The Best Birthday Party Ever Part 2

When I arrived at the gym, I immediately began to haul everything upstairs. After a couple of trips, my parents, brother, grandma, and cousins arrived. I put them straight to work. They were a HUGE help. A little shout out to them. I couldn't have done it without their help. They are seriously the best. For my first party, I was pleased with the decor. To be quite honest I was a little proud of myself over this little party. Some of the decor... I made the confetti that you see on the table in the picture above. I bought punches shaped like a balloon and a birthday cake. I spent a couple of nights watching TV and punching out hundreds of balloons and cakes in cardstock. I painted a canvas and attached wooden numbers to display his birth year. Along the table I had some framed photos of the husband throughout the years. I could have put pictures EVERYWHERE! I had such a hard time only choosing a few. Now I have to tell you that the cake was more for me than for the birthday boy. He isn't really a cake eater, but I don't think its a birthday party without the cake. He much prefers his sister's lemon bars. Even though she had a BUSY weekend, Joy agreed to make him a pan of lemon bars. I created a cute (in my humble opinion) stand for them. I needed something to add height and this is what I came up with. I bought a vase at Wal-Mart. The basketballs are those squish balls that you play with in the water. I found them at Dollar Tree back in January. At the time, I had no idea how I was going to incorporate them. They worked perfectly for this and they ended up being a party favor for all the kiddos. I bought a basketball net and attached it to a charger plate with Velcro to sit on top. I also placed some of the his favorites on the table for our guest to enjoy. These are SKOR bars. I made the wrappers with card stock and Word. EASY!

We also had potato chips and peanut M&M's. I sat and picked all the orange, green, and blue M&M's out of 3 or 4 big bags. I have a stash of yellow, red, and brown M&M's still. :)

I also made this banner with my Inspiration (like a cricut). I wasn't allowed to attach anything to the wall in the party room, but I wanted the banner to hang above the table. My daddy made the two orange poles from PVC pipe. They were absolutely perfect!! He loves the 10 cent candy sticks from Cracker Barrel so we of course had those.As soon as the dcorations were almost finished, the guest started arriving. Family and friends!

Finally the birthday boy arrived!!! Unfortunately I missed his initial reaction. I had my back to the door. But from what I saw he was surprised. The funniest thing is that when he walked in we all threw our hands in the air and yelled surprise...including the photographer. Jill was in the moment and completely forgot to get a picture of him walking in. Too funny!! We sent him out to do it again. Stay tuned for the third and final part of The Best Birthday Ever.