No Balloons Needed

Ok folks, here it is - the big party reveal! We held Elena's second birthday party at our house - the first time for most people to see our new place. It was a good chance to see how our house would hold up to guests. It seems like we hit it right on the head - about 20 people (in addition to our family) is about all our little house can handle.

Here's how it all panned out: we moved our car out of our parking space, put up white fabric to cover the gate, hung white lights, pennant banners and pompoms, and set up white tables with white and pink tablecloths. The centerpieces were just glass bottles that I have been collecting with two tissue paper flowers in each, grounded with some white rocks for weight and stability. We are able to fit 5 tables pretty comfortably out there. 

Inside we had the drinks, food table and sweets. Since we've just moved in (and from a much smaller place) we didn't have to move any furniture out. 

Here are some of the details of the sweets table - definitely the most fun part of any party! We decorated the tables with flowers, and used flower pots and cereal boxes (wrapped in coordinating paper) to hold some of the sweets and cupcakes. The "cake" was a flower made of one big cupcake and eight smaller ones, covered in marshmallow fondant and icing.  I had a lot of fun making the tiered cupcake stand. I was going to use it for the cupcakes but in the end decided to use it for the fun and colorful brigadeiro that my sister-in-law made for the party. No brazilian party is complete without brigadeiro*.

The numbers on the photos show the items I'll be making tutorials for in the coming days/weeks.

1. A super easy No-Sew Banner

2. A simple and colorful cupcake stand

3. Gummy flower favors

4. Mini muffin (cupcake) flowers. 

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my little sunshine's birthday party. Despite both her and her older brother fighting off colds, fevers and a strange allergy, they had a great time! 

*brigadeiro - a simple brazilian chocolate bonbon, made by mixing sweetened condensed milk, butter and cocoa power together, and heating it over the stove until it becomes smooth and sticky. It can then be rolled into balls and covered with sprinkles - here my sister-in-law put it into small cups and added the sprinkles on top. Yummy!