Sully’s Little Aviators birthday party

Like many parents, I went ALL OUT last year for our son’s first birthday party, which was an elaborate shipwrecked pirates theme. Elaborate, like… fights with the husband, screaming at a vendor over no-show coconuts (they were going to MAKE my whole drink table!) and basically expecting slave labor out of our family who were visiting from out-of-town.

That being said, I took a whooooole different approach to Sully’s second birthday party. Simple. Fun. Easy. No stress!

Since it’s crazy hot in Florida during September, we had the party at 9:30am at a local park that has an airplane theme. (Cue funny jokes about how old and lame we are to have a party at 9:30am.) Kids change you. What can I say?

Let’s start with the invitations because that’s where I love to start. They are actually a wedding save-the-date card that I customized on Zazzle.com. I wanted them to look as authentic as possible, not childish and cute-sy. What I love about Zazzle.com is that I ONLY had to order the number of invites I needed. (Zazzle is NOT paying me to say that!) And just for fun, I went on Amazon and found these par avion envelopes to send them in.

Now, on to decor. Everything was just repurposed from home decor we already had. My husband has his pilot’s license, so I hijacked some of his old flight maps to use as our tablecloth. (The maps expire after a few months so they were going to be trashed anyway.) I raided one of our garage storage bins for all the metal items, and I borrowed my husband’s Pottery Barn metal airplane figurine. In fact, I used that two-tier metal basket in my dorm room in college!

For food, I picked up donuts, croissants and bananas at the grocery store. Seriously that’s it. Done.

For drinks, I went to Sam’s Club and bought bottled water, Starbucks Frappuccinos and orange juice. The only beverage that I needed cups for were the parents’ mimosas, which we poured into retro-looking red plastic cups with blue-and-white straws. (By the way, don’t tell the city about that last part. I’m absolutely positive that alcohol is frowned upon in public parks. Especially at 9:30am. But I digress.)

And I went to CTS Wholesale Sunglasses online to order these aviator sunglasses for the little aviators’ favors! I got 12 of them for $16.

Oh, and I can’t forget the custom wardrobe for the guest of honor! My mom gifted “Captain Sully” with a white collared shirt that she got monogrammed. Little brother “First Mate Porter” had a matching onesie.

Since I’m obsessed with Salt-Water Sandals, I bought Sully a red pair to wear for the party. I love doing special little touches for the guest of honor’s outfit! (No vendors are paying me for mention of their names!)

Simple. Easy. Fun.

Happy birthday, Sully!