The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that!

Max is in love with the Cat in the Hat. It is the first thing he asks for each morning when he wakes up, other than his cup of milk. "go go"!? With his eyes squinting from the brightness of the television, thank goodness for on-demand!!

So naturally, Cat in the Hat was the perfect theme for his second birthday party. I did not go as crazy as I did last year with the decorations, which was much less stressful; however, I did make sure there were a few super cute key pieces that would stand out ... because as you all know.. I love a good theme :)

Max's birthday fell in the middle of the week this year. I took the day off work because i could not imagine not being with him on his special day. We celebrated by visiting an indoor playground and having a mini celebration for just the three of us in the evening complete with festive cupcakes and presents. Max opened a Mr. Potato head, a Leap Frog Junior reader and a little motorized fish. He also was successful in "sneaking" a bite of his cupcake before dinner time.

The following Saturday was the big party day.

For the decorations I made a welcome sign that I found from Pinterest for the front door. We had the party at our local YMCA, so this helped everyone know which room we were partying in!

My super talented friend, the one who creates the rock art, created this for us. I had seen this online and thought it would be so fun for the little ones to get pictures behind. To be completely honest, I'm not sure who enjoyed this more... the kids or the parents ;) I have seen many pictures surfaced of the daddy's getting their mug taken as the Cat in the Hat :)

For Balloons, I kept it simple. I found a Cat in the Hat helium balloon online and paired it with a couple of solid red balloons, and then I bought our traditional (well traditional since last year) massive number balloon, which always fills space well. I love being able to bring the balloons home afterwards and having them in our home for a week or so afterwards to remind us (or me at least) of how much fun the party was.

The two centerpieces I made came from pinterest as well. With Christmas just ending I was able to find a lot of the supplies in the Christmas section (box and ribbon). The wooden numbers came from Hobby Lobby.

I bought a package of Cat in the Hat party hats online. There was way more then I needed, so I used a few as part of the decorations. All of the kiddos looked super cute in their hats.  I found themed plates online as well which added to the table nicely.

I totally scored on the favours. I am not going to give away where I found them, but I flipped out when I came across these, and bought the store's entire inventory. I loved that each little person got to leave with a nice little thank you gift.

I was so pleased with the cake. It came from Isn't Life Sweet located in Wyoming. It was half chocolate and half vanilla and was absolutely delicious. I have definitely found my go to local bakery!

For food we kept it simple this year. For the kids I had cheese strings, yogurt tubes, mini muffins, gold fish crackers, veggie sticks, a platter with cucumber, blueberries and strawberries, juice boxes and water and then pizza for the parents and the older kids that came. I think everyone enjoyed the spread.

For the first hour we munched out and sang Happy Birthday to our sweet boy, and for the second hour the kids ran wild in the gym, complete with a bouncy slide and castle. Max was a tad intimidated of these, but in true Max fashion with about 10 minutes left he decided they were not so scary and started having fun on them.

We had a complete blast at Max's 2nd Birthday party and are so appreciative of all who joined us. Celebrating our boy with our family and friends was so special to us.
Until next year!

~ K