Man Cub's Favourite Things

Second birthday parties are my favourite... I'm not quite the emotional mess I am as I plan a first birthday party, and it seems that little ones develop so much personality in those months leading up to turning 2. When Sunshine was approaching her second birthday, we decided to go with a "Favourite Things" theme, so we could celebrate all the things that she had decided she loved and it was such a success that we have stuck with this theme as our second birthday tradition, and it is the birthday party I most look forward to with each child.

Man Cub's Favourite Things party was over four months ago, but I've fallen so behind on blogging that I am just now getting around to posting it. And as I've looked back through pictures, I realize I didn't do the best job of documenting it... but as you'll learn throughout the explanation of his party- he really wasn't all that into having everyone gather in his honour. Ü

The Invitations

The invitations were pretty simple... just silhouettes of some of Man Cub's favourite things... and several of these items were part of the festivities. I love watching him develop preferences and decide what he loves and what he doesn't care for. It was fun to incorporate his loves into an invite and a party. 

The Menu

The menu was filled with... you guessed it, Man Cub's favourite things. We had pizza as our main course (with green salad for those of us adults who can no longer live on pizza alone), watermelon cubes, Oreos dipped in chocolate to resemble Mickey Mouse (Oreos are another Man Cub favourite) and homemade lemonade to drink. Man Cub loves him some "nade". Super simple menu but the food was a hit. Especially the salad. It flew off the table.

The Decorations

I based the decorations off Man Cub's love of Cars... which also happens to be one of my most favourite movies Ü I found some Cars twirly things at Party City, then used black table cloths and masking tape to make the tables into roads. Orange traffic cones completed the look, along with red and black paper products. Inexpensive, super easy and I think it looked awesome.

The Cake

We toyed around with a lot of different cake options... there are some really awesome Cars cakes on Pinterest... but ultimately, we went with an idea Bruce came up with that was super simple and very tasty. I made Death by Chocolate cupcakes, topped them with basic buttercream frosting then stuck a "black wall" or "white wall" tire on each cupcake. The kids loved them and I loved that they did not take hours to put together. No pictures of Man Cub eating his cake... he wanted nothing to do with it when the time came. I think we still managed to sing Happy Birthday, but he really was not interested in the typical party festivities like eating his birthday cake or opening his presents.

The Birthday Boy Attire

Man Cub wore shorts and a t shirt... pretty much his go to outfit. I did pull out his Monsters University Squishy Squibbles shirt though, since that is another movie he just loves. And for quite some time after he was first born, we called Man Cub Squishy, so it seemed appropriate.

The Guests

Man Cub still isn't quite at the age where he has true friends of his own... he definitely has some little friends that he enjoys being around, but his most favourite people in the world are his sisters and Sunshine's two best friends, Abby and Audrina. A&A are like two more big sisters to him and he just adores them. Sunshine thought it was great to have her besties at Man Cub's party. We also invited our awesome next door neighbors who have become like extra grandparents to my wee ones and all our local family. It was a pretty small party, which was really good because Man Cub was not interested in opening presents or doing typical party things. He just wanted to play with his cars, eat pizza and drink 'nade.

The Activities

No big activities for this second birthday party. And good thing, since I'm sure we couldn't have convinced Man Cub to participate! We just ate, hung out, and had his second birthday slideshow playing in the background. Low key.

The Favours

When we started talking about Man Cub's party, Sunshine decided that the favours needed to include a hotwheels car for each child who attended. Sounded good to me! We filled a pirate bag with the car, a lollipop and a sheet of Cars stickers and sent one home with each friend who came. Beebs was my big helper putting the bags together. That girl loves a good party as much as I do! She's always so excited to help me put everything in place.

Despite Man Cub not wanting to do the cake or presents part of his party, he did seem to enjoy being surrounded by his favourite people and eating his favourite foods. He was absolutely spoiled with Cars and Planes toys that he plays with almost daily. My favourite part of his birthday celebration is the gift that Bruce and I slaved over for the month leading up to the big day... but that deserves an entire post of it's own, so be on the lookout! And hopefully it won't take me another four months to get around to writing it. Ü