Noah's 3rd Birthday Party

At the moment, I have 73 blog posts in my drafts folder. Eeek! (In all fairness, a quarter of those posts are completed and just waiting to be published on my new Wordpress site.)

Because of this, occasionally a draft post slips under the radar and doesn't get out in a timely fashion. Like this one about Noah's birthday party, which was held in early January. 

I wrote the letter that follows to Noah the day after his party, but just hadn't gotten around to editing any photos from the event. You can't have a blog post without a photo to accompany it. At least not in my little corner of the web. 

Dear Noah,

Yesterday, we celebrated your birthday among family and good friends.

We played at an indoor playground in Auburn, sliding down slides, jumping on trampolines, climbing through tunnels and throwing foam balls.

Even the big kids (the adults) got into the action!

You were running around in (what else?) your Jake costume and a Jake party hat.

It's not a party unless you're wearing a party hat, right, Noah?

You devoured a slice of pepperoni pizza, a little bit of "Jake" cake, and some vanilla ice cream.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to you, and you sang right along with us with a huge grin on your face.

You tore open your presents like a boss (you had lots of practice the week of Christmas!), and delighted in receiving more new toys.

Your favorite, I think, was the "Jake" spyglass from your grandma and grandpa.  (It's now March and you still love that thing!)

Daddy and I surprised you with a John Deere ride-on tractor (all your Dad's idea) and your very own trumpet. 

Seeing you so happy brought me much happiness.  Love you, sweet boy!

xoxo,
Mama

P.S. This was the first birthday party we've held in a location other than our home. I loved it for many reasons: 1) I didn't have to rush to take down all of our Christmas stuff: the tree, the decorations, the cards, etc. 2) I didn't have to clean our home. 3) I didn't have to think about the menu at all. Just buy the cake, some ice cream, and a few candles. 4) I spent less money on decorations. 5) There was very little clean-up, and once we walked out of the playground, we were completely done. No tables to take down, no folding chairs to put away, no dishes to be washed. 6) But most importantly, Noah had fun, Brian and I had fun, and our friends and family had fun. Outsourcing for the win!

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Oh Happy Day Postcard Poster

My mom celebrated a BIG birthday in May!

Leading up to her special day, I wanted to shower her with "snail mail" love from family and friends, so I coordinated a postcard project. (I first learned about this idea here.)

For this project, I contacted 25 of our family members and my mom's friends (Facebook was awesome for that!), and asked them if they'd be willing to print one postcard, write a special message to my mom and mail it to her prior to her birthday.

I was particularly excited to coordinate this postcard project for my mom because she LOVES puzzles.

Each postcard has a unique design on the back. When all the postcards are placed in the appropriate spots, they form a birthday poster that says, "I'm so glad you were born."

Most people wrote a few sentences on the back of their postcard, addressed it, and mailed it off.  

A few friends included a picture with their postcard (great idea!). 

Some people printed out their postcard, wrote a special message, and enclosed it in a birthday card for my mom. (No extra postage needed!)

I love that my mom received so much mail in the 10-day period leading up to her birthday.

Who doesn't love getting good old-fashioned mail?!

In case you're interested, here's a little bit more about my process for this project.

1 | About a month before my mom's birthday, I wrote out a list of 30 people I thought would be willing to help out. (It's always good to jot down a few extra people in case someone can't participate.)

2 | Of those 30 people, I selected 25 friends and family members.  I gathered some of the addresses in Outlook, and emailed my mom's friends on Facebook for their contact information.

3 | Next, I sent out an email to each person with a specific attachment.  (Yes, that's 25 emails in total!) Person #1 on my list received Postcard Attachment #1, Person #2 received Postcard Attachment #2 and so on.  

4 | If a person replied saying they couldn't participate (one person didn't have access to a printer), then I just pulled a name off the "extras" list and sent out an email with the correct postcard number.

5 | I also sent out an email to all participants about a week before my mom's birthday, reminding them to mail their postcards if they hadn't already done so.   

This is the second time I've done this project. When my aunt Susie turned 50, I completed my first postcard project. My aunt was surprised, elated, and appreciative.

I had so much fun doing it then that I knew I'd want to do it again in the future for someone near and dear to my heart.


Each time, I coordinate this project, I learn something new. I also think about how I might do things differently next time. 

Thoughts for Next Time

1 | Mention to participants that if card stock is an issue (I always have some on hand for scrapbooking, but many people do not), just print the postcard on copy paper and back it with construction paper or place it in an envelope and mail it. 

2 | Share how large the postcard should be when printed. (For instance, in this case the cards should have been 4x6, but some were smaller or larger than that.)

3 | If I want the cards to look uniform (all the same color with the writing on the blank side), consider printing them myself and then mailing one to each person.  I could also add postage, so that all the recipient would have to do is write a message and place the postcard in a mailbox.  

