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BUT, here's the caveat: It was only barely recognizable as a Frozen birthday party. The Pinterest ideas, they were a-plenty (and a-dorable), but I did my best to keep it low-key. It helped that (a) Rowan's only two, and her standards for "birthday party" aren't too high, and (b) we only invited family, so there wasn't a horde of children to entertain - i.e., no games or entertainment to plan. Just a few decorations on the walls, food and drinks for all, and we were good to go.
Not gonna lie, though...I did love the few Pinteresty things I did incorporate. J.J.'s assertion: "I'm not sure why you fought the Frozen theme at all. Our whole house is already Frozen colors." Truth. In fact, pretty much the only decoration I bought was a spool of turquoise metallic mesh ribbon, which we draped across the ceiling and mantle:
I suspended a turquoise paper lantern (leftover from our wedding) in the middle of the mesh ribbon, primarily to disguise the fourteen layers of painter's tape I had to use to keep everything attached to the ceiling. We used paper streamers for last year's birthday party, and it turns out paper sticks to the ceiling with painter's tape much better than mesh ribbon. The whole thing fell down a couple times the night before the party. Ah, well. Rowan's assessment of the decorations, when I told her it looked like Elsa's ice palace: "Yeah! Like Elsa! And it's sparkly!" Thumbs up for easily-pleased two-year-olds.
I also filled four mason jars (which I already owned) with iridescent shreds and made little snowflake wands to put in them. My sister-in-law, a much craftier soul than I, owns a magical Cricut that allows her to cut out any shape she wants. She made vinyl snowflakes that we stuck on the windows, and also some cardstock snowflakes, which I used for the wands. Oh, and she made that kick-ass Elsa decoration (seen below), which Rowan is obsessed with.
As for food, we picked up pizzas for dinner (pizza is Rowie's favorite), and had some snacks out beforehand - fruit, veggies, crackers, pretzels, and a few different dips (all to be served on Frozen-themed plates, of course). I also served donut holes - partially because they could double as "snowballs," and partially because donut holes - and pickles, because the birthday girl looooooves pickles.
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| When she saw all the food laid out, she squealed and said, "Rowie pickles!" |
Oh, and...I made "Elsa juice" (blue Hawaiian Punch + Sprite). It was a surprisingly big hit, but I think that's mostly because I forgot to tell my sisters that there was beer in the fridge.
And then there was the cake. Holy moly, my mother-in-law hit this one right out of the park. She mentioned awhile back that she wanted to make an Anna and Elsa cake for Rowan's birthday, and I envisioned a little cake with a picture of Anna and Elsa on it. Instead, THIS is what we got:
UNREAL, right?! She even drew frosting flowers on Anna's skirt, and there were little sugar crystals all over it. Plus, it was delicious. Oh, AND there were little cupcakes that went all around the base of the cake (I didn't get a good shot of those, but you can see them in the picture below) that were decorated with blue sprinkles and little Olaf stickers. We strayed from the Frozen theme and served the cake on Spiderman plates...mostly because I had forgotten to get dessert plates, and when I went back to the store, they didn't have any Frozen ones left, but also because Rowan adores Spiderman.
Rowan was extra-sweet when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her - she reached for me and wanted to hold hands. She did the same thing on her actual birthday when we sang to her - held my hand - and it just made me melt (Frozen pun unintended), because I can pretty much guarantee that she'll never want to hold Mama's hand during a rendition of Happy Birthday again...she'll be too old and independent. I'll soak up that kind of love as long as she's giving it.
All in all, a very happy birthday party for a very happy girl. My family was so wonderful and generous and loving to Rowie, and I'm so lucky that they're all chill and fun to be around. I did have a tough moment later that night. We were giving Rowan her bath and chatting about her party - we were talking about everyone who came, Gramma and Aunt Mari and Baby Emmett and Grandpa, and she paused and said, "No Obee. Obee busy?" I flashed right back to my mom holding Rowan in her lap during Rowie's first birthday party, playing with her new toys, and I just didn't know what to tell my girl about why her Obee wasn't there.
The blessing, though, was that I made it through the actual party without dwelling too much on my mom's absence. I was grateful for a house full of family and a girl full of joy. Plus, we partied pretty hard, as evidenced by this picture:
Yep, that's Anna and Elsa, straight from popping out of the cake, still covered in frosting and doing god knows what with that sharp knife. Good thing the birthday girl was in bed before these shenanigans started.
One last thing...we finally let Rowan watch the actual Frozen movie this weekend (special thanks to Aunt Amanda, who hooked us up with the DVD!). She played with toys during the whole thing and lost interest for a little while about three-quarters of the way through (though she came back strong for the ending), but her tiny mind was blown when she first saw her heroines on the big(ger than an iPad) screen:
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| My favorite smile of hers - sheer pleasure. Also of note: the tiny Frozen figurines in her hands. |
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| When "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" started. *mind blown* |
And so this concludes the ridiculously detail-intensive series on Rowan's second birthday. For now. Until I find some other pictures from the weekend that I feel compelled to overshare. /FIN
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