tater tot thursday

Tater Tot Thursday is dedicated to my little tt.

it's a nickname that my Aunt Susie gave Oliver. isn't it catchy?

i think it's adorable.

so each Thursday, i am going to share something that relates to my little tt...

and it might just relate to yours too!

 

what better day to share Oliver's birthday party pictures

 then on Tater Tot Thursday!

 

:)

 

so like i mentioned earlier this week...my party pictures are kind of sucky so please forgive me.

i took pictures of some decorations before the party but honestly i did not get to take enough.

 there are decorations that i never got to capture...oh well right?

i combined pictures of the decorations along with pictures during the party.

if i didn't then i think this post would have been mega long and mega boring for most of you reading.

 

let's start with a little info before shall we...

originally the party was going to be held outside in our backyard with a big white tents, bubbles, music, outdoor activities and a balloon person. 

i had spent a bit of time planning the table and chair locations, the decorations and the activities...but that all changed the week of the party when i decided to check out the weather.

good thing i did. it was projected to rain most of the week and the day of O's party.

so the plans changed. it was now going to be an indoor party. 

which in the end, turned out rather perfectly because the day started off sunny but muggy and then the sky opened up just as the party guests started to arrive. :) 

luckily it did not last long and then the sun returned but we were all nice and dry (and cool) on the inside.  

 

 

as you entered our living room, there was a sign welcoming the guests (not pictured) to the party along with this banner over the door way. this was the only picture i got of the banner and it was right before we turned off the tv and the first guests started to arrive. 

 

the living room was left for guests to mingle. there were balloons floating around for kids to play with and of course some kids music playing in the background for any spontaneous dancing.  

 

we hired a balloon lady to make balloon creations.

one of O's requests for the party was balloons! i think we delivered pretty nicely on that. ;)

 

this is my niece S with her Hello Kitty balloon.

 

the balloon lady, Cherith was also a face painter. some of the kiddos were very excited about this.

i was so proud of my niece, S. she was the first in line to get her face painted.

 

she requested a pink butterfly. love her!

 

after her big sister was done, little sis W decided it was okay to get her face painted too.

she picked what i think is a fairy mask. isn't she a doll?

 i need to share some pictures with you next week of

her and O...they were way too cute together!

 

my younger sister was amazing. she helped me decorate and set up the party. she even ran the sweeper for me. i am so thankful she was there to help me with the prep work.

i'm not saying the guys didn't do anything because they were kind of the gophers..sorry to call you that b.

b and my brother in law took the little ones for most of the morning so that Jen and i could get stuff done. they also picked up some special cookies for our gluten free guests and ran to get 25+ balloons

blown up! thanks b and Chad!! :)

 

before the guests arrived, Jen and i decided to have some fun with the party decorations.

 

we had these little balloon characters on some of the balloons that i thought were so cute!

 

grown ups are supposed to have fun at parties too! ;)

love her!

 

okay..back to the party...so we kept the decorations in the living room and dining room simple.

i made the circle banner hanging in front of the window as well as the

 white and brown (regular and chocolate) milk mustaches.

after all it was sort of a cookie themed party.

the dining room was used for the craft project as well as more seating for the guests.  

 

the centerpiece was made from these pinwheels. they were actually meant to be hung like the one i pictured on my front door (which i tweaked by hot gluing a smaller pinwheel onto a bigger one).

 i didn't want to hang them any where so i cut their strings off and hot glued them to the remaining sticks i had left over from the mustaches.

 

the craft was very simple.

i bought toxic free washable ink pads in different colors and these small white canvases from Michael's. 

it was my version of  mess free finger painting. :)

i made two examples you can see in the picture below...

 

 

 

 

in the kitchen, we removed the yellow breakfast table and brought

 in a larger rectangular table for guests to eat at.

i made the large circle and star banners in the party's colors and hung them from the ceiling.

i also purchased these napkins and plates for the food

and had them on the table for guests to grab.

 

love this picture of O.

my friend Susan took it and it reminds me of a picture from mine and b's childhood.

 

in the future hutch area, we set up a small food table with a custom black board sign i made.

you can see it better here.

(it was cute but not my best work. i really wish i had the mad skills my friend Grace has!)

since the party was from 3:30 to 4:30 the food was just some light snacks

and four different types of "cookies".

 

l to r: whoopie pies by My Sweet Things, gluten free chocolate cookies from the Cookie Studio, blueberries, bunny crackers, strawberries, pirate booty, gluten free coconut macaroons from the Cookie Studio and custom #3 cookies by My Sweet Things.

 

next to the food table was the beverage stand stocked full with chocolate milk, vanilla milk

and a variety of Izzy drinks.

 

we had My Sweet Things make 2 dozen whoopie pies with white, blue and red frosting.

i love how they turned out. i couldn't eat any since they were not gluten free but everyone who did have one said they were delish!

 

i also had My Sweet Things make these adorable #3 cookies. 

when i placed the order, i e-mailed Kathi a copy of the party invite so that she could use similar colors for the cookies and she matched them perfectly!

 

ok, so i had to have the fun straws again this year.

i ordered a new set but actually had some left over from Oliver's 2nd birthday that i threw into the mix. they were just "Toot Cute".

 

my cute friend Susan and i.

she's the best!

as you can see, i partook in some face painting. i did it hoping my son would join in on the fun...unfortunately...face painting was not on his fun list.

 

and...i wanted to share this sort of blurry picture of the birthday boy. i really don't have a ton of pictures of him from the party and if i do, he's all so serious in them.

this one captures how he truly is. 

like i told you earlier this week, when O gets to know you, you become part of his special circle

and my friend, Michael (Susan's husband) is in that circle! :)  

 

so there you have it...Oliver's 3rd birthday. :)

 

thank you to all that helped make Oliver's big day so extra special!!