Belated Birthday

We never had a birthday celebration for Anna this year. When she turned two, I thought that I wasn't into the whole birthday party thing. We had one for her first birthday, but the one-year is considered a milestone birthday. I didn't grow up having regular birthday parties. I'm not a particularly good hostess. Anna was also in this social phobia stage and Kimberly was a newborn. So it was a no-brainer. I didn't want to put the time or money into a party.

However, recently I started thinking that I did want to celebrate Anna's birthday. Maybe it would be a good opportunity to get my mind off some of the difficulties in our lives right now. The methodical, predictability of putting together crafts and making decorations could be a welcome distraction from the chaos I felt on a daily basis. And I could use some of those craft supplies I collected over the years that were gathering dust. Another draw was that it would be an opportunity to have a social gathering where every food was ANNA-FRIENDLY!! How awesome would that be! Imagine- not having to keep her from any foods present! I was convinced. We decided to throw a little get-together. We had a lot of good friends we wanted to celebrate with, but due to Anna's stage of life and our accommodations we decided to keep it small with friends who had kids Anna's age.

We spent very little money, used a ton of stuff we already had on hand, made almost everything else ourselves, and had a lot of fun!





We talked about the party for several days before and Anna was super excited.







I made these party hats and little treat bags with craft supplies. All they had at the grocery store were Dora and Elmo lol.

 

 

 

Bouncy cow gets a hat, and my homemade banner.

 

 

I wanted Anna-friendly food that was fairly easy and still appealing to the masses. Not an easy task. I succeeded for the most part, but I did end up making the potato salad with mayonnaise. I was too hesitant to go with a vegan mayonnaise and trying to create a ranch seasoning mix from scratch didn't seem like good idea. Everything else was allergy free, though.

The Menu:

• Grilled chicken with garlic-free barbeque sauce (only one brand I've ever found, sold only two months out of the year at Whole Foods which is not located in Augusta- sheesh!)
• Homemade milk and garlic-free guacamole and corn chips
• Green beans cooked in homemade garlic-free chicken stock
• Fruit salad
• Asian noodle salad
• Potato salad
• Milk-free dinner rolls
• Snacks for the kids: raisins, cheerios, and butter-free popcorn.

 

Dessert was Rice Krispy treats with milk-free margarine and milk-and-egg free cupcakes with milk-free icing!




Another homemade banner!




Backyard setup

I did this to my forehead thanks to our ridiculous low-hanging chandelier. Without having the table underneath it my clumsy self got knocked on the head.




Thankfully I came up with a last minute fix.



Kimberly got into the cow spirit.

Birthday girl.



My homemade cow cut-out

 

 

Sleepy girl.