Sound the Alarm!

Another birthday in the books.  Like every parent says, time goes so fast and it really does when you have little ones.  April 30 was coming up fast and it kind of caught me off guard that it was so close to his birthday and I hadn't done a single thing yet!  I went into a little bit of panic mode and started throwing out ideas.  I knew this year may be the last year where I get to pick the theme so I decided to go with something he loves...fire trucks!  Of course I went crazy after I figured it out but everything turned out PERFECT (minus the weather) and I couldn't have asked for a better party! 

I started with invitations.  I have a good friend from high school who is an AMAZING graphics designer and I asked him to design me a "modern" fire truck and he came back within the hour with the perfect design!  Once I start a project like this I can't stop until it's done so I think I stayed up until 3 a.m. finishing them.

Thanks to online party supply stores I got a majority of the favors ordered right away. Last year I did a dessert table so this year I thought it would be fun for the kids to have a candy bar. I wanted to stick with red, yellow, and black candy which ended up being harder than I thought! I had a surprising amount of glass jars at home already so I only had to buy two, those things aren't cheap! At Hobby Lobby I was walking by the garden section and came across a fire hydrant that was still too pricey at 40% off but when I looked at it closely it had quite a large crack and a few small ones so I was able to haggle it down to 75% off! It was such a cute centerpiece! I downloaded different types of flame images and used scrapbook paper to make a border and a "candy station" label. I ordered paddle balloons which were WAY bigger than I thought they would be and they get even bigger than that...up to 3 feet wide!  They were awesome though.

For more party favors I ordered helmets, badges, and tattoos.

I didn't want to serve food, just didn't want to spend the money to be honest so we did a snack table instead.  I found hydrant cups online & I thought it would be the perfect thing for the table and one more thing for the kids to take home.  They looked so cute!  Signs made my me :)

Initially the weather was suppose to be sunny and 70. Over the week it turned to rain and 60.  So our plans of doing a coloring sheet outside and presents outside kind of went out the window and we got a bounce house instead.  It keeps the kids entertained and warm in the cooler weather and they like to be in there the whole time!

The main event came about half way through the party when the DCFD came by with the firetruck! As I was searching the internet for activities for kids this age I came across another fire truck party whose local FD came with the truck and in her blog she said that most fire departments will do this per request.  Well they don't lol...however luckily for us we know an amazing firefighter who made my request happen.  The kids and the adults loved it and it was so fun watching them explore the truck and ring the bell!  Although JT had to watch everyone else before he was comfortable ringing it :)  Thank you to the DCFD and especially Pat K for taking time out of your day to make my two year old's party awesome! 

My grandpa made JT's cake (and they are soooo yummy) and he did a great job!  He made my first birthday cake so it was pretty special to have him make a cake for JT.  I'll take one of his cakes anytime, no special reason needed!

After cake and some more jumping everyone went home.  At this age I don't like opening gifts with everyone there, it just takes too long and it can get a little overwhelming with all the kids "helping" :)  We'll save that for next year!

The only damper of the party was the weather, chilly and no sun but besides that it was perfect and I really loved how everything turned out.

Brett and I saved Jaris' present for his actual birthday.  For dinner we decided something easy and he loves burgers so we just went to Freddy's with the family.

Jaris is such a blessing in our lives and our families lives. So thankful that most of our family was able to be here to celebrate our little man along with our friends. Can't wait to see what the next year brings us and if the twos are really that terrible!