A Party for Presley

About two months ago, maybe more, we began to talk to Presley about her upcoming birthday, telling her things like "you're going to be two!", "you're going to be a big girl!", "you're going to get to have a party!", all of which made her very excited. And at some point in those discussions, I asked Presley what kind of party she wanted to have, not really expecting her to understand what I meant or to have any idea how to answer. Well, she immediately answered "A CANDY party!", and she has stuck with that exclamation ever since. I tried to talk her into other ideas like a Mickey party, or an Olivia party, but she wasn't having it. We have talked about her candy party for months, and I have never seen a child this young so excited for THEIR own party. She talked for weeks about who all she wanted to be there, what all she wanted to have (candy, cakes, cupcakes, and more candy), and all this was done with pure excitement and joy. I really don't remember Mattie being that excited about her 2nd birthday party. But Presley was over the moon!

Truth be told, I toyed with the idea of not even doing a party. My thinking was that we did a fairly big party last year, and maybe we'd take a year off this year, and then do a party next year when she turns 3 and she could invite some friends. So much for that! I'm so glad we did go ahead and celebrate this sweet girl...she deserves it!

And just because I can't help looking and comparing how much difference a year makes, here she is at her 1st birthday.

These pictures are very out of order, but I'm not fixing it.

Here is Presley and her cutie pie friend Dylan:

Presley after blowing out her candles:

Miss Priss finally got some of her own dress up stuff so she can quit stealing sisters:

And she was blessed with two Furr-Real toy cats that purr and move when you pet them. She LOVES!

She was very uninterested in her presents...I kind of had to make her stop and open them all. Very unlike her sister who loses all ability to control herself around a pile of presents:

I caught her doing this several times....swiping candy off the table. The girl loves some candy!

Here is my little miss looking so grown. I made her little outfit and love how it looks on her:

This is the cheapest party I have ever put together, but it still turned out pretty cute. I spent around $25 all total for everything, including invites and postage. The biggest expense was the ingredients I bought to make the frosting for the cake and cupcakes.

I had planned to only make cupcakes, but the day before Presley kept talking about "my cake". I told her "you mean your cupcake", and she was not having it. She insisted on having a cake, so I had to throw this together last minute!

I found a lady on Etsy who designed these cupcake toppers and an invite for me for $8, and I printed them both out at home and made them. Too easy and gotta love CHEAP! And I have learned the secret to pretty cupcakes with nice, neat piped icing is to make your own icing. Much better and holds up much better to being piped on.

I displayed several of her pictures in frames I got at the dollar store and painted with paints I had:

And all the candy jars I had or bought at Goodwill, and all the candy came from The Dollar Tree:

The only thing I forgot was a present for Presley. Yes, I'm the mama who didn't take a present to her own child's birthday party!

It was so fun to do this party and see how happy it made Presley. Her favorite part was having all her family there in one spot. She talked for weeks about everybody coming, and everyday she'd talk and talk about it and name someone and ask me if they were coming..."Gigi coming to my pah-tay??" "Nana coming to my pah-tay?", and on and on and on....and she did this for WEEKS! So, I was thrilled that everyone got to be there. Except Mattie....she came down with fever and a sore throat the day before and was still running fever the day of, so I had to make her miss it. She was SO devestated....OH how she cried. She had looked forward to the party as much as Presley had and she had helped me plan and get ready for it, so I just hated for her to not go.

Seeing Presley have a party has got Mattie's mind working on what she wants her next party to be, and she has got some big ideas! Lord, give me strength!