birthday party – Kristal Childs

Arden Rose | Second Birthday

Our daughter Arden Rose was absolutely obsessed with the moon, so choosing her 2nd birthday party theme was easy… Two the Moon! I’m excited to say it was recently featured on Kara’s Party Ideas. Previously for her first birthday, I did the bright and light floral garden party theme, which was also featured on Kara’s Party Ideas, so this year I really wanted to change things up with a moody, galactic style.

Cosmic colors and geometric elements were an easy way to create the theme. I talked Doug into making a wooden moon for the kiddos and families to pose on as a photo booth, and everyone loved it! The striped backdrop was a simple craft project that I painted in just a few minutes. I bought a drop cloth and some sample paint jars in my color scheme. Then I laid the drop cloth out in the grass, and used a roller to lightly paint the stripes. The grass made it perfectly imperfect- uneven and patchy like a cloudy sky. Next to the moon, I left some little wooden stars and moon shapes as props that said “Happy Birthday, Arden Rose!” and “I’m just here for the cake!”

Arden Rose’s dress was made my by mom, with the cutest cloud and constellation patterned fabrics ever. This year I rented kid sized tables and chairs so the littles could all sit together like little grownups. It was so cute! Each place setting had a jar of Stardust (silver glitter… sorry parents) with an agate balloon. For the adult tables’ centerpieces, we cut geometric wood shapes, painted them white, and arranged them in different patterns on each table, simulating constellations.

I don’t know about your parties, but at ours, the food station is always the center of attention. We had Two the Moon Turkey Sliders, Lunar Fruit with the Big Dipper marshmallow fruit dip, Veggie Rockets with the Little Dipper ranch dip, Moon Cheese and Crackers, Tang (which no one but the adults understood), Celestial Tea and H2O. I rented a silver sequin backdrop and table linens to enhance the design. Arden Rose’s cake table was a half moon shape (see what I did there?) with the sweetest two tiered night sky inspired cake. My mom also made the most amazing meringue cloud cookies which we served with the cake. Behind the cake I used clusters of white balloons to form clouds with a huge shiny silver metallic moon balloon as the focal point.

We had a build-your-own favor station with moon-themed goodies like Milky Ways, Meteorites (rock candy), Moon Pies, Astronaut Ice Cream, Moon Rocks (Starbursts inside of foil), Star Crunch, and Sugar Clouds (white cotton candy). We also had a play area with a giant inflatable bowling set, yard toys and quilts ready for our friends and family to make themselves at home. Seeing all of the planning and design come together is great, but spending time with friends and family is the icing on the two-the-moon-themed cake.