to host this party at the playground our neighborhood kids frequent because I didn't want to clean my house it worked so well with our "theme"in order; but, of course, yesterday was off and an with rain all day so the party was moved inside our house.  Just try to imagine this in a park instead, k?

- I kind-of forgot to take pictures; or, rather, I told Jeff to take pictures with his phone as our guest were arriving.  Only later did he tell me that he thought it was awkward to take pictures of our decorations when people were there (which, he's probably right) so he only took a couple.  Shoot.  You get the idea.

- I reused a lot of the decorations from last year since the color scheme was the same.  I prefer to think of it as being "thrifty," not "lazy." ;)

Alright, so... Sam's "Kick It" Birthday Party:

You've already seen the invitation, but I thought it was worth posting it again just to have everything all in one place.  I actually designed these myself using a photo our friend Howard took, a clip-art kickball, and the free version of PicMonkey.com.  Then, I just ordered prints from Walmart for a total of about $8.00 for 15.

I knew I wanted to have a "red ball" party, but the actual inspiration came from these cute t-shirts I found on sale in the little boy's section at Target:

Aren't they adorable?  I snagged five (one for each of our "little guests" + Sam) and delivered them with the invitation... This was seriously my favorite part of the whole party - seeing all the little ones dressed alike!  (I highly recommend this as a party-planning strategy... It is EASY and people think you are "so creative."  You'll notice there are several other styles on sale now too - so go get em!)

The gang - minus Jack.

Take 2

I promised myself, and Jeff, that this party would be low-key.  I think I accomplished that as much as possible with 20 adults and five toddlers running all around.  (It was WILD.) The best decision I made? We ordered large pizzas and used all paper products.  Other than the pizzas, I ordered cake "balls" and my mom brought a big bowl of watermelon balls, and that was it food wise.  I admit that I got a little worried about thirty minutes before people arrived that it wouldn't be enough, but it turned out to be perfect!

Here are a few other little details --

- Each little guest got a big red ball to play with at the party and take home when they left.  (Also, as you can see, Sam totally racked up on gifts thanks to overly generous family and friends.)

- I also brought back the Birthday Book from last year and asked guests to sign and date it again.  (For details on that see Sam's first birthday post.)  I think it will be fun for him to look at this as he gets a little older and remember who was at his party, etc.

- I made paper table cloths to fit the theme with a roll of brown craft paper, red paint, and a round sponge.  This literally took five minutes and could be rolled up and thrown out at the end of the night. Best.thing.ever.

- We had soda and adult beverages for the big people and lemonade and water (in cute little cups I found at Kroger and labeled with a chalk marker) for the littles.  (The kids also got to take their cups home at the end of the party.)

- And, although we had cake balls for everyone else, we got a little cupcake to put a candle on for Sam.  He totally ate up this part (literally).  It was the best!  (P.S. I told him he couldn't have his cupcake unless he wore his hat.  #momoftheyear)

Man, I can't believe my baby is TWO (well, tomorrow).  We had so much fun and are so grateful for all the people that love our wild and fun little guy!!

What a difference a year makes....