Cooper's Little Red Wagon Party

Last weekend, we had Cooper's 2nd birthday party. I was sooo excited about this event, because it had been awhile since I had "planned" a birthday party. (Parker has had his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese the past two years and Cooper's was very last minute last year. :( ). I started thinking about the party months ago and knew I wanted it to be outside if the weather allowed. My thoughts kept going toward a Little Red Wagon theme, so I allowed all the natural ideas to come into play and decided to have fun with this!!!

 

Invites were ordered from Etsy; I thought they were adorable!

 

I kept going back and forth on having the party at an Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch or a park and decided on the park venue so that the kids could play hard on the playground. :) What I did not plan on was after not having rain for like months, it raining the DAY OF OUR PARTY. Option B went into effect at 8:30 Saturday morning when I looked outside at the overcast sky and few sprinkles. I decided to split the party...half the time at the park and half the time at our house. The rain actually held off while we were at the park but the temps were rather chilly. Each of the kids had a blast climbing and running on the large and complex playground area then were all ready to get inside to warmer temps and food within an hour. Approximately 35 friends and their children drove over to our house where I had the toys ready for the kids to play downstairs while I prepped lunch. Clay was manning the grill and I was in the kitchen. Thanks to our wonderful friends, it turned out fantastic! Some helped me in the kitchen while visiting and others promised to watch the kiddos while they played with the toys downstairs. They were sweet in understanding that things were a little bit crazy with the party plan change-up.

 

In terms of preparation for the party, we already had a Radio Flyer wagon and a miniature Radio Flyer wagon, so that helped with props. Gifts for the birthday boy filled the large wagon and the small version sat beside the party favor bags.

 

Party favor bags consisted on a variety of items depending on age and gender of child. Some of the items included sunglasses, small playdough containers, Disney playpacks and Halloween Fruit Snacks. Each family was to take a carton of Cracker Jacks to snack on on the way home.

A few nights before the party, I asked dear hubby to take on the project of the drafting and cutting out of the pieces for the little red wagon cut out for the favor bags. He totally exceeded my expectations! I loved the way they turned out! My original idea was to use muslim or burlap bags with a simple wagon stamp on the front, but this idea was neither affordable or workable into our time frame. However, after seeing these in their completed form, I might like the brown paper bags better. :)  

The night before the party, I put together this banner that showed a variety of pictures of Cooper that spanned the last two years. The banner was hung over the bar area where the food was; the red wagon displaying the gifts was placed on the floor below the banner.

For lunch, we kept it simple with burgers, chips and dip, veggies, and fruit kabobs. Old fashioned lemon drops and Twizzlers rested in Mason jars for the guests to munch on throughout the party. Drinks were served in large mason jars and topped with red striped paper straws.

The food was totally devoured, which Clay and I loved to see. :)

The cake came from Sam's (we LOVE the taste of their cakes and they are priced great!). The tasting of the cake was fabulous as usual; I was disappointed with the "look" of it though. Instead of an icing or 3D decoration of a red wagon, they used an edible image...totally not a fan. Note to self: will not EVER use edible imaging on cakes again unless printing a picture off of someone to include on cake.

Here are all the precious children. It was a joy having them all here!

The downstairs living room got put to use. ;) (I should have included a "before" picture. ha ha!)

And the "after" kitchen shot. I did not get to spend more than a few minutes total behind my camera during this party, so the pictures were not at all the quality I wanted. However, I was so excited that I captured the important stuff that I want to remember about the day. I am totally fine and happy with the prints I got. The Little Red Wagon Party was fun, loud, busy and memorable for Clay and me, and hopefully for the birthday boy as well.

 Thanks to all our wonderful friends who came out to wish Cooper a Happy Birthday! We hope you each had the wonderful time that we did!

...we love you so, sweet Cooper!!!