Legree's 2nd Birthday Party... part 2... the decorations

Legree's birthday party this year was a John Deere theme. If you don't know us personally, or Legree, then you don't know that he is OBSESSED with John Deere (no other tractor will do). Ben's father restores antique John Deere's and has quite a few, so Legree has grown up aroud him. I have a picture of Legree when he was 2 months old sitting up on an antique tractor. One of his first words and his first multiple word was "John Deere". So, it was only natural to have his birthday party John Deere. I scoured the internet for John Deere decorations and everything was just SO expensive. So, I just decided to get crafty and do it on my own. It was pretty easy to just stick to the green and yellow theme with a couple of tractors thrown in. Legree loved the theme! The whole ride home from the party he kept saying "My John Deere party!" "My John Deere party!" It made this mommy's heart melt! For all the hard work, time and effort to hear his exciment even after we left was PRICELESS!

Here are some pictures and descriptions...

This is a banner I made to hang up at the party. I did one like this last year with a picture for each month. So, I used those same pictures for the first year and then printed off pictures for each month for the second year. I attached the pictures to the ribbon by... get this... sewing them onto the ribbon! Who knew you could sew pictures, but you can! I used my circle cutter to cut out 24 circles and wrote the month on each one. It turned out super cute and everyone loved seeing the pictures!






I purchased the cupcake toppers and wrappers from Chickabug on Etsy. Super easy and cute! I just printed the PDF off that she sent me, cut them out and put them on the cupcakes. I found the cupcake stands on clearance at Walmart for $3 a piece! Can't beat that! I took ribbon and tied it onto the cupcake stands for some extra pizzaz. The Happy Birthday hat was given to Legree on his 1st birthday. Thank goodness it didn't say 1st birthday because it was perfect for this birthday. And I completed the cupcake table with a picture of Legree on his tractor.



This was a big hit at the party! A Balloon wreath. I can't take the credit. I mean I made it, but the idea came from here: http://www.howdoesshe.com/birthday-wreath. I love this blog! They have the cutest crafts and ideas. This one was SO easy and precious!




And here's a picture of the food table. Nothing to fancy. Just the food, the wreath and a couple of pictures of our little man around it.

This is not the best picture of these little gems. But they are cake pops. Ever heard of them? Well you need to go make some... now! Because they are OH SO GOOD! Do you like to eat cake batter? You know like the spoon clean of cake batter? Well, these puppies taste just like cake batter, but they are fully cooked! I got the idea here: http://brodyfrancis.blogspot.com/2011/04/cake-pops.html .

I'm so glad I made them! I had these in cups sitting on each table for people to eat as they wanted. They were soo good! Everyone was begging for the recipe on how to make them. Basically you bake a cake, cool it, crumble it all up in a bowl (like into little pieces), mix it with a can of frosting, roll it into balls, stick it on a lollipop stick and coat it with melted candy and cover with sprinkles. Sugar rush much? Seriously, give them a try! YUMMY!

And last but not least the kids table. Pretty simple but the kids loved the tractors on the table. And each kid had a bag with their name on it. They got crayon rolls monogrammed with their name on it (thanks to my sister in law Keri), a coloring book (I just printed off farm pictures off the internet and tied the papers together to make a personalized coloring book. The cover said "Thanks for coming to my party! Love, Legree) and they had a package of John deere fruit snacks.

There you have it! Pretty cheap but still very cute nd fun for the kids!

Next up, the party, the guests, the birthday boy eating his TWO cupcakes AND the John Deere Choo Choo train!! Yup, you read that right... Legree had a John Deere pulling a little train at his party (courtesy of his Paw Lewis).