Caillou Birthday Party

On Saturday July 21st our little boy turned 2! That same day we offered his birthday bash at The Little Gym. It was F-U-N!

Now, before I start sharing details with you, I have to say: this was WAY too much preparation for 90 minutes! That's all you have. But knowing me, and always putting so much thought into every little detail, I had to do all these goodies for two grand reasons...One: My son LOVES Caillou! and the look on his face when he saw everything set up -and Caillou images all over the place- was worth all the effort I put into it.

Two: This is what I do, this is what I LOVE to do and I enjoyed every second of it.

I designed the invitation, inspired on all the Caillou party supplies sold online that I have bought two months before. Once I had all these goodies in my hands...

images via birthdayexpress.com

... I designed the invitation. Mostly inspired by the placemat and the image of Caillou with his hands up in the air from the cup...Cute!

Now, for the party goodies I made:

- 2 Happy Birthday Banners

- Food Tents
- Juice Bottle Labels

- Favor Tags

- Welcome Sign

- Centerpieces

- Cake Decoration (well 1/3 of it!)

Beforehand, I want to say that I am not the best photographer out there, neither I have the greatest camera - although I am dreaming of a Canon EOS 7D - and on top of that, the light wasn't good at the venue. The walls are yellow and they soaked up the natural light.... and I picked yellow tablecloths nonetheless! So, my apologies for the not-so-good pics. Here we go:

First, the Welcome Sign. This is the only picture with natural light of course, it was outside hanging on the front door...

This is a simple Happy Birthday banner. Initially I thought I would put it as a background for the main table, but behind that table there was a window - bummer!- so I opted for a wall on the side of the room. Here is where the yellow soaks up my natural light!.

Here is a zoom...

This is the main table (with the outside view background). I put a second banner over the skirt. In case you're wondering, I use double sided foam squares to hold everything up on the wall and on the table skirt, it works great!

These are the kids' tables...

Everytime I go to Target, my first stop is the Dollar Spot. I am always stocking up on tin buckets... I am obsessed with them! They are cute, cheap and they are multi-use. So, I used them for the centerpieces... just like in last year's party and weighed them down with crayons.

Last year I labeled water bottles...This year - thanks to my girlfriend whose little boy's birthday party I helped to decorate - I took the idea from her and labeled also Apple Juice bottles - duh!- last year I gave the kids juice in pouches that I couldn't label.

Here is a picture of the whole label in all colors. 

Going back to the main table, these are the favors. I bought mini totes in all matching colors, except I could not find red so I used hot pink instead for the little girls. I was upset I couldn't find red...that's how quirky I am! But, girls love pink so at the end it was all good! 

Here is a zoom of the favor tags...

Now, moving onto...the cake! I searched high and low for Caillou birthday cakes ideas and I found beautiful ones on Pinterest, many very professional made with rolled fondant...but I think that kids are not too 'fond' of it -no pun intended! - Instead, buttercream icing is a go! So, I went to my local bakery at the grocery store and I ordered a simple yellow cake with all primary colors icing, specifying that I wanted green on top (to simulate grass in a park) and no writings on top. The decorator called me that morning to double check with me about the "no writing, no words, no happy birthday on top" note I left on the order. And then she asked me again when I went to pick it up! I had a better plan: 

I bought these Caillou figurines in a backpack and I placed them on the cake. My personal touch were the balloon candles and the little "Happy 2nd Birthday Logan" banner that Rosie and Leo are holding...It's my favorite thing of the whole party decor! :)

...and because it's my favorite part, here are more pictures :)

This sight made my son smile BIG time!

So, everyone knows I can't bake, but I was in the mood for some mini cupcakes with primary colors icing, so I went and asked my friend Betty Crocker to give me a hand and the night before, I iced 48 of these babies myself with these wonderful Wilton Ready-To-Use Icing. They are... imperfectly perfect! The only reason why I did not use cupcake toppers was because they don't fit inside this particular cupcake stand that I love because it lends itself for some cute decorations.

Here is zoom of the Caillou image on top...

This is one of the bucket tins holding colorful Rainbow Spiral Lollipops. I had two tins, one on each side of the main table...

I found personalized latex balloons and paired them with the foil balloons. Swoon!

My girlfriend made these brazilian sweets called Beijinhos (Little Kisses) and they are made of coconut and condensed milk...I ate them all! :) Here you can see a sample of the food tents.

Another food tent -with better light - this picture is terrible...yikes! I was in a hurry.

and finally, a bonus pic of me and my little man...

After 60 minutes of " serious fun " inside the Gym itself, the kids came inside the party room, ate pizza, draw on the reverse of the activity placemats, we sang happy birthday and ate cake. We had a full house! All the kids that were invited attended and that makes all the hours of hard work worth the effort. Everyone, kids and adults had a great time!

Thanks for stopping by!