Berkeley's 2nd Birthday Party

So when I was pregnant with Berkeley, my due date was October 27th. I was really hoping she would come before Halloween, because I thought it would be awesome to have costume parties for her birthday! Well, last year she was a little young for that and we had family in town, so we just did a small family cake and ice cream party. This year, I am not pregnant or nursing and had some free time, so I decided to throw her a big birthday bash!

The hardest part about being in the best ward ever with the coolest people ever is narrowing down the guest list! I wish I had the funds and space to invite everyone, because we have so many fun families that would have been fun, but I had to be realistic and narrowed it down to invite 9 families. Then there were 2 families who couldn't come. This is seriously the biggest party I have ever thrown and I was talking to members of my family about planning it and they were like, "Holy cow! Why are you inviting so many people?" but I still felt like I was leaving so many people out.

Anyway, it was so much fun and I spent so long looking forward to it and pinning for it and planning it. I had a bunch of fun games planned, but I decided since I was inviting parents, I wanted to enjoy myself, I didn't want to be stressed out the whole time, so I decided at the last minute to just make it low key and we just ate lunch, the kids played, then we sang happy birthday and ate cupcakes then opened presents.

Each little boy got a knight helmet and each little girl got a halloween flower headband. I used her birthday yearbooks for decoration as well. The book is her birthday present from us each year.

I got this bail of hay for $5 at the pumpkin patch, I thought it made the perfect seat for pictures! Then, my friend had this banner from her daughter's birthday and let me borrow it. It fit perfectly!

 I took a picture of each family when they came, and I included the picture of them in their thank you notes.

Here are our awesome neighbors, Mark and Katie with their son, Knox:

Here is an adorable new family in our ward, The Hendersons. Their daughters ages align well with Cheyenne and Berkeley's:

Lena, Scottie and little squirt in Lena's tummy: 

Chelsea and little Evie as matching ladybugs:

Lindsey, Zac, Brielle and Savannah (Berkeley is obsessed with S & B):

The Nelson girls... 

Andrea forgot it was a costume party, but luckily I had some extras just in case!

The Clantons:

and us:)

I thought it was going to feel so crowded, but I was able to fit both tables in the dining room (along with the tiny kids table, too) and it wasn't too bad.

Opening presents! My favorite part was to see how excited the kids were for Berkeley to open their presents! My personal favorite was a homemade child size apron for the girls made by Hannah Henderson. It is so cute! Why can't I be so crafty?! Berkeley LOVED all the gifts and both girls have been playing with them non-stop ever since.

I forgot to take a picture before, but these were the cupcakes leftover after the party: 

 The black sprinkles totally turned everyone's tongues black!

Candy dishes! The purple Jolly Joes were my favorite!

My re-usable birthday banner... I think I probably should have done it in more neutral colors though!

It was so much fun and I am so glad we did it!