Addilyn's 2nd Birthday Party | Picnic at the Park

When planning Addie’s second birthday party, we had a unique challenge this year… we would have a 4-week-old baby in tow at party time! There is nothing I love more than celebrating, so I knew I didn’t want to forego a party altogether. But, in order to make it work, we had to keep it simple! So, we decided to host her party at a local park and invite all of her friends to a picnic.

All we had to do was decorate one table, put together some lunches, and voila — the best two year old party ever! We didn’t have to worry about having people inside our home while we were juggling a newborn (no germs, woo!), and there was no pressure to make sure our home was clean and in order before the party. On top of that, the park was built in entertainment! Everyone supervised their own children, and we had an absolute blast. It’s going to be hard to convince me to host a party at our house ever again. After dumping all the trash in the park dumpster and heading home to nothing to clean up, I was sold. ;-)

I am so excited to share all of the little details from the party, along with links to where you can purchase everything.

If parties are your thing, you’ll also want to check out Addie’s first bee-day party blog post!

Save the above graphic to your birthday planning Pinterest board so you can reference back to this post!

Outfit: Birthday Girl T-Shirt

As usual, Addilyn is the cutest kid around! For her party she needed to be dressed to play, so we stuck with a pink birthday girl t-shirt. She wore the shirt on her actual birthday, to her birthday celebration at school, and again for her party!

Invitations: Picnic at the Park Invite

We snagged the cutest invitation design from a small shop on Etsy! Amanda got the proof to us in no time and made the edits we requested super quickly. Once we had the final design, we ordered a set of invites from Vistaprint.

Decorations: Plaid Tablecloth // Happy Birthday Banner // Wooden Crates // Metal Serving Trays // Picnic Basket // “2” Candle // Plain Red Tablecloths // Wooden Lunch Baskets // Plaid Napkins

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we decided to keep our decorations to one table! We also did our best to make sure everything we purchased would be something we could use at parties in the future. Most of our “decor” was functional items that will fit many themes in the future! The plaid tablecloth and picnic basket were really what set the picnic theme. Paired with some wooden crates and galvanized metal serving items, the party was pretty much decorated! Erick grabbed some balloons on the way to the party to add a little something extra.

Decorations: Plaid Tablecloth // Picnic Basket // “2” Candle

Party Favors: Picnic Basket // Party Favor Tags // Small Toys

This two-tiered tray is a part of our usual home decor, and it worked perfectly for the party! We picked up some pre-made cupcakes from Sam’s club and set them out on the tray, using one red “2” candle. For favors, we bought a pack of small toys (sunglasses, bubbles, water guns), added some cute tags, and set them out in a picnic basket! The tags said “Thanks for Coming” and came in a back of 100. We will certainly be using them again in the future!

Picnic Lunches: Wooden Lunch Baskets // Plaid Napkins // Uncrustables // Gogo Squeez // Goldfish

My favorite part of the party was the individual picnic lunches. We wanted to make sure we picked a lunch that every kid would eat — so Uncrustables, Gogo Squeez, and goldfish it was. We chose to pick individually wrapped items so we didn’t have to worry about little hands touching all of the food. For the adults, we had a fruit and cheese tray, along with chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches. Since it was over 90 degrees on the day of the party, we also had plenty of cold water and juice boxes.

Practical Items: Hand Sanitizer // Sunscreen // First Aid Kit

Hosting a party in a public place, we made sure to bring some extra essentials since we wouldn’t just be able to grab things from our house. Hand sanitizer, sunscreen, first aid kit, baby wipes, and lots of paper towels! All of it got used and everyone was appreciative that we had them on hand.

The part was an absolute blast. There was plenty of seating and shade at the park for parents to hang out and kids to eat. Kids were able to run around and get all of their energy out before nap time! There wasn’t any pressure for us to play “hostess” while we were taking care of a 4-week old. I honestly wish I could relive this day one more time because it was such a blast!

Enjoy some photos below from the party. We had cousins, church friends, neighborhood friends, and school friends all join us to celebrate our sweet Addie girl! She was just excited that everyone she knew was together in one place.

PartiesKieran Hooker1 Comment