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Carnival Birthday Party

We can’t believe that Cooper is already six years old! Having to count your age on two hands instead of one is a pretty big deal, so we celebrated with a candy-filled carnival birthday party for him and all his Kindergarten buddies.

We filled up our building lounge with 100 brightly colored balloons and created a sweets table inspired by an Amy Atlas book given to me by our talented friend Marissa Levy. We created our own birthday buttons (a Richmond tradition), and I wore a custom red pocket apron like a true carny! Coop and his friends played classic carnival games, inked themselves with temporary tattoos by Tattly (thanks, Tina!) and beat the heck out of a number 6 pinata… but the biggest hit was the amazingly fun photo booth! Matthew used some pretty sweet camera equipment and his perfect lighting skills to create a pro-style set so the kids could snap their own epic shots. We set out silly props like hats, beads and mustaches and talk bubbles on sticks. Our friend – and really good sport – Eric ran the printing station so everyone got to take their photos home with them. I think the parents had as much fun as the kids! When it came time to sing “happy birthday,” the kids munched on super delicious and festive color surprise cupcakes by Kristin Cimonetti.

Happy birthday Cooper!

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For those about to rock, we salute you

The moment Holden picked up his ukulele and stuck a harmonica in his mouth, we knew we had a tiny Bob Dylan on our hands. Naturally, the next logical step was to convert our building lounge into a rock club for his 2nd birthday party!

Holden’s favorite music teacher, John Carlin of The Kids Music Underground, was coming to perform so we created a kid-friendly stage area complete with theater curtain, custom music-themed posters (including our own version of Milton Glaser’s famous Dylan illustration), prop guitars and a Fender amp. Club-goers were given “admit one, age two” wristbands upon entering the party, and VIP family wore laminated all-access passes. The Dylan poster art appeared again on yet another cake crafted by the talented crew at Betty Bakery, and Holden’s lil rockstar buddies left the show with branded harmonicas as favors.

Special thank you to Apartment Therapy for naming Holden’s rockstar party one of the best of 2012!

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Stand clear of the closing doors

All boys in NYC love riding the subway — and what they love even more are those little wooden train cars. We easily have the entire mini-MTA in our living room. So, there wasn’t really a question this year that we’d celebrate Cooper’s 5th birthday at his favorite place, the NY Transit Museum.

The evite was created from a photo we took in front of an old subway sign in the museum. Family favorite Betty Bakery once again created treats for us, this time in the form of yummy subway-themed cupcakes. Each party-goer got a treat box (from my favorite and least-expected kids’ party supplier, The Knot Wedding Shop!) that we decorated with homemade subway line stickers.

Playyy ball!

My sister and her husband love baseball so, naturally, when my nephew turned one we had to pay homage to America’s pastime with an all-star baseball party in their backyard.

We styled a fun and festive concession stand featuring Lone Star Kettle Corn popcorn, peanuts, single-serve cotton candy bags, and glass bottle Cokes. Close family members were outfitted in specially-designed team logo tees (note: I will look for any and every excuse to make matching tees!) and guests were given souvenir buttons and vintage-inspired custom baseball cards featuring the birthday boy.

Special thanks to Pottery Barn Kids for featuring our baseball party on their Facebook page!

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And the Oscar goes to…

Holden has always turned heads and made ladies swoon. My mother calls him “her Hollywood hunk,” so, when the time came to plan his first birthday, which falls during Oscar season, it seemed fitting to turn him into a movie star!

The main decor showpiece was a set of classic movie posters we turned into 24×36″ prints featuring Holden alongside some of Hollywood’s greatest names.  Betty Bakery took the illustration from our evite as inspiration and artfully created the gorgeous — and delicious — cake. Guests played a suspense-filled game of opening sealed red envelopes to reveal a winner (the prize? $20!) and took home autographed 8×10″ glossies.

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Fab Four

The Beatles obsession continues! Even though we partied at a local kid’s gym for Coop’s 4th birthday, we managed to infuse some John, Paul, George and Ringo into our evite and custom stickers for the treat boxes (which are my favorite gable boxes ever, from The Knot Wedding Shop).

We all live in a yellow submarine

Atypical of kids his age, 18-month old Cooper fell in love with the Beatles after watching the probably-too-trippy-for-kids movie, Yellow Submarine. When the obsession showed no signs of waning as he turned two, we decided to incorporate the Fab Four into his birthday celebration.

Matthew scored some amazingly cool collector’s dolls on eBay and Betty Bakery in Brooklyn took inspiration from the colorful movie to create one of the most amazing cakes I have ever seen! And, of course, guests were encouraged to wear yellow.