Elmo Loves to Party {Paige's 2nd Birthday Party}

There's no doubt that my Paigey-pooh loves all things Sesame Street, namely Elmo's World. Unlike my Jack who by this age would sit perfectly still for a feature-length animated movie, Paige rarely watches much T.V. except in passing or if it happens to be on while Jack watches a morning cartoon or two. However, I have found Sesame Street or Elmo videos to be a nice distraction for her should I need a few minutes to empty the dishwasher or fold a load of laundry.

While I'm normally anti-character-themed birthday parties, I have found several party blogs to be a great source of inspiration for chic character parties. I started gathering ideas on Pinterest and asked Nancy for "permission" to host a character-themed event to mark Paige's second birthday. I was immediately met with a "uh, I don't think so." But after perusing my idea boards, Nancy agreed that indeed an Elmo theme could be cute and not cliche.

I started with the invitations from One Swell Studio on Etsy. I've decided that I will always use Etsy for invitations. This design only cost $12.50 and I could print as many as I'd like on my home computer. What a deal! Now, I just need to figure out how to print the best possible quality from my home computer.

The colors, pink, orange and red with a bit of "street sign" green pulled the Elmo theme together throughout the party.

Birthday door hanging street sign from That Party Chick on Etsy.

The iconic phrase from the Sesame Street theme song greeted guests as they entered
and a beautifully, sunny, December day it was!

I, of course, enlisted Nana Yenna to make an adorable Elmo frock, complete with Elmo t-shirt applique and coordinating double ruffle pants. The headband, she threw in for good measure, to finish the birthday look. If you don't have a talented Nana to sew your party girl or guy an outfit, you can find several really cute and festive outfits on Etsy (note I pinned several on my inspiration board to copy).

I learned from my whirlwind baking session last year for the milk and cookies theme, to "keep it simple, stupid." With a 3:30 timeframe, I felt like snacks were sufficient, so I ordered two sandwich trays from Publix and provided crackers, veggie platter and fruit to fill little bellies before diving into cupcakes and cookies.

Shindig Parties To Go, served as a major inspiration for the party theme, they have a great Elmo party pack that the buffet and game signs came from.

A pink polka dot table runner, balloons, {harder than they look} ribbon topiaries, and another street sign from That Party Chick served as table decor. 

I used Sesame Street figurines around the food and games outside to bring in the full cast of characters. These serve double duty, as Paige also loves playing with these little guys.

Sesame Street Sandwiches
Publix finger sandwiches with ham salad, pimento cheese, egg salad and chicken salad.

Dorothy's Goldfish Crackers
Served up in a fish bowl vase from Hobby Lobby.

Abby's Fruity Fairy Wands {3 red grapes and carambola slices (star fruit) on bamboo skewers} made the mini, kid-friendly wands.

Big Bird's PB&J Pinwheels
These were a Publix platter, but you could easily recreate this with wheat wraps, peanut butter and jelly. These also featured a hidden fruit roll-up surprise in the middle.

Elmo's Veggie Platter
Which featured the face of the lovable, red monster himself made out of
grape tomatoes, black olives, baby carrots and ranch dip with olives for eyes.

My dear friend, Ali {who is also great cook and baker}, keeps this under tight wraps, but she has become quite proficient in beautifully decorated royal icing sugar cookies. I enlisted her help in making 3 dozen of these yummy "P" and "2" cookie party favors. Did I say that I was keeping it simple? Uh, I guess I meant for myself. Thanks Ali for baking up all of these cookies at the height of Christmas baking season! I'm indebted for life. I know she doesn't want to do this as a side job, but perhaps she'll host a tutorial party at her house one day for us sugar cookie novices instead.

The desserts were served outside on the patio. Rightly so, as you can tell we were serving toddlers Elmo-red icing.

The birthday girl got her very own mini-cake baked by moi. I made the Elmo topper and polka dots out of Duff brand red fondant and copied the look for Elmo from a photo on the internet.

The cupcakes were purchased from Publix. I asked the bakery to pipe chocolate cupcakes
with red icing using a grass tip to make it look like fur. Then I added at home eyes with marshmellows cut in half,  pupils out of jumbo chocolate chips, the nose with a pretzel M&M, and the mouth with an oreo cookie halved. What a mess, but oh, how cute!

Hosting at our home comes with one major drawback and it's that we don't have that much space in our downstairs living area. Throw in a Christmas tree and presents and we have even less space. One could only hope for a gorgeous day to get outside! Luckily, God delivered, so most of the party took place on our patio with plenty of games and activities to keep the little ones busy.

Feed Cookie Monster {a really cute toy purchased from Target, when you put cookies in Cookie's mouth, he chews them and talks to you – again this one served double duty as a birthday gift for the birthday girl}

Hoopers {which in hindsight may be more of a lunch counter than a grocery store, but oh well the kids loved it!}.

Counting with The Count

Elmo's World Coloring

Ernie's Lucky Duck Game, which is similar to a carnival game where you pick a duck and match the shape and color on the bottom to claim a prize.

Pinwheels, coloring books, crazy straws, bubbles and wands were prizes to be garnered and also served as another party favor for little guests.

Oscar's Trash Toss {shooting baskets with crumpled paper or in Mack's case, throwing Murray in the trash can was more fun}

I failed to snap photos of "Blowing Bubbles with Bert" and "Murray's Word on the Street" {which was another Ikea magnet board with letters instead of numbers similar to the counting game}. We also had a Tickle Me Elmo {a gift from Paige's Nana Ann} for the kids to play with, which provided lots of giggles and grins.

Next it was time for cake and cupcakes...

The birthday girl blew out her candle...

Once most of the party-goers left, we opened gifts, which was hectic enough for me...

The birthday girl had a blast!

And even Murray got in on the action and wore his party hat for the special occasion.

In the end, I'm really glad I went with my gut to throw the character themed party. Paige loved every minute of her Elmo/Sesame Street birthday and I really enjoyed seeing the joy it brought to her! Even though it's a crazy time of year to pull off a party, I love making birthdays special for my special little girl!