2nd birthday party advice!

Yesterday, we had Chase's 2nd birthday party. I will do a details post asap but today I wanted to do an advice post like I did last year for my friends that have parties coming up.

This year we had Chase's party at our house. We invited about 32 adults and 9 kiddos. 14 adults and 3 kiddos showed up. I thought it was a great number of people and friends for Chase.

This year I took Chase to the dollar tree with me. I showed him their invitation choices and he picked the race car invitation. So we ran with the race car theme. Dollar tree had race car plates and some decorations. I should mention I bought 40 plates and when it was cake time there didn't seem to be enough plates. I guess more plates next year!

I of course went crazy on pinterest and made all the decorations. I really liked having the party at our house this year so I could prep while he napped. I was worried he would get woken up by the people who came early to help but luckily he woke up right on time :) I was a little crazed trying to get everything done last minute but I think I did much better not yelling at people in front of the guests like last year.

I feel like I was kind of yelling at Hubby trying to get him to start the grill and make the hamburgers and hot dogs. I guess the people he was hanging out with weren't hungry yet.

On the menu we had hamburgers, hot dogs, and a bunch of snack things. I totally forgot to put the fruit out! Next year I would love to have a check list of food to put out to make sure I put everything out. I also didn't plan out what food I would put on what trays or bowls. It worked out fine.

We had a coloring table, a bean bag toss, a race track to ride on, and toys to play with inside. The kiddos pretty much just rode their cozy coupes and trikes around and around.

We learned from Chase's friend's party a few weeks before that the kids all wanted to take a balloon home. So we bought mylar balloons at the dollar tree to tie to the favors. I also got cars at the dollar tree. I put them in clear bags with two trophies. The oldest kiddo we had at the party was 5 and he loved the favors.

It was a hot day and I should have told people to bring their swimsuits. Grandma and Grandpa got Chase a water table that the kids played in a little. We also had the basketball hoop we just got Chase set up in the back yard that people played with.