When Nolan came downstairs, he was super excited to see everything decked out in Sesame Street! He definitely had to snap some pics by the GIANT Elmo balloon, which was totally exciting to see!
Guests were welcomed at our front door by Monster feet! Big bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster left their tracks and Nolan loved this when he saw it! I also crafted a personalized "Nolan Street" sign for our front door.
Throughout the house, we had Sesame Street covered from ceiling to floor! I decorated with both new party supplies as well as Nolan's current toys, which made it easy for little "extras" here and there since he has so much Sesame gear! One of my absolute must-haves for his party was the the HUMONGOUS mylar gliding Elmo balloon, which was a hit with the kiddos! This thing is still inflated in our house a week later.... and although he's missing a leg now, I'm wondering if he'll ever loose air! The tables were decorated with Nolan's 2-year pictures I had taken a few weeks prior at the Smith Center, to keep with tradition. I also displayed his "Nolan Street" sign that we used from our photoshoot, which was probably one of my favorite decorations to his party- I'm bummed I have no use for it or anywhere to put it to keep!
After lots of Pinterest searching I decided to make my own Pin the Nose on Elmo game for the kids to play, and with a little felt and some hot glue, it came out perfect! Each kiddo had their own orange nose with their name on it to place onto Elmo's face after some spins and eyes closed (for the bigger kids). They played it quickly during the party and liked it for about 10 seconds, but either way I was happy with it!
I was super inspired by the Sesame Street Tissue Poms that I found all over Pinterest, so of course wanted to make my own for decorations. Unfortunately, these came out less than impressive and I've decided that you must have to have a special "tissue pom" touch to make them look even half way decent! Nolan loved them when he saw them, so that's all that matters, but next time, we're passing on any form of tissue pom!
In the kitchen, I used Nolan's Sesame Street garland from his photoshoot to decorate the dessert counter, where we had some yummy Sesame faces cupcakes and some amazingly designed sugar cookies! The cookies were definitely one of my favorite things, they turned out amazing and tasted good too! Nolan had received Dorothy as his birthday gift a few days before, and she made a great centerpiece that fit swimmingly with the party theme.
For the food, I tried to incorporate easy finger foods to go with our pizza (Nolan's favorite and personal request) into some Pinterest food cards I had come across, as well as creating my own food labels using a blank Sesame Street sign template. (PS: the original creator of the PDF files for the food cards spelled Guacamole wrong... not me, as Jason so nicely pointed out as I was setting things up!) The napkin rolls and food picks were made with free printables I found on Pinterest, also. The character faces were crafted out of leftover Amazon Prime shipping boxes, construction paper and a simple Google search of each character's face! Super easy and they came out pretty cute! Nolan snacked away all night on his favorite: chips and cucumbers! At least some of it was healthy! :)
The kids' table had some snacks and drinks, as well as each guests' favor bags. Inside, we customized different Sesame Street themed toys based on each kiddos age. The older kids received an activity book, a character-specific Play Doh, a sheet of stickers, and crayons and a bag of Goldfish... because.... "Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon too!" For the toddlers, everything was the same except a coloring book instead of the activity book, and for the two babes of the party, they received special baby toys and smaller books, all Sesame themed, also! The favor bags turned out much cuter than I anticipated and we were definitely happy with them!
After all the eating and playing, Nolan wanted to open his presents, so we gathered around and watched him dig in. This year was definitely much different compared to last year, as he recently had practice with Christmas and knew exactly what to do- and dug right in! We definitely had to slow him down a few times. He had lots of help from his friends, but didn't mind at all! He has the best friends and family and was so spoiled, yet again, by all of them with the best gifts, and was so excited opening each one of them! Thank you all so much!
After presents, we jumped right into dessert, and Nolan absolutely loved when everyone sang him Happy Birthday. He had been singing it himself for the past couple of days prior when we celebrated his real birthday, so when he heard everyone join in to sing to him, he was mind blown! He blew out his candle (with some help from Mama), and then poked around at his Cookie Monster cupcake, but was more interested in the sugar cookie, so double fisting was a must at one point. All the kiddos chowed down and then got back to playing! The boys were total goofballs together... and soon enough, Nolan and Hudson had to hurry back for round two of dessert! Party on!
The next day, we had to take some more pictures since we didn't get much of Nolan solo during the party, so we did some quick photoshooting, making sure to snap some shots with our annual Petite Lemon birthday sign that we plan to use as a tradition for every birthday! Nolan's shirt was also another similar thing from his first birthday- we used the same small shop, Lil' Threadz, to customize a Sesame Street shirt just like his weenie dog one the previous year. They are so soft and he will wear it throughout the year, so it's a perfect splurge!
Nolan really did enjoy his second birthday, and it was adorable seeing how excited he was to have all of his friends celebrate with him and be surrounded by one of his favorite things on this planet- Sesame Street! This age is so fun and I loved seeing the excitement of his birthday through his eyes this year. I know it will only grow, which makes me happy to see him grow up, but at the same time, I can't believe how fast it actually goes! Thanks to everyone that came out or sent wishes for the big man's birthday- he loves you all!
Party Details:
Sesame Street themed invitations: Plume Designs
Giant Walking Elmo balloon: Party USA
"Nolan Street" sign: Crafted by myself
Sesame Street Character Feet: Found on this website
Pin the Nose on Elmo: Crafted by myself
Tissue Poms: Crafted by myself (Dollar Tree tissue pons and face templates from Google Image search)
Sesame Garland: Crafted by myself
Cookies: Pete's Custom Cookies
Cupcakes: Albertson's
Food label cards: Found on Pinterest, here
Sesame Street blank sign template: Found on Pinterest, here
Food pick and napkin roll printables: Found on Pinteret, here
Character boxes: Crafted by myself
Favor bag tags: Found on Pinterest, here
Play Doh labels: Created by myself using PicMonkey
Giant Sesame Street Wall Backdrop: Party City
Nolan's Sesame "2" Shirt: Lil' Threadz
Photo Birthday Sign: Petite Lemon
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