I’m finally getting around to recapping our son’s second birthday party! It’s been a busy couple of weeks but lets get into it! We threw my son’s second birthday party a few weeks ago, almost exactly a month before his actual birthday- but we’re going to be traveling when he turns 2 and I still wanted to be able to throw him a little party to celebrate with our family!
When planning a party, there’s nothing I love more than a play on words or somehow making the theme work with the age my kids are turning- examples : Winter ONEderland, Two Groovy, Under the Sea, Avery is Three- that type of thing. When my kids starting getting super into Ratatouille (thanks to the ride at Walt Disney World, which we visited in October), my husband and I kinda felt like it was too good a theme to pass up (I actually had another theme in mind that I was already planning, iykyk, but we pivoted and this party came to be!) And I am so glad we changed direction because this theme was so cute and really only works with turning 2!
Because we have a lot going on personally & professionally right now, a big party was not something I was up for- so we only had family and godparents, which was actually really nice because of course I got to do all my DIY and over the top stuff but it was nicer catering to a smaller group and actually being able to spend time and talk to everyone. I think I’ll probably continue this for my son until he gets to the age where he’s wanting to invite friends. That ship has sailed for my daughter lol, she always wants to invite the entire town to her birthday parties LOL.
The original idea was to do build your own pizzas for the kids, we have an OONI oven that we love and typically do family pizza nights every few weeks with. BUT my husband last minute decided he wanted to hire a pizza company to come out- he wasn’t down for making pizzas for 20 people himself, and I’m so glad we did because the pizza company was AMAZING and actually so fun to hangout and talk too as well, they became a part of our party in the coolest way. A lot of our family members are total foodies, so they had so much fun talking pizza lingo and authentic Italian ingredients, it was so fun. I’ll link their socials/contact information at the bottom of the page if you’re in Southern California! BOOK THEM IMMEDIATELY!
Let’s get into the details!!!
Dessert/Appetizer Table
+ Jaxson’s Tapestry : If you’ve seen the movie, you know the restaurant in the movie is called Gusteau’s. I immediately wanted to recreate the sign of the restaurant using my son’s image! My husband used ChatGPT to create a caricature of our son in the logo from the movie. We measured our window in the dining room and then went to Hobby Lobby to get a fabric cut to size. Once we did that, my husband used our movie projector to project the image in the correct size onto the fabric. He traced the image and then I painted it over several nights prior to the party! My favorite part of party planning is findings ways to customize the party and add special details of my kids!
+ Anyone Can Cook Picture : my husband did the same thing here, using ChatGPT to combine my son’s cartoon with the actual book image from the movie. Once the image was generated, we printed it and framed it for the table!
+ red & white checkered table cloths : bought 2 packs (4 come in each pack) of these and used them for all tables to bring that French bistro vibe!
+ blue mason jar : my biggest party hack is to use/re-use things you already have or use in real life. Every party we throw, I start saving pasta jars and sparkling water glasses ahead of time and then just paint them to the theme. For this, I wanted to incorporate some blue to reflect the colors of France, so I painted all the vases and glasses this sky blue color. I toss them all after the party and then don’t feel bad because they would have been tossed anyways!
+ charcuterie board: I’ve had this for years, I believe it was bought at Home Goods. My mom made the board the morning of the party!
+ desserts: I knew I wanted the cake to look like a block of cheese so that I could put little Remy on top- one of my best friends (who makes everything always for every party I throw), made the cake, cupcakes, and “meatball” cake pops (my favorite!!). I made the little pizza sugar cookies- bought sugar cookies and red frosting at Target, then we used a cheese grater to shave white chocolate to create the “cheese” texture, and then I bought mini M&Ms and picked out the brown, orange, and red to use as the pizza toppings on the cookies! Macaroons (I had to have because what screams Paris, France more than a macaroon!), I bought at Trader Joes!
+ Remy cake topper: I printed an image of Remy from pinterest onto cardstock and then glued it to a wooden rod to stick in the cake. The #2 candle I’m linking here!
Drink Table
+ Rata-TWO-ille sign : bought a roll of construction paper from Michael’s and painted the sign on!
+ drink carriers : I thought it would be fun to use my own pots as basically coolers for the drinks. I filled them with ice and then the soda cans.
+ these cute little pizza boxes I bought at Target and used them on the kids table as well!
+ thank you graphic: I made this graphic on Canva and printed it to frame.
Kids Table
+ picnic basket : I’ve had this for years, but linking a similar one! Bought baguettes from Trader Joes to fill the basket with.
+ blue charger plates (these are plastic and easily wash for reuse!) : it looks like the dark blue color that I have are sold out, but linking a baby blue that’s on sale currently that would work great too!
+ chef hats : I bought these and then painted on the Remy shadow so that it looked like little Remy was in the hat like in the movie! I made them for all the kids and then painted a few extra to have as decor in my kitchen and living room.
+ aprons : bought these for the kids as a party favor and then I made the thank you tag on Canva and tied it to the apron. I wanted white to match the chef vibe, but they have multiple colors available!
+ France flag banner : bought this and then hung them from our tea lights that went over the kids table in the backyard.
+ flowers : bought at Trader Joes the day before the party, used pasta sauce cans as vases! Bought the pasta cans at Target and used the sauce for food earlier in the month lol.
Backdrop
+ pizza balloon : bought at Target and there isn’t a link online, but linking one from Amazon.
+ ivory back drop covers : comes in a set of 3, this is the second time I’ve used this set for a party! Super versatile.
Adult Seating Area
+ pasta votive : I used some glass votives I had to decorate around the house and just filled them with pasta noodles!
+ bistro set area : we had this bistro set in our backyard already so we set it up and I painted little pots and pans out of cardboard to hang behind it to act as a little “kitchen” area!
+ Ratatouille garland: I made this using some black yarn and then printed images from Pinterest to glue to it. The Jaxson logo is the same logo we traced and enlarged for the tapestry. You can really make your own party garlands for any party theme by just printing images and gluing them to yarn or string! A cute little hack that makes things a little more special and less generic than a garland you’d buy at the store!
We hired a pizza company to come make pizzas for everyone on site. They made this little graphic when we told them what our theme was and it was such a cute surprise! We picked the three pizzas we wanted to serve and they brought and set everything up in our driveway! Guests just walked up and ordered whatever they wanted! It was so much fun and SO good! Linking their instagram here! And their facebook here!
We had such a great day celebrating our little guy! Hope this post inspires you to throw your own little chef party!
On Another Coast 