I love small, detailed, DIY birthday parties.
For me, the fun is not just in the executing, but also in the planning.
Gelli has expressed a serious fondness for her buddy Elmo recently, so this birthday despite the popularity of Princess Sofia and Doc McStuffins, we opted for a classic DIY Sesame Street Birthday Party for her celebration in school.
I loved planning this simple celebration and putting it together for Gelli and her classmates. Thanks Tita Vangie for my birthday outfit! It’s perfect for the theme of my party!
I also opted for this themed celebration because I just LOVE IT SO. Gia’s first birthday party theme was Sesame Street themed and I had tons of fun planning for that one too! This also meant I got to use my Sesame Street chocolate molds again after all these years. I have kept them all this time with the hope that I would be able to put them to good use again.
I made these chocolate lollipops using the molds I kept from Gia’s first birthday, and a local colored chocolate called Mayfair.
And I’m so glad that I did.
I love Pinterest for sourcing ideas and putting together inspiration boards. I found an invitation that I liked, which was simple enough, that Gelli would give her classmates (and their mommies) an idea that Gelli would be celebrating in school.
I emailed the design of the invitation to my local print shop and was able to have the invites printed for only P300.
The Magnolia Cookbook is my go to cookbook for our favorite cakes and icings. I chose a simple Vanilla cake recipe with Dark Chocolate Buttercream Icing.
I also found these cupcake toppers which would be perfect for the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes that I would make for the little ones as a treat to take home. The toppers are a steal at P60 for 6 pcs. Since Gelli only has 5 classmates on a full day, we were able to just buy two packs of these so that even the teachers would receive a cupcake to take home as well.
Angel had the perfect ribbons and accessories for me to put together a set of clips for each girl in Gelli’s class.
While thinking of a give away for the little girls, I remembered my friend Angel over at Keishables had Sesame Street Ribbon. I remembered this, because I wanted to make these ribbons for Gelli BEFORE! I just never got around to ordering the supplies from her. After I contacted her we were able to meet up in ATC a day or two after so I could get cracking on the ribbons for the girls. Angel said she could make necklaces for the boys with an Elmo face, so that helped me square their favors away and I didn’t have to worry about it anymore.
The two boys in Gelli’s class received a necklace with Elmo on a bottle cap. Angel made these for me to make my life easier. I topped each cello bag with simple cardstock and a Sesame Street character.
My friends over at The Bento Mommas have been a source for inspiration for me for some time now. Even before we were friends, I would stalk their IG feed for ideas on how to creatively pack a nutritious lunch for my kiddos. (This was before Gelli was even in preschool!)
I packed a bento of everything I knew the kids could eat with their hands. Chicken Fingers, melon, whole wheat sammies with Goober Peanut Butter and Chocolate and a Baby Bel Cheese disc.
Well, the newest and hottest thing for children’s party is to pack these bentos for the guests. It leaves very little to waste (I hate the waste that goes on when the nanny’s take too much food for the kids.) Because I knew I only had to pack 6 bentos, I sought the advice of my friend Kaye and she encouraged me to give it a try. She even lent me some of her personal stash of sandwich cutters if I needed to use them.
I included some silicon cups in the boxes and some reusable picks as well. All the mommas can reuse them in the lunch boxes if they would like. All they have to to do is make sure to wash after each use.
I also baked small sugar cookies with 3 little m&m’s. I sealed these in little plastic pouches because I didn’t want the cookies to get soggy if I packed it with all the food.
Teacher Boom also let me know that I could plan for a game or an activity for the kids to do together since I would have a little more than an hour to celebrate for Gelli’s party. I thought it would be a great idea to decorate some cookies with the kids. And since our theme was Sesame Street, I knew I could use cookie cutters for each of the kids’ first initials in their name. This would also reinforce what Teacher has been teaching them on a daily basis.
Each kit had a different set of sprinkles and three different types of icing.
I was so happy that Gia and I finally figured out how to package the icing for these kits so that it was the perfect size for little hands. It also made it easier for us that I have this machine that seals these little cellophane and plastic bags with little effort.
Labeling each of the kits was easy with a magic marker and some Sesame Street tags.
While I was planning for the party, I saw that Gourdo’s had some scrapbooking items on sale in ATC. I snatched up a pack of these embellishments knowing that I could somehow put them to use for her party. In hindsight, I should have put them on each of the bento boxes as well, because the kids couldn’t finish all the food I prepared for them.
I also used the scrapbooking embellishments on the envelopes of the invitations. They just gave the simple envelope a little something special.
This celebration was an action packed hour filled with fun things for the kids to do, nutritious snacks for the kids to eat, and games that were facilitated by Teacher Boom. There were a few moments that I was very emotional…but emotional in a good way. I know that Gelli will meet challenges as she attends school, makes friends, and tries to find her way in this world. This much I know to be true. But because I’m her Momma, I also know that it is my job to try and help her in anyway I can to be all that she is supposed to be.
And on her birthday….She is supposed to be happy…She is supposed to be very happy…
Moments like these are what I’m grateful for.
Wow, I love all the effort you took to DIY this party. I have no doubt that you made Gelli and her classmates very happy. 🙂
Thanks Janice 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I know for sure that Gelli was happy! I think some of her classmates know my name now, too 🙂 It was even fun for this Momma. Exactly what birthdays should be all about.
Grabe ka, Mish! A+ for effort!
When my kids were younger, I remember going DIY for their small birthday parties, too. I document them on the blog also, so they can read them a few years down, and know just how loved they are. But now that they are older, I just bake treats so they can share with their friends in school.
Oh Tina,
As they get older they don’t like us to fuss so much over them, no? But if they allow us, we will…
And I’m sure the baked treats are exactly what they need and want while they are this age. Soon enough the time will come when they might actually want us to plan parties for them again…but then those will be of a different nature…
You are such an inspiration to us moms, my dearest Michelle! <3 You are so busy with your many hats, and yet you still manage to make time for things like this because you know how important it is for our children to know how much they are loved. Gelli is so blessed that God chose you over a million other moms to love her & be her guardian here on earth. I super love the entire Aventajado family! :-*
Aw Jane.
You continue to inspire me as well. I can see how much your big kids adore you and love being in your presence all the time despite the fact that they are already teenagers! Teenagers don’t usually like to hang out with their parents and I always see you together with the kids and Jeff. AND I LOVE THAT. I can only hope that when my kids are your kids’ ages that they will still want to spend time with me.
Love, love this Mish!(: I wish I can do this too! Happy Birthday Gelliebean!!(:
Thanks Kaity!
DIY is easy if you can plan ahead. I’m quite sure you can do similar things for your boys as well. Thanks for the birthday wishes for Gelli!
Gellibean looks really happy! She’s so lucky to have you as a Mom Mish! I love the small details like the scrapbook embellishments and labels. 🙂 Very inspiring and creative. Makes me think what theme and things I will do for Keisha’s classmates on Novermber.
Aw. Thanks Angel! Truth is-I’m the lucky one. 🙂 Sometimes, I get caught up in the details? But, here for her party I think I had enough details to tie it all together but not too many to make me cray cray! hahaha. Please share what you decided to do for Keisha in November!