Friday, November 03, 2006

Golden Birthday!

Since Emily was 2 on the second - this was her "golden birthday". So, we used the golden theme and did everything yellow!

We started the day off with Chocolate Chip Pancakes (look for the recipe next week - yummy!) and then went to Chick-Fil-A (her favorite!) for lunch. Here is what we did for her party:

The invitations were yellow two's that I cut out and wrote party details on. I asked everyone to wear someting yellow or gold.

A yellow cake with yellow frosting!

I used white paper to wrap her gifts and a yellow marker to add lots of yellow!

Favors: yellow organza boxes filled with mini star-shaped sugar cookies with yes, you guessed it - yellow frosting!

The lighting is off in this photo - but really shows all the balloons, I had tied one to each chair. For dinner we had all yellow foods:

macaroni and cheese (Emily's favorite!)
corn
lemonade
bananas
cornbread muffins & butter

I used clear bowls for the food - so the yellow would add to the table looking festive!


So, because I know there are a lot of thrifty-mamas out there, I will even tell you what this party cost:

* Invitations: one piece of scrap book paper - 0.20
* Favors: yellow organza boxes: on clearance after Easter 75% off - 0.25 each; total $1.50
* Gifts: ballet set and blender; free with Discover card bonus.
* Wrapping: paper - gift from moving neighbor, ribbon - Wal-Mart clearance - 0.10
* Balloons: $1.17 at Wal-Mart for 15; $7.80 for helium
* Cake: homemade, #2 candle - left from a twenty-something birthday - zero
* Yellow leis: free with a $5 coupon from the party goods store. There was no minimum purchase.

Total spent: $10.77
The balloons were the bulk of this, but she is so captivated by balloons right now that I knew this would be the perfect birthday treat for her! Also, I don't count ingredients for dinner or cake because they are all things I would have on hand anyway and we eat dinner every night, so it is not a special party expense!

9 comments:

Mary Ann said...

You amaze me with your great, yet simple and inexpensive ideas! What a great party for a 2-year old. She looked very happy with the party!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I loved the ideas and it was fun reading about your frugal deals.

Thanks for keeping a blog and sharing with the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

I love the theme ideas you had. I will have to remember to do something like this for the next birthday around here.

Blessings
Lisa

Megan said...

Can I just say that I had no idea about the whole "Golden Birthday" thing until reading this? And at first I worried that I missed all ours, but realized that my third will turn 5 on February 5 and I could do it the next birthday. And could also do my 4th when she turns 6 on a 6th. But my first and second will probably be forgotten because their birthdays are on the 29th and 28th, so maybe I just won't bother...

:)

Happy Birthday, Emily!!

Monica Wilkinson said...

Hey Megan, Lots of people around me seem to not have heard of this either. So, I wondered - did I make this up or just dream this up? I just did a search and in fact, it is correct about one's golden birthday being when they turn the age of the date of their birthday. Rachel's won't be until she is 22 - so, it probably won't work for her. But, with Emily being so young - it seemed like a fun party idea! :)

Anonymous said...

These golden birthday decorations and refreshments are absolutely darling! :) Everything was very specially planned for little Emily -- good job, Monica! :)

Wish we could have been there --

Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

What a fun idea! Had never heard of a golden birthday before. I agree with Grace; your planning ability is amazing! Great job!

Anonymous said...

I am continually amazed with all your home goodness...! hehe Thanks for the inspiration~

Jenn

Paula said...

I enjoyed seeing the way you celebrated Emily's birthday. Everything looked so nice; I'm sure your little sweetie had a wonderful party.

(I enjoyed the pics from last year, too.)