Brady is TWO! Oh my goodness, I can hardly believe it. I cried my little face off writing this letter to him on his second birthday last Saturday. I love this kid so much… and to think I wanted a girl :) I have started a tradition of working with friends on his birthday invitations rather than trying to tackle them myself for a few reasons — A) so that I can focus on fun games and activities a little more, B) so Mommy doesn’t stress out and C) so that I get the fun of being on the other side of the designer / customer fence! It’s SO FUN to work with my UNBELIEVABLY talented friends. SO FUN!
Lindsay Sherbondy is a GEM. She is the amazing designer behind Lindsay Letters. My entire home is filled with Lindsay’s work. She is just a good-hearted gal too (with a little one herself!) so it was so fun working with her on these invites. I think I cried when I got them in the mail. She poured so much love into them. I couldn’t help but think she loved on him through these invites the same way I would have. They’re perfect. Please excuse my awful photography skills. They don’t do these pieces justice. She used a combination of digital printing mixed with gold foil. I die. Last year I worked with Amber Moon of Pitbulls & Posies. See details here and invites here. I love these girls SO. MUCH. for loving my little man to the moon and back.
A lot of the decorations you see here were created on my Cricut (we have a love-hate relationship) or purchased from TomKat Studio (love!)
And now, please prepare for photo overload. I didn’t buy a ton of decorations or STUFF for this year’s party. I just wanted it to be fun. We served Brady’s favorite foods (labelled as he would call them, see the green menu below) and played Brady’s favorite games: bounce house, bubbles and coloring!
I rented the bounce house and the children’s table and chairs. All were a great investment (and the table and chairs were only $25!)
I couldn’t get the “2” balloon in the frame, so here’s a half shot of the table.
Brady + Bounce House = HILARIOUS. He is obsessed and had so much fun.
I reuse this B every year on the front door :)
How great are these! “Red Ones” squeeze packs!
Each food was labelled with Brady’s word for it. For instance “Chickee and dip-dip-dip” (chicken nuggets and bbq sauce) and “ya yas” (raisins). My personal favorite was “MAMA!!! APPLE JUICE!!!” (apple juice). B loves himself some apple juice.
My amazing friend Dusty made these adorable cupcakes. No nor-eastern that keeps all the red fondant up north will stop her! Oh no! :) I loved how the 2s and Bs came out!
Favors were Elmo pieces from the Target $1 bins. Sorry friends, I gave all your children microphones (he he he). Don’t worry, the Mike & Ikes were for the big kids. And Elmo rattles for the itty-bitty friends.
Brady was so excited. He knew that everything was created to celebrated his day and THAT lit my heart up! Before everyone arrived, I took him around by the hand and told him why we picked out everything (foods he liked, Elmo decorations, bounce house so he could play with his friends).
And so many friends called / Facetimed / text messaged him to say happy birthday. Aunt Natalie and Cardon send Brady a special happy birthday song every year (starting on the day he was born!)
Our gift to Brady was our little trip to Disney and a BASKETBALL GOAL!!!!! Watching him play with his daddy is pretty much the greatest. He loved it. Watch out NBA.
Brady and his friend Beckett checking out the giant castle in the backyard :)
Brady and his friend Gryphon eating a few goodies at the kids table :) That giant thing in the middle is an AMAZING $20 bubble machine from Target.
He blew out his candle perfectly on the first try! And guess who he offered the first bite to …
After a few bites, he was ready to go back to the bounce house!
Have I ever mentioned how amazing my sister-in-law, Taylor, is? Seriously. :)
Brady Bear, I can’t beleive you’re two. You bring us more joy than you’ll ever know. We love you to the moon and back and had SO much fun celebrating your second year!!
xo,
Emily
