Elizabeth’s second birthday was an absolute blast! She adores Daniel Tiger, and it seemed like a no-brainer to have her birthday be a Daniel Tiger birthday!
I’m not the best party planner, but if I have a theme, I can go to town!! This party wasn’t very expensive or hard to put together, which is great for me. I’m not particularly crafty or DIYish, but it all came together well!
Let me take you on a tour of the birthday party, pre-guests arriving. Special thanks to my husband, who I sent around taking pictures. He’s the Official Blog Photographer 🙂
I’ll have links to all the sources, recipes and tutorials at the bottom!
The front door wreath was just a simple grape vine wreath, and I hot glued on a Daniel Tiger printable, some streamers, and some leftover trolley cars. Then I just grabbed a Target Dollar Spot chalkboard sign to let everyone know they can just come on in.
The goodie bags – I didn’t stick to the theme. Instead I just did things I knew Elizabeth would get a kick out of. So I found some pumpkin straws in the Dollar Spot, small containers of play dough, and little kazoos. Then Elizabeth decorated the outsides with stickers. I didn’t want to put too much time or money in it because 1) little toddlers just love small, simple things, and 2) the odds that everyone grabs one before they leave is low.
The playroom was going to be hopping during the party! So I first cleared out any toys that may cause issues or took up too much floor space. Then I grabbed our kid craft tables, and did a few Daniel Tiger printable coloring pages for the kiddos. Too bad Elizabeth found them about 15 minutes BEFORE the party started and did her single swipe of color across most of them. HA! I also stuck some leftover character printables on the doors.
Next up – the Dining Room! This room required a lot of attention! I knew we’d have all the kids sit in there to eat (easier to have toddlers eating at a table) so the decorations had to be over the top!
I went to town with a circle paper punch and made pretty lace edged paper circles using red and orange cardstock. I stuck the Daniel Tiger character printables on top and hung them from the chandelier.
The table turned out great! A simple red plastic table cloth, and then some DT toys. I borrowed the toys from a friend, and it was the perfect centerpiece! My mother-in-law had the genius idea of putting Daniel Tiger’s house on a bed of brown sugar to look like sand (since he lives at the beach). I also had some leftover small circle punches and used that as confetti. Throw in a few balloons and it was pretty darn cute in there!
The cake was SO SIMPLE! I saw a pic on Pinterest of a cute cake idea, and just replicated it. I went to my local grocery store bakery and asked them to make a 2-tiered cake. It was vanilla with strawberry filling (Daniel Tiger’s favorite cake), and then I had them just do a white buttercream frosting. I make the little bunting and topped it with some Daniel Tiger figurines that I already had. Simple!
I wanted to keep the food table decorations simple and up high, since I needed all the space for food I could get. I made the tissue paper garland. And then a sweet friend of mine (and her husband!) designed and created that trolley banner for me!! Adorable, right? It’s so cute! Definitely saved that!
The table itself was mostly food, except for one centerpiece (Costco!). I stuck in a few more character printables, too.
Such a simple, do-it-the-night-before menu! Links to recipes are down below, but the menu was so yummy, and I barely did much prep work. Everything was done/prepped ahead of time, so the morning of, I just popped the casseroles in the oven. That was it!
I just kept cold drinks simple – water and then a special brunch punch. That punch was so delicious! Definitely pin that one for your next gettogether.
Can’t come to my house without snagging a hot drink! I didn’t do anything special, other than make sure there were to-go cups with lids for the hot drinks. Easier to chase kids around when your hot drink has a lid!
As for Elizabeth, she was SO EXCITED to have her friends and family at her “birfday paaarty”. Once the party was over, we opened presents with family. And then it was nap time! That’s the beauty of a toddler birthday brunch! Oh, and isn’t that Daniel Tiger hair bow so cute? One of my little splurges for the sake of the party.
Elizabeth just enjoyed herself royally. And I was a pretty grateful mom at the end of the day. It was one of the easiest parties, birthday or just random gettogether, that we’ve every thrown! Other than baking muffins on Friday night, and then some casserole assembly and hanging decorations (which took us about an hour) on Saturday night, it was a pretty simple birthday.
Smart idea wins? Ordering a cake and balloons from my local grocery store bakery ($30 total! Totally worth it!), utilizing free printables online, keeping food simple, and DIY decorations all helped keep the stress levels low and costs down. My biggest wins were definitely the cake and choosing to do a muffin mix instead of muffins from scratch. So fast and easy! And they all still tasted yummy.
Here are links to all the recipes, DIY tutorials and printables I used!
Menu
Hashbrown Casserole (made 2 pans)
Baked Oatmeal (doubled recipe)
Strawberry “Pancake” muffins (easy storebought mix!)
Banana Muffins (easy storebought mix!)
