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December 10, 2014

School Bus 2nd Birthday Party

December 10, 2014

school bus themed second birthday party details

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Singing Happy Birthday

I can’t believe I’m even writing about my son’s SECOND birthday party!  How in the world do they grow so quickly?!  I kept looking at him and wondering how he could already be two years old.  He is pretty incredible, and I am one blessed mama!

Thank you to Todd and my mom for all of your help setting up this party.  To Abbie, thank you for helping take pictures!! And a huge thank you to all of our family and friends for coming!  It meant so much to us to have so many of our loved ones here to celebrate our little boy.  Both sets of his great-grandparents were there as well – I just felt so much joy that night!

Moving on to the party details!  Davis loves, loves any type of vehicle, so we were deciding between a tractor theme and a school bus theme.  We have a lot of school buses come through our neighborhood, and he is always excited to see them!  We went with a school bus/stoplight theme and I think it turned out really cute.

I ordered the invitations through Allison Powell Designs – I found them on their Etsy site.  Then they offered to send me a few other items that can coordinate with the invitations!  They sent me a “Happy 2nd Birthday” banner, food place cards, and a custom 8×10 welcome sign. I would recommend checking them out for any parties or showers you may have in the future.  Thank you for working with me on this, Kristy!

Allison Powell Designs; school bus birthday invitation

The wreath on the front door was inspired by my Mom’s design last year.  It was a team effort for us this year.  (By the way, I cannot express how thankful I am to have a husband who is willing and able to help me with painting and building and setting up things for parties.  I am spoiled for sure).

school bus birthday wreath

Typically for parties we move our island into the french doors into my husband’s office.  It is right inside the foyer, and works well for a favor/welcome table.  The favors included a ball, a wooden bus, and some stickers!  I also had bus and “2” sugar cookies on the favor table.

second birthday party favors; school bus themesecond birthday party favor table; school bus theme

The road table runners were basic yellow fabric with a more narrow piece of black fabric on top.  My mom used bandage tape to add the dotted line to look like a road.  These were simple and inexpensive!

road table runners

We incorporated the stoplight theme in the food, and in the decor.  The mantle was decorated with the welcome sign, as well as a large stoplight made from foam board, wooden circles (pre-cut from Hobby Lobby), and paint.  My mom used poster board to make the bus.

school bus, stoplight birthday party theme

For the food, we had the “school lunch” theme in mind, and stuck with the basics.  For the kids we had bus-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and grilled cheese sandwiches.  I also had halved bananas, red/yellow/green vegetable tray with dip, and pretzels and Pirate’s Booty cheese puffs.  For the adults we ordered subs and cut them into smaller pieces.

 

school bus second birthday party; road table runners school bus birthday party food table; road table runner

school bus second birthday party; food

school bus birthday party food table

Drinks were simple – water and juice.

school bus birthday party drinks

Desserts were the most creative part of the food.  I made a school bus cake, school bus sugar cookies, “2” sugar cookies, and chocolate cake pops to look like a stoplight.  Todd made the cake pop stand, and I was so impressed!  Because the food fit the school bus and stoplight theme, and because the banner was hanging behind the table, I didn’t have to come up with a centerpiece for the food table.

decorated sugar cookies for a school bus themed second birthday party

cake pop stand for a second birthday party, school bus theme

school bus theme second birthday party desserts

school bus themed second birthday party food table

For entertainment, we moved the furniture around in our den to give the kids plenty of room to play.  One of the activities was play-dough in stoplight colors, with a variety of cookie cutters.  The kids also ran around outside and played.  Todd did his best to organize a game of Red Light, Green Light, and it was hilarious!  Check out my instagram to see a video of the kids attempting to play.

play dough station for a birthday party

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If you have specific questions about the details, please feel free to ask me in the comments!  I’ll do my best to answer them.

Here are more pictures of everyone during the party.  Again, thank you to our friends and family for coming!

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Thank you for reading!

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Posted by Lindsay 4 Comments
Filed Under: Birthday, Cake Pops, Cakes, Cookies Tagged: school bus, school bus party, school bus theme, second birthday, stoplight, stoplight theme, sugar cookies

Comments

  1. Neely says

    December 10, 2014 at 1:41 am

    1. Party – precious!! 2. I like your blue shirt. and 3. That refinished black table still looks SO good. Good job us.

    Reply
  2. Brooke says

    January 9, 2016 at 3:08 am

    I was wondering where you purchased the school bus cookie cutter? I can’t seem to find one on-line that has as nice of a shape as your cookies do! And also what is the shiny grey on your cake and the shiny lil grey balls on the tires of the cookies? Thanks!!

    Reply
    • sevenlayercharlotte says

      January 9, 2016 at 4:06 pm

      Hi Brooke! Here is a link to where I bought the cookie cutter:
      http://www.cookiecuttercompany.com/general/759-5-point-5-inch-school-bus-cookie-cutter

      And the shiny gray is royal icing tinted gray using black icing. I use a little light corn syrup in my icing (you could probably use honey as well) which makes it shiny. I don’t believe I used any shimmer dust in the icing but you could. Same answer for the wheels.
      I hope that helps!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Five (Six) on Friday: Gift Guides and Such | sevenlayercharlotte says:
    December 4, 2015 at 10:03 am

    […] birthday party is on! I am not going to go as crazy as the past couple of years (1st birthday; 2nd birthday), but I’m still hoping it’s fun for him and his friends! I will post all the details in […]

    Reply

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About Lindsay

Charlotte native, wife to my college sweetheart, and mama to two little boys! Passionate about healthy eating, family-friendly recipes, entertaining, and overall wellness. Often found in my kitchen, surrounded by toy cars and chaos created by my sons! Rely heavily on coffee, dry shampoo, prayer, and texts with my girlfriends.

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