My sweet baby girl turns two today . . . where does the time go? To celebrate we (I) decided to have a big party and it was so much fun!
The Sound of Music was the party theme because Scotlyn loves the movie so much. She calls it, “Do Deer” and already has most of the songs memorized.
We sent a telegram style invitation that I found on Paperless Post asking people to join us for “tea with jam & bread.”
Her dress was a gift from my dear friend. How perfect, right?
We ordered a huge poster for the entryway . . .
And we put a special guest book below it so each family could take a Polaroid picture of themselves and leave a note for Scotlyn. (My original idea was to have them write their favorite thing about/memory of Scotlyn but somehow my greeter (who shall remain nameless, AHEM, Erik) missed the memo so we got sweet hello’s instead. Still very lovely, though… she can look back as an adult and see the love people had for her, even at a young age.)
From the song, “My Favorite Things” I had:
Raindrops on roses . . .
A friend picked up some yellow roses for me to display.
Whiskers on kittens . . .
I found kitten coloring pages online and printed about 30 copies for the kids to color. I also set out construction paper for them to make cards.
Bright copper kettles . . .
A friend let me borrow her grandfather’s copper kettle. Over 100 years old! (I put yellow roses in the kettle but did not have them yet when I took this photo. . . see that pic below.)
Warm woolen mittens . . .
I baked my special sugar cookie cut outs and used a mitten cookie cutter.
Brown paper packages tied up with strings . . .
We gave each family volume two of “Hidden in My Heart Lullabies,” Scotlyn’s favorite music to listen to at night. She calls them “ahbies” and sometimes she surprises us by singing along with them. If you don’t have these CD’s, order them! Even if you don’t have a small child… they are so very peaceful. The tag on each package said “My heart will be blessed with the sound of music,” lyrics from the opening song in The Sound of Music (The Hills Are Alive). It is my prayer that each little heart that hears those CD’s will be just that—blessed! 🙂
These are a few of my favorite things . . .
I had two shelves displaying some of Scotlyn’s current favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes…
I asked the parents to dress their wee girls in white dresses and each little girl was given a hat with a blush sash.
Cream colored ponies & crisp apple strudel . . .
I made two apple strudels and also made apple strudel muffins. (I chopped a LOT of apples the day before!). And yes, that’s a creepy looking pony but hey, it worked.
Doorbells & sleigh bells . . .
I found these cute sleigh bells at the Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas in November. They’re a Christmas decoration but worked great for the party!
Schnitzel with noodles . . .
I didn’t know what schnitzel was until I googled it. Pounded chicken or pork that’s fried . . . that would have added one too many things to my to-do list so I found hormone free/antibiotic free frozen chicken fingers in the frozen food section at Publix and served them with whole wheat noodles.
Wild geese that fly with a moon on their wings . . .
Scotlyn was into geese for a few months so I ordered a Mother Goose from the North American Bear company this past Easter. It fit perfectly with the song because it has the cow jumping over the moon, so I put it on display.
For munchies and food I had . . .
“Tea with jam and bread”
Biscuits, English Muffins & jam on the adult food table.
For the kiddos at their picnic (did I mention we had a picnic?) I had Jammy Sammy’s—Plum Organics way of giving kiddos jam & bread and my way of serving it to them in a not-so-messy way. Those were a huge hit, some of the kids requested more. (See below for pic.)
“High on a hill was a lonely goat-herd . . . “
Of course, no Sound of Music themed party would be complete without paying homage to the puppet show scene so I made sure to pick up some goat cheese from Trader Joe’s and paired it with assorted crackers. (The goat puppet on display actually sings that song. It was an early birthday gift to Scotlyn from her Mimi and Grandpa.)
And of course, the crisp apple strudel & apple strudel muffins, schnitzel with noodles and mitten cookies that I already mentioned.
Lucky charms. Yes, lucky charms. Yes, this is keeping with the theme. Remember the song that says, “Follow every rainbow until you find your dream . . . “? I was patting myself on the back for coming up with this one. By the way, tying so many ribbons/strings on so many items takes so.very.long. I did all of this myself but I would recommend recruiting family members or friends if you want to tackle any of these projects.
This lyric from one of the songs describes Scotlyn perfectly . . . “my heart wants to sing every song it hears . . . “
The activities were simple but kept the kiddos occupied. Besides coloring kittens, they also decorated lunch bags to take with them to the picnic (I’m getting to the picnic).
Bloom and grow forever!
I also ordered edelweiss seeds for them to plant.
Now on to the picnic. I wanted it to resemble the picnic the kids have with Maria in the movie (it’s Scotlyn’s favorite scene).
I had a picnic basket filled with the plates, napkins, and utensils nd I put down a quilt for the children to sit on that reminded me of the curtains Maria sewed into clothes for the von Trapp children. It was yellow instead of green but the pattern was close.
I offered pink lemonade (mentioned in another scene).
(Because most parents don’t want to give their kids too much sugar, I made sure it was organic. Because we all know organic sugar is healthy, right? 😉 )
They ate their schnitzel with noodles and jammy sammy’s (jam & bread) and listened while I read them My Favorite Things, a beautiful book!
Erik came in with the guitar and we sang the Edelweiss song twice . . . we don’t have a photo of this currently, just video.
And that was that. It was a great day. We even managed to get a picture where you can see almost every single kiddo’s face. Now THAT is success.
Oh, and each mom & dad left with a brown bag hiding their own take-away treat . . . two of my Oat To Joy cookies.
**You don’t have to spend a fortune to do something like this if you plan well. I started gathering things a month in advance. I found things at Ikea, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, TJMaxx/Homegoods, and the Dollar Tree. I baked the cookies, strudel, and strudel muffins myself, and bought the chicken fingers and noodles when Publix had BOGO sale. Most of the other food items were from Trader Joes (the jam, biscuits, english muffins, goat cheese, etc..). It takes a little more time and effort to be mindful about budget but that’s all part of the fun!