Assorted fruit
Whipped Strawberry Butter for muffins
Honey Cream Cheese Spread for muffins
Orange Lemon Cranberry Punch
Water & Assorted Hot Drinks
Store bought cake, but inspired by bunting and this picture found on Pinterest
Decorations
Tissue Paper Garland tutorial
Daniel Tiger Circle Printables
Daniel Tiger Coloring Pages
Round scalloped paper punch
Trolley Garland (made by a friend!) but you can see on Etsy something similar
Daniel Tiger Invitations
Daniel Tiger hair bows
Daniel Tiger stick characters
Flowers – centerpiece and arrangements (from Costco!)
Daniel Tiger toys – all already on hand or borrowed from friends
So, bottom line is – it may seem like a lot for a toddler party, BUT it truly wasn’t! Know your limitations, do DIY where comfortable, and remember – it’s just a kids’ party!
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Oh my goodness how precious of a little party! You did a terrific job 🙂
Thank you!! I enjoyed this party a lot more than her last one! Less stress and it was such a cute party!
So cute! And smart idea with the brunch… I’ve only thrown a first birthday, but we did a lunch party and it was just the wrong time with naps… But a breakfast/brunch party is a great idea I’ll be taking from you! You thought of all the details and did a wonderful job, mama!
Thank you!! We are definitely always doing brunch parties from now on. I mean, worst case scenario is a pile of donut holes and some OJ/coffee, right?? Easy food, and the best timing for naps.
Oh my gosh! You did such an amazing job with this party. Elizabeth is a special little girl.
Thank you!!! And I think so too 🙂
Awww, this party is super cute! I don’t have kids yet but I’m gaining a bunch of nieces and a nephew when I get married next month, so I’m sure I’ll end up throwing a birthday party or two at some point.
Happy Early Wedding Day!! How exciting! Kids birthdays are the best! Who doesn’t love balloons and cake?? 🙂
It turned out GREAT!! I loved all the little trolleys, how you used DT toys as decorations and all of your attention to detail. The cake looked delicious and it was sweet to have Elizabeth add her own touch of stickers to the favors. Your menu looked tasty and I’m sure your brunch theme was a hit. The bow was definitely worth the splurge and I loved your confetti, tassel garland and character decorations. Great job, Mama!!
I’m so grateful for crafty friends – I showed her a pic of the trolley garland on Etsy, and she and her husband whipped it up together for me! And it was such a great decoration. We kept it! Brunch is definitely the way to go from now on 🙂
What a cute idea! We have only thrown after nap parties but I love the idea of a brunch. And my daughter loves Daniel Tiger as well. Such a great character. Love the party!
We did the after nap party too, but this seemed like better timing for all. And plus I had the whole rest of the day to relax and clean up. Thank you!!
Doesn’t etsy just make party planning so much easier! I love all of this! Such an adorable event!
YES!! I just wish some of their stuff shipped faster. I always forget to order Etsy stuff soon enough… but thankfully THIS time I was able to take advantage 🙂
What an adorable birthday party! You did such a great job! Elizabeth looks like she had a great time. 🙂
Sarah
http://mybowsandclothes.blogspot.com
Thank you!! And I think she did!
Eeeeek! This was perfect! You did a great job, Katie! My E is starting to like Daniel Tiger so I may need this post for a future birthday party. Fantastic idea!
Daniel Tiger has been a fav in this house since Elizabeth was about 14 months. She loves it. And I don’t mind watching it either! Those little ditties he has have come in handy for many things. Thank you!
Omg this is adorable, and I don’t even know who Daniel Tiger is! Also, are you sure you’re not a party planner, because this looks AWESOME. 🙂
HAHAHA!! I’m not a good party planner unless there is a solid theme that has a decent amount of props already available for mass consumption 😉 Thank you!
Oh you did so good! Daniel Tiger is one of the best kid shows ever too. What a great birthday for such a sweet girl.
We adore Daniel Tiger! I don’t mind his cute little ditties 🙂 It was such a fun birthday! Thank you!
This turned out so cute! I love the idea of doing a brunch to help take the pressure off – everyone loves brunch food, and unlike dinner (which is what I did to myself with this party!) it’s not a huge deal to fill everyone up, because they have the rest of the day to eat 🙂
The cake is adorable, and I love the coloring page thing too – I did that with some printouts as well, and I’ll definitely tuck that away for future toddler party ideas.
Happy 2nd birthday, Elizabeth!
We are ALWAYS doing brunch from now on. It was just the right timing with meals and naps. I love printables! They are definitely going to be my go-to party trick now. Yay for 2 year olds now 🙂 Can you believe it?
Adorable! My friend did a Daniel Tiger bday parry and she did a lot of DIY decorations and stuff too. And for both of Kane’s birthdays, we’ve utilized toys we already had for the cake.
Tif
http://www.brightonabudget.com
I realized for this party that little kids don’t care about the party! Just really want some fun balloons and cake. 🙂 HAHA!
It all looked great! The trolley banner is so cute. So nice of your friends to make that for you! I also like the idea of a brunch. Thanks for sharing all of the details and recipe links. I’m going to keep this in mind for my son. He is starting to really enjoy Daniel Tiger!