Continuing with the literature-inspired theme of Theo’s 2nd birthday, this year we opted to go with the theme of the book “Go, Dog, Go!” by P.D. Eastman. At the end of the story, the dogs all have a “big dog party” and that was all it took for me to run with this theme.

We had activities based on the book such as decorating party hats. I also made “3” sugar cookies and had the kids decorate their own. This was the first year we held Theo’s party at our new house (that we had just moved into the month before) and we were excited to use the great backyard space.

This year I went back to our tried-and-true Costco sheet cake and discovered that they will do custom designs based on specific input. I printed my own edible sheet of an illustration from the book and placed it on the cake myself.

The party favor bags were filled with items that were found within the pages of the book. Each kid received a personalized “dog tag,” and the bags contained things like sunglasses, pinwheels, and other knick knacks.

The food was of course also themed — I remember having a jolt of inspiration the night before the party (when most of the food was already prepared) and thought that ALL of the snacks and food would be orange, white, and green colored. I made pasta salad from a bag of multi-colored pasta and took out all of the purple noodles. We also had store-bought doggie biscuit cookies (for humans to eat).

Hosting this party at our own home was nice, but it was also a million times more work. I’m glad we went all out b/c I will likely never host a party this size at our house again! It was truly a “Go, Christina, Go!” experience. Exhausting but fun.

Of all the birthday parties that I’ve thrown for Theo through the years, this is one of my favorites. I chose a theme and didn’t just run with it, I marathoned it. For Theo’s 2nd birthday party, our theme was “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. I enlisted one of my graphic designer friends to help me create personalized party touches like the poster we hung on the door welcoming everyone to the party.

I have to note that this party occurred in 2010 before everyone knew about Pinterest. I did my pre-Pinterest best and Googled decorations around the theme. Check out the balloon-animal version of the caterpillar above. (We again held the party at Theo’s grandparents’ home due to the number of guests.)

The food was a highlight. In the book, the caterpillar makes its way through a whole host of foods… and we had every single one of them at the party. I had identifying signs made for each food based on the illustrations from the book and placed them next to the food. For the cupcakes, I tried out a new technique where each layer of batter is dyed a different color and constructed layer by layer.

Instead of doing a Costco sheet cake this year, I went with a local grocery store to make the chocolate cake. I requested that they print on edible paper the book cover and to have a simple design with the words “Happy 2nd Birthday, Theo” on it. This is the cake I picked up. It was definitely not “simple” and was so crazy that I couldn’t be mad. It was a lesson learned in giving up artistic control over a main element of a birthday party. 🙂

Theo didn’t seem to mind and enjoyed eating it with gusto. He had broken his arm just a few weeks prior but having a cast didn’t deter him from using forks in both hands.

Continuing with the theme, the party favors were giant lollipops, similar to the ones in the book. The cute favor tags went along with it. I had so much fun planning and throwing this party and it was not the last time I used inspiration from a literary source! (See Theo’s 3rd birthday party.)

P.S. Two months after I threw this party, I was browsing in Target and came upon this display of themed party supplies. And a specific birthday card for a 2-year-old (not any other age). It’s like the party gods were tormenting me! Where were all of these things a few months before when I was creating all of my own personalized decorations???