Dominicโs 2nd Birthday Party!
On Saturday, we celebrated Dominicโs 2nd birthday!
It always amazes me just how insanely fast time fliesโฆ whoever said โthe days are long but the years are shortโ was one thousand percent accurate. One minute, thereโs a gorgeous, wrinkly, pink newborn in my arms and then I blink and theyโve turned into toddlers and preschoolers and I feel like every few days Iโm wishing that I could freeze time.
Dominic was the only one of my three babies that tried to make his way out all on his own, without any help, and ahead of schedule. On his first birthday, I said that he had eyes that sparkle and that he enjoyed every single moment to its fullest. His personality has never wavered, and he is a happy-go-lucky kid who LOVES to laugh and just wants to have fun.
We had such a wonderful time celebrating him this weekend and I wanted to give you a glimpse of his party!
The Decorations
Dominic absolutely adores the show Hey Duggee on Nick Jr. Like, he LOVES it. So I knew I wanted to go that route when planning the party, but itโs not a huge mainstream hit (itโs from the BBC) โ there are a few toys you can find at Target, but no party-planning themes at Party City and not much on Etsy, either.
As a result, I did festive โHappy Birthdayโ decorations in bright colors, along with the obligatory number two balloon :) I totally spaced on getting pictures, but links below to what I used!
[source: happy birthday balloons / number two balloon / plates / napkins]
The Food
For the past few birthday parties and baptisms weโve had at our house, weโve ordered chicken, lasagna, roasted potatoes and salad from a local market, but we wanted to do something different this time.
We love Anthonyโs Coal Fired Pizza, so we ordered a bunch of pizzas, wings and a tossed salad, and I put out a veggie tray, along with some chips and dips. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised by switching up the menu :)
The Cake
Since we couldnโt decorate with a Hey Duggee theme in the house, I was going all-in on a Hey Duggee cake!
I made the main character (Duggee) in fondant, and then printed out badges from the show and put them around the sides of the cake. This was actually my favorite partโฆ after we sang Happy Birthday, Joseph and Dominic just kept spinning the cake in circles looking at all of the badges, and Joseph knew what most of them were. They were SO excited! It took awhile to have them part with the cake so I could slice it ;-)
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I also added a batch of chocolate cupcakes for anyone who was feeling a chocolate dessert, and popped some cute Happy Birthday candles in them (we didnโt light them, I just liked the letters for decoration!).
[recipes: yellow cake / chocolate cupcakes / chocolate frosting (used to frost cupcakes and as filling for the cake) / candles for main cake / toothpick candles for cupcakes]
The Fun
Everyone had a great time, and Dominic sure loved the balloons, cake, and opening presents, especially a fire truck! And then he loved playing outside :)
Extras
I did manage to find Hey Duggee custom invitations on Etsy, and had those made for the party:
I started getting custom birthday t-shirts since Josephโs 2nd birthday and I just love it! I bought this Hey Duggee shirt on Etsy, and Dominic almost lost his mind when I put it on him. He said, โhuh! Mommy! Look! Duggee!โ pointing to his shirt. He then proceeded to show every single person that came โ heโd point to his shirt and say, โDUGGEE!โ Seeing them happy and excited just totally makes my day :)
(That right there is Dominicโs โsay cheese!โ face lol!)
Celebrating birthdays always makes me relive those moments leading up to, and including, their actual birth, and those sweet, blissful days afterward when they doze off after eating and are just the tiniest little things youโve ever seen. My heart swells with joy watching these babies grow and become their own, even if thinking back to those very early days makes me a little weepy at the same time.
My sweet Dominic, with the crazy hair from day one :)
What does โCoal Firedโ pizza mean? Surely not cooked over lumps of coal? Thanks
Well, sort of! Itโs cooked in ovens that are coal-burning instead of wood-burning. Hereโs an article with lots of good info on it: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/10/05/why-is-coal-fired-pizza-so-hot-right-now/
Seeing you do what you do for your kids reminds me of me when mine were little โ of course yours are much cooler than mine were! Dominic looks so happy โ I know it makes your heart flip!
beautiful happy boy, looks like he had a blast.
Michelle, you are so creative with Dominicโs cake. Looks amazing. Love the pictures of Dominic with fire truck and T-shirt. Do did great job with invitations an decorations. He is soo cute.
Keep sending your blog with information and pictures of the family.
Dominic is such a little cutie! ย Maybe I like him cuz weโre both middle children๐. ย Party looked like fun. ย Love reading your posts.
His sweet face looking up at the fire truck! Kids are a blessingโฆand you are one blessed Mama!
Cute party and pictures! Time goes too fast! Enjoy every minute!
Your Jewish Apple Cake received a link in the comments of an apple article in the Washington Post.
Oh how fun, thank you for letting me know!
I donโt often post comments, but wanted you to know that I really enjoy your weekly updates and pictures of your children. They are all absolutely adorable! We are not fortunate enough to have grandchildren but have some great nieces and nephews to enjoy. Also enjoy your recipes, one of our all time favorites is the bread and butter pickles โ I made 4 batches this year.
Thank you so much for the sweet comment, and Iโm thrilled youโve been enjoying the bread and butter pickles!
He is the cutest! I donโt know how you do it with 3 small ones. You must be very organized. Loved the cake.
Thank you for sharing Dominicโs 2nd birthdayโฆ.what a fun celebration!
Such total joy on his face as he looks at his new firetruck. ;-)
Looks like a wonderful party! That picture of him looking at his fire truck is priceless. My boy is 11 and wow does the time fly. Enjoy!
Godโs blessing for him๐
Thank you so much :)