Collette's 2nd Birthday Party (Part One)

Yesterday afternoon was Collette's birthday party! We took a ton of pictures, so I'm going to break the party down into a couple of posts so you don't have to read forever (you're welcome).

First up, the invitation! In the past few months, Collette has started to like owls.  She has a book with owls in it, and when we get to the page with the owls, she will stop and hug and kiss the page. :) So I decided to go with an owl theme for her birthday, in brown, orange, and pink.

She even already had a pink and orange polka dot dress. :)

We did her party on Sunday for lunch, since most Sundays LL's family gets together for lunch anyway.  We decided to keep it simple and do meatball subs, chips, corn, and applesauce for lunch.  LL and I made the meatballs the night before, and put them in 2 crock pots.  Sunday before church, we plugged in the crock pots, and that was the sum total of our meal prep for Sunday!

I also decided to make some fun owl treats, which I did on Saturday.  I made Rice Krispy Treat Owl Pops (which I altered slightly from THIS website).  LL suggested we put them in pumpkins to put on the tables.

I made owl s'mores (idea from THIS website) as well.  These were Collette's favorite. :) Each table got a plate of these, too.

And we had to use our topiary tree! I put gummy orange slices on it this year.  And I made 3 of these cute, no-sew owls for decoration.  (Which I found from THIS website).

Collette loves them, and has been carrying them around hugging them and petting them. :)

We invited LL's family and a few vet friends, and used 3 tables total.  Our dining room seats about 12:

And the kiddos loved eating at the little picnic table that we also put in the dining room:

And then we had a table for 8 set up in the adjacent study/play room.

I used the buffet to display the photo books I've made of Collette since her last birthday, along with some balloons and an owl.

We served the food buffet style on the kitchen island:

And displayed a picture of Collette from each month in the kitchen as well.

For the all-important cake, I had to make an owl! :)

And of course, the Birthday Girl had to coordinate in a pink owl jumper and owl barrettes :)

Part Two will be the actual party! Stay tuned!