Lil Monkey's Birthday Bash!

Our little boy is TWO today!!  We spent this past weekend celebrating his birthday with family and friends.  We decided to have a small party this year, but even just our families involves quite a few people and a lot of little ones.  I just LOVE planning the details of a party, but because of the winter weather and limited space in our house we decided to have it at Monkey Town.  The kids loved being able to run and play...and that's really what it's all about! 

Even though it was at a children's play place, I still was able to add some party details to make it unique and special.  And since we were having the party at Monkey Town...we went with the monkey theme throughout the party.

Monkey Town provided invites, but I decided to make them a little more personal by adding a picture collage of our little monkey in his monkey costume from Halloween that read "Monkey See...Monkey Do!  Garret is turning 2!" and added envelope seals that read "Let's Go Bananas" I downloaded from Paper Glitter.

I used the same "Let's Go Bananas" circle tags throughout the party decorations.  Here I layered it on burlap and ribbon to decorate this glass jar I filled with banana candy! 

And here on these glass jars that were filled with Monkey lollipops.

I made this burlap birthday banner (which was hard to get a good picture of...no windows inside the party room) using brown burlap, ribbon, scrap book paper, and some mod podge. 

My hope was that this banner made the standard party room feel more personalized.

Each child of little G's cousins and friends took home a personalized monkey cup and take out container of "monkey munch" (chocolate Cheerios, chocolate chips, banana chips, and coconut).

But my favorite detail of the party were these monkey cupcakes my hubby and I made.  Banana cupcakes, with homemade chocolate fudge icing!!  Aren't they adorable!  And they were a hit with the kids too!

I asked our party host to shape them into a number 2...she did a great job (all of the staff there were so pleasant and extremely accommodating)!

Our little monkey had a GREAT 2nd birthday and my husband and I were able to relax and have a great time too!

If you are interested in visiting Monkey Town with your kids they are offering my local readers, $15.00 OFF a weekend party package or $3.00 OFF admission to open play time.  Offer expires 4/30/11.

Sushi and Slippers

Last weekend we spent some time with some great friends in Maryland...

and we had a Sushi and Slippers Party!

Shawn and Adam were wonderful hosts and made all of the sushi homemade that night!!  And let me tell you it was amazing!! 

My sister-in-law, Megan made these awesome Japanese beer labels for the Miller Lite and of course there was Sapporo too!

 

The ladies enjoyed these Japanese Slipper Martinis

Japanese Slipper Martinis - our version

(makes a small pitcher or about 4 martinis)

• 1 cup Midori melon liqueur
• 1 cup Triple Sec orange liqueur
• 1 cup Vodka
• 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup Sprite or Lemon Lime Soda
• honeydew melon scooped into balls for garnish

And did I mention the delicious sushi...

We enjoyed California rolls, volcano rolls, spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, and more! They use a Zojirushi Japanese rice cooker to make the special sticky rice.  Wegmans and some grocery stores now carry a lot of the ingredients need to create your own sushi night at home.  And many cities now have Asian Markets.    

We ended the night with these sweets and played a friendly game of poker! 

Domo means "thanks" in Japanese and I made this plate as a thank you gift for our gracious hosts!

What a wonderful party idea and a great night with amazing friends!

Lil G's 2nd Birthday

Monkey See... Monkey Do! My little monkey is turning 2! 



Stay tuned for more party planning details for his 2nd birthday party in February!