Charlie’s 2nd Birthday

 Last year for Charlie’s first birthday I was a #badmom and I didn’t plan a party. I justified it to myself because he won’t remember, right? Well it was the beginning of January and I realized I hadn’t started planning for his birthday party…again. So I got my shit together and planned a super rocking second birthday party for him.

 So I originally thought I wanted to get Charlie a bounce house. I did a lot of product research for the bounce houses. I read some articles about children catching hand-foot-and-mouth disease. So then of course I got super paranoid. I can’t pass out rashes for party favors… 

And then I found Awesome Toddlers Soft Play Equipment! There are three different types of packages to pick from. We rented the ‘Crazy Awesome Package.’ I was so impressed with this company. They were so professional, timely, and friendly. They showed up when they had said they would and that is huge especially when its crunch time and people are going to start arriving for the party. They set up the entire equipment rental. I watched them meticulously clean every piece of equipment prior to setting it up. I was so impressed by the cleanliness of the equipment. This is SO important because I don’t know a single toddler that doesn’t have a runny nose. We had the whole set for 4 hours. With all the amazing colors and obstacles, the kids could not seem to get enough. One of my favorite things about the rental, is that you can have it in the convenicene of your own home/yard. I loved feeling safe and was also able to enjoy every moment of watching all the children play. I was also very impressed that set up and pick up were included in the package price. The 4 hour time did not include set up and take down!The company is family owned and operated and you can definitely tell. The customer service is impeccable. I would recommend them to all my friends. Thank you Awesome Toddlers! 

I then decided to do more of a “colorful theme.” I visited Shindigz online and they have SO many options for parties. I was so impressed by the amount of party themes to choose from. After lots of thought, I decided to do the Monster theme (http://www.shindigz.com/monsters-birthday-theme/c/1931). I ordered the Monsters Personalized Ultimate Party Pack. I was so impressed with all that the party pack included. It came with 8 personalized dinner plates, 8 personalized dessert plates, 20 lime colored napkins, 8 personalized cups, lime colored cutlery, plastic table cover, 12 lime latex balloons, 12 white latex balloons, 66’ of silver curling ribbon, 81’ purple streamers, 81’ of white streamers, 18 x 54 personalized vinyl banner, 24 candy striped candles, 2 silver foil balloon weighs and 6 silver whirley’s (for décor). I mean is this not the best package for a birthday ever? And its reasonably priced and the quality is impeccable. Then I also ordered a monster standee( http://www.shindigz.com/Monsters-Standee-Set/p/KSSMMS). I loved having this big huge cardboard cut outs for décor and they really added to the scene! Lastly I ordered personalized hats and the vertical monster personalized banner. The shipping for these items was so fast which caught me by surprise considering my things were all personalized. The website was easy to use, easy to download pictures, and easy to edit and personalize each item (and it didn’t take long at all!). I can’t stress enough how impressed I was by the quality of Shindigz products

Since we went with the whole ‘monster theme’ I visited Nuby USA website and paired the Shindigz products with Nuby’s iMonster eatware. I used the iMonster Bowl as a crayon holder for the kids at the dining room table!

Then we obviously needed a piñata… and what’s better than a ‘Cars’ themed piñata… Charlie saw it and yelled “CARRRR!!” He still has the piñata in his room and he loves it. Windy City Novelties shipped it to me in about 2 days, great packaging, and superb customer service.

 Okay then I needed treats for the party.I did not want to buy all one type of candy for the party. Don’t get me wrong, I love butterfingers, but I only want one bite size and then Im on to the next thing! I found just the solution! Candy Jar (www.candyjar.com). It’s so simply, easy, and quite honestly… delicious! I went online, I picked my ‘glass jar’, I browsed over 600 (yes six hundred…) candies. I picked my favorites and ‘filled my jar’ and then I shipped it to myself! 

But candy isn’t enough… especially for a toddler birthday party. We needed cotton candy. I did not want the hassle of the cotton candy machine, because I’m going to be honest, kid birthday parties are MAD CHOAS. I was lucky that no one got smacked in the head with the bat while doing the piñata. So instead of doing the whole rental cotton candy machine, I found Flossies Foods! They selling individually packaged cotton candy and they are delicious! Our guests at the party loved them!

Okay and now for drinks… This was an easy choice. Purity organic sells the best tasting orange and apple juice I’ve ever tasted. They even beat out Martinelli’s and that is a feat. Purity organic uses the best Gravenstein apples to make the most uncompromising juice. There is no sugar added either! Purity organic has done all the work to bring the best bottled organic orange juice and it even comes with 100% of your daily recommended vitamin C. 

And since there are so many kids at the party, we need straws, and not the dollar store little plastic ones… I had to get Aardvark straws! Some things I love about Aardvark Straw company are, they are colorful, fun and creative. They are eco friendly, bio degradable and compostable. They are chlorine free, FDA approved and made in the USA. Oh and they are also customizable! And since we had Purity Organic teaming up with us, I picked out the Eco-Flex® paper straw. Eco Flex is a paper straw that bends right where they need it to!

 

Awesome Toddlers Soft Play Equipment Rental: http://www.awesometotsparty.com/

Shindigz (Personalized Party Supplies): http://www.shindigz.com/

Windy City Novelties (piñata): https://www.windycitynovelties.com/

Candy Jar: https://www.candyjar.com/

Purity Organic (juices/coconut water): http://purityorganic.com/

Flossies Foods (cotton candy): http://www.flossiesfoods.com/

Aardvark Straws: https://www.aardvarkstraws.com/

Nuby: http://www.nuby.com/