Real Life :: The Peach’s Second Birthday!

Kiddo Parties, Real Life : Dottie,

Well, my little Peach turned two.

And I had prepared a little party for her with five of her little friends. And she/we/everyone had a blast. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Because she looks like such a little Dutch girl, we thought that would be a fun theme for her party.  Believe it or not, there’s a ton of little Dutch girl stuff out there and it’s unique and darling just like our Peach. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the party. No more than $75, but I was very crafty and bought items at estate sales to round out the whole theme.

I made wall hangings using vintage linens with embroidered Dutch girls on it.  I found a sweet little windmill as a centerpiece for the table. We even had those sweet little almond windmill cookies.  And tulips of course. I made additional cloth napkins using some leftover yellow gingham fabric I had. Oh and that nutty vintage Lazy Susan in the middle was for all of the toppings I made for the mac and cheese bar I had for food–sun dried tomatoes, duxelle, caramelized onions, bacon and blue cheese as toppings. (Note this idea was totally stolen from one of the parties at Alt…)

I made each of the girls who attended the party little Dutch hats tipped with lace and blue embroidery:

And I made goody bags sealed with vintage playing cards that featured a little Dutch scene:

I bought a pair of sweet (and inexpensive!) little porcelain Dutch boys and girls and I even found some little wooden shoes.

Of course I bought this great vintage apron with windmills and tulips for myself and some super cheap yellow wooden clogs, because honey, when I commit, I COMMIT!

Plus it would perfectly match the sweet little vintage gingham dress I had in my collection of dresses I bought for the Peach ages ago. Isn’t it adorable?

Except….she wouldn’t wear it. And woke up with a runny nose and no desire to take her needed two hour nap. So, instead she is wearing that orange pillowcase dress and her moose thermal pajama top from that morning. And orange crocs. And a desire to eat a cupcake. Which she did. With tremendous joy and gusto!

And she couldn’t be happier, which means I couldn’t be happier. Because really it’s about the birthday girl. It’s about having a good time and no matter how much I want to go Martha Stewart all over this party, I’m more interested in my little girl and my friends having a good time. And I think that happened. So the day was aces in my book.

Because the best parties leave wiggle room for reality and fun.  And trust me there was a lot of wiggle room and reality in this party.  For example:

  • I tripped and dropped on of whole thing of mac and cheese on the floor
  • I forgot to put out half the toppings for the mac and cheese
  • I couldn’t find birthday candles so I lit the closest two votive candles I had and called it a day
  • I forgot to put out the little coloring pages I printed out of wooden shoes, tulips and Dutch girls
  • I forgot to turn one of the burners off, so now my entire house and clothes and drapes smell of slightly burnt caramelized onions
  • Why yes, the Peach did pee in her pants halfway through the party
  • Not a single one of the girls wore those blasted Dutch hats–OK one sassy girl did, which was great
  • Heck yeah, there were crying kids—four meltdowns that I counted, but were patched up quite nicely with snuggles and cupcakes
  • Of course the kids ended up wearing the little Dutch shoes! I just wish I’d been smart enough to adds skids to the bottoms because they turned into ice skates on my wooden floors as the kids went sliding across them. Whoops!
  • The biggest hit of all were the 10 cent reduced price Mardi Gras beads that all the girls went mad for and turned into baby nun-chucks at times they way they were whipping them around
  • And of course the Peach threw up that night before passing out in bed from exhaustion.

But look at the kids! I loved getting a chance to spend time with my friends’ kids who are all just as amazing and wonderful as their parents.

Yup! A whole slew of cuteness in girlie kiddo form! And rum punch and other cocktails for adults certainly didn’t harm the party either.

And here’s the one piccie I got with my girl. Blurry, but I think you can see how happy and content I am with the whole party.

Happy birthday my little Peach, I hope you had fun!  And next year we’ll do a Princess Pokemon Tank Engine Elmo party. I promise!

PS: I’m EXHAUSTED!

38 thoughts on “Real Life :: The Peach’s Second Birthday!”

  2. adorable! 🙂

    the peach wearing orange is actually fairly appropriate for a dutch girl party; the color orange is associated with the royal family in the netherlands.

  3. As a girl that grew up in Holland, MI, and worked for two summers as a tour guide of a Dutch windmill (in full Dutch costume and wooden shoes, thank you very much!) I LOVE this theme!! If I get back to Holland for Tulip Time this May I’ll have to get some wooden shoes for Peach!

  4. Dottie! You did a FABULOUS job, Miss! 😀 You are such a good Mama! Your Peach is a doll and i just LOVE the Dutch party idea. And look at YOU in your dutch skirt! 😀 So adorable!!

  8. I love this party too…..so unique and fun and I actually LOVE the pillowcase dressie! So sweet! that last picture is amazing. You and yer sweet girlie! xoxo

  9. I started to read this and was all impressed of course, but doubly impressed that you handled reality in stride! Cute all the way and moreso when the kids will do whatever the hell they want. And, if Peach is throwing up after her second birthday party, she’s my kinda gal! Ha.

    1. Lynn, I love you something fierce! and how did your Angry Birds party go? Was Miles throwing up after his party or can hold his cupcakes better than the Peach?

  10. I (via my parents) had those orange pillowcases… also in brown. Glad to see the design put to good use… and I love it accented with the orange crocs. My little guy just outgrew his orange ones.
    Adorable party!

  11. You dropped mac and cheese? I didn’t know that! Hilarity. Peach handled the excitement of the day like a pro. Happy Birthday Peachy Pop!

    PS: big shout out to my stunt double! Hey Eileen, looking good.

  12. what a great theme! it looks pretty perfect to me!. it’s just not natural to have a toddler birthday party without a runny nose and at least 4 meltdowns. now i reallly want some mac n’ cheese!

  13. great job! i like the list of party mishaps, but hate it ended with throwing up. though, i suppose that can be an indicator of a good party.

    i’ll let you know i was smitten with that pillowcase dress when you posted it the other day.

  14. omigoshhhhh i LOVE this post.
    you just gotta factor chaos into the itinerary, right?
    after years of planning events at a kiddy bookstore, i am only recently learning to LET IT GO with my own kids’ parties. well, a bit anyway. this year i’m trying to talk my daughter into an off-site party (something i thought i’d never do)!
    i thought you’d get a giggle out of this peek at my then five-year-old’s Sakura birthday:
    http://anderandzaza.blogspot.com/2009/05/zazas-sakurako-tea-party-set-up-for.html
    (keep hitting ‘newer post’ at bottom — my wonderful friend jek took so many great pics it ended up being a few posts!)

  15. the party was so much fun and all of those beauiful children were DARLING!! I am also stealing the mac and cheese topping bar for my next gathering. Well done, Dottie

  16. Yay! What a beautiful bunch of babies. Peach was an excellent hostess, sharing her toys and even her crib. Cutest was when she was asking, while my kid was melting down, “Is Molly OK?” Such a doll. And I wonder where she learned to be such a good hostess? Good work, Dottie!

  18. What a great theme! I’m jotting down ideas now… only three months to go for Syd’s big TWO-OH. So many cute party themes on here lately I just don’t know what to do!

    Love her orange dress!

  19. Such a fun party! I love your commitment to a theme, I’m so slapdash- we’ll see what happens when my little bean is big enough for a party. LOVED the mac and cheese spread, and the rum punch. You are amazing as always!

  20. What a clever idea. I love those felt rounds on the wall. I used those on the Thanksgiving table. They are great because they are beautiful and create a line down the center of the table on which all of the hot dishes can rest.

    I’m in awe of your cleverness.

  23. Pingback: And I Said to Myself, What a Wonderful Year! Part 1 – Modern Kiddo

Leave a Reply