4 | Take a picture of a sample postcard--printed, cut out, written on and stamped. Shoot photos of both the front and the back. Make sure to point out that the side with the design should NOT be written on; it's part of the completed puzzle. 

5 | Tell participants that if their card is blank (all of the corners of the puzzle are blank), they can write on either side.

6 | Although I love this birthday postcard poster, I also love the idea of taking a childhood photo of the birthday person to Kinko's, Staples or Costco and having the photo blown up. Then, you could cut the photo up into 4x6 postcards, stamp them, and mail them out to family and friends in envelopes. (The number of people involved would depend upon the size of the poster. The bigger, the better, I say!)

This is one of those projects that puts a HUGE grin on my face.  It's such a joy helping to make people feel loved and appreciated on their special day! I think I enjoy it *almost* as much as the person receiving the postcards.

It's a team effort, though. I couldn't have done it without the help of our family and my mom's friends.

A BIG THANKS to all of you (you know who you are) for printing, writing, and mailing postcards to my mom! (She LOVED reading all of your sweet messages!)

I know you'll agree with me when I say that I'm so glad she was born!

Noah's Second Birthday Party

We celebrated Noah's second birthday earlier this month with a John Deere tractor party!

If you're a regular reader, you know how much Noah adores anything and everything John Deere.

Noah loved riding on this small tractor as well as the larger tractor (see below). Thanks to our friend, Sten, for loaning us both tractors for the party.

In preparation for this party, I gathered lots of ideas from where else...Pinterest! I enjoyed perusing blog posts that contained photos and write-ups on their John Deere parties.

In this post, I'm going to share lots of pictures from the party (since I know many of you are friends and family), but I've also included information about the decorations, food, and attire, in case you've arrived here in search of ideas for your own tractor party. 

INVITATION & THANK YOU CARDS
I purchased Noah's birthday invitation and thank you cards from this Etsy seller. Costco printed the 4x6 birthday invitations, and I printed the thank you cards here at home. 



ATTIRE
I bought Noah's 24-month John Deere shirt on eBay.
We also bought a John Deere hat (not pictured) at Tractor Supply Co.

PAPER PRODUCTS
Finding John Deere products at the stores near my home proved to be challenging.  I tried Wal-Mart and Party City, but neither had any John Deere party supplies.  My advice if you're planning your own JD party?  Shop early. That way, if you can't find party supplies at your local Wal-Mart or Target, you'll still have time to order supplies online.

Plates | I ordered John Deere tractor plates on Amazon, but unfortunately, they didn't arrive in time for the party. (Luckily, I had white plates on hand.) Noah has been enjoying the tractor plates at lunch time ever since they arrived.

Cups | Solid green and yellow paper cups from Party City worked well. (I also bought green and yellow dessert plates there.)  

FOOD & DRINK
Sandwiches | I ordered two sandwich trays from Raley's.

Other Food | We munched on vegetables (broccoli, celery and carrots), veggie straws, Oreo cookies, and Cracker Jacks.

Drinks | We kept it simple, offering lemonade, soda, and water.


Cake | I ordered Noah's birthday cake at Raley's. I provided them with a photo I found online and voila, they worked their magic. 

Cake Topper Set | After Brian brought the cake home, I added the fences, trees, and tractor (all part of this cake topper set from Amazon).


DECORATIONS
Table Decorations | I bought green and yellow tablecloths and handkerchiefs at Party City. I also gathered up all of Noah's John Deere tractors (and tractor books) and put them on the tables. In addition, I placed photos of Noah out (Deco prints from Snapfish), along with green and yellow balloons. 



Banner | I purchased a Happy Birthday banner from this Etsy seller, assembled it, and  hung it on our entertainment center.

Scrapbook Layouts | I hung four scrapbook layouts (one was all about Noah's love for tractors) on the family room wall.


 After eating lunch and opening presents, we sang happy birthday to Noah, blew out his two candles, and then feasted on cake and ice cream. (I don't know who was more excited, Noah or me!)


Last year, Noah wasn't a big fan of the cake.  This year, however, he LOVED it!  He also enjoyed some vanilla ice cream.

A big thanks to my friend Nicole, who snapped both pictures of the three of us.

Noah was showered with presents from family and friends!  Brian and I bought him a Strider balance bike.

The day before Noah's party, I saw this idea online: Bury items in the sand and then ask the kids to use their tractors (or shovels) to find them. Fun, fun, fun, I thought.  As you can see on the left hand side of the sandbox, the boys were successful in locating many of the buried carrots and heads of lettuce.

Here are a few more shots from the party:

Noah with his godparents.

Noah with his great-grandma, grandma and daddy.

Noah with both of his paternal grandmothers and daddy. (As you can see, Noah spent lots of time "driving" on the big tractor!)

Happy 2nd Birthday to my favorite tractor-loving toddler, Noah!

Love,






AKA Mama