What did you do for your childs 2nd Birthday party

[AnyDream]

Where? At home in our backgarden (mid Sept so weather was good)

Time/Duration?: 2 hours, mid afternoon on a Sunday, those that wanted to stayed on a bit longer (I always have a pot of hearty hot soup as back-up nourishment in case anyone has drunk too much and needs solid food before going home LOL)

How many guests? Did other children come About 20 guests of which about 7 were children (mostly family & friends) plus my 2 kids

Did you combine family with friends or do seperate things? This was DD2's first birthday party back in our home state so family & friends together

What worked? We did an "in the night garden theme' - I digitised a photo of DD2 into an ITNG picture for the invitations, and I did iggle piggle biscuits - gingerbread men iced blue with a red lolly stuck to one hand, iced cakes with smarty flowers on them in tombliboo colours. We had simple snacks like hot savories (puffy dogs, mini quiches, party pies), DH's home made pizza, and dips. Rule for kids parties - bring savories out first and withhold sweets until everyone's eaten - stops them going beserko . I bought clear plastic cups and decorated them with ITNG stickers, then added red and orange flower icecubes (made from ribena & orange cordial) & lemonade & curley straws. The littlies mostly never have softdrink so a glass of lemonade AND a curley straw = big hit LOL. Lemonade, champagne, tea and brewed coffee for the grown ups.

Activities: We hung loads of brightly coloured streamers and balloons from the hillhoist for the kids to play under. I made an iggle piggle boat out of a large cardboard box (spray painted blue) and we also had a pop up tent and crawl-thru tube, and I got these amazing huge balloons (they blow up to a meter) from cheap as chips. ITNG masks for the little kids. Bottles of bubble mix. We let the kids loose in the yard and they entertained themselves. There are older girls in the family, they are always fantastic at organising group play and making sure everyone gