Home: How To Host a Simple But Fun Birthday Party – BabyCool Turns 2

When planning for BabyCool’s party this year, I had to make it simple. We have had such a full on time lately, I just couldn’t do the fancy pants bunting, co-ordinating straws, professionally iced cakes, Pinterest worthy party. Sigh. So, I decided I would make some things and buy in the rest.

We decided on a car theme. Because that is the way my brain works, I need a theme.

I saw these cute little cars at a friend’s party – they were quick to make and are so cute! Simply buy in some snack sized MilkyWay bars, use icing to stick freckles to the back of the bar {so they looked like a drag racer} and Smarties on to the front. Then push in a tiny teddy into the top of the bar. I love these teddies with cute expressions!

I decided to make some marshmallow. This recipe makes heaps and with over 30 people on the invite list, this was a must! They were a big hit! Find the recipe here… Marshmallow – 2 Ways.

I used my favourite Condensed Milk Biscuit recipe to make these traffic lights. I rolled out the dough and cut it into rectangles with a pizza cutter. Once baked and cooled, we iced them with green icing and used Smarties for the lights. These were a big hit, and they look so cute don’t you think?

With all the lollies we used, plus some extras that I was going to use for other things and ran out of time, we made a Lolly Salad {idea pinched from Nikki over at Styling You}. Naturally, this was a big hit at the kids’ table.

The adults were very impressed with this lovely three tiers of sugary goodness!

The kids’ table was a hit, so nice to have a space where the children are free to graze and choose what they would like without asking adults to pass things to them. Miss A and Mr Cool made cute little car themed signs for the food, it was such a nice touch!

We also had crackers and dip, party sausage rolls, spinach and ricotta triangles, chips, cheezles and other treats.

I used my favourite Nigella Lawson recipe for the cake, I doubled the recipe and made it in a big slab tin. I am not the best icer, so I decided to just have pieces of cake with something on top of each. It didn’t really look like a little boy’s cake, but, it tasted good and being pre-cut made it a snap to pass around.

Queensland was scorching when we started planning for the party, we thought the children would be slip and sliding and getting wet on the trampoline, but, the weather changed and was really cold. So… we only had one game! But, it was Pass the Parcel, played on the trampoline {with an iPad for the music, not as the prize}, so it was a winner!

Our friends and family stayed for a sausage sizzle, but having such lovely family and friends meant that folks were in the kitchen a lot doing dishes and helping with clearing things away. So… at 8pm when all the children were in bed and the dishes were done and the food was all stored away, it was so nice to put our feet up!

Birthday parties are lots of fun. I love having the opportunity to show how much I love my little one by making them yummy things to eat and asking their favourite people over. I am glad I went to amount of effort I went to. It was special and fun without taking days and days of cooking and organising to get it going.

It reminded me that the simple parties are the best: friends, food, cake, fun and a light heart.

Happy Birthday BabyCool.

Last year, BabyCool had a Train in the Park Party