Ella Turned 2!

My sweet baby girl turned 2 this last month (way behind on posting!).  I can't believe how time flies!  I absolutely loved setting up her birthday party.  I am sticking with book theme parties until she is old enough to fight me on it.  Last year the theme of her party was Peter Rabbit.  It was such an adorable theme.  This year, I did a Goodnight Gorilla theme.  It is one of our favorite books and one of the first books I read to her when she was born.  And she loves animals so it just made sense.

Goodnight Gorilla is full of vibrant colors, animals escaping the zoo, and keys so that is what I tried to recreate with her party!

I throw balloons in her crib when she waks up on her birthday.  She LOVES this tradition! 

Sources: Crates and keys (we spray painted them), mason jars, and small plastic animals - Michaels, glass jar with gold lid, gold #2 balloon, plates, napkins, table cloth, party hats, wire basket - Target, Cupcake Stand, Lion Plush, Giraffe Plush, Gorilla Plush, Cupcake Toppers, Ella's zoo sign - handmade by dad :) 

Mini zoo cages with small animals, gift bags, and drinks...I covered the glass in this cabinet to hide all of our things and to add an extra decorative element.  I also replaced all of our pictures with printouts from the book.  

The mantle also had zoo animals in party hats. 

I drew an elephant, giraffe, and gorilla on pink party bags with a gold pen.  Each child got a toy giraffe, a color matching game, retelling sticks, and animal crackers in their bag.  

I printed out a picture of each animal in the book, cut and laminated them and then taped them to sticks.  Ella loves sitting wtih me and finding the animals in the book.  The color matching game was found here.

Kid Act

I put colored playdough in Ella's sensory table.  The patchwork pattern mirrors some of the cages in the

Ella and her friend are using the basket of animals to make animal footprints in the playdough

The Seseme Street pop up tent was a hit...not related to the theme though.  I tried to bring her play house inside for the zookeepers house BUT it won't fit through the siding doors...oh well!

One of my favorite things were these animal party ears!  I got them on Etsy here. They made the perfect photo props for the girls!

It was such a fun day!  I'm glad we could share it with you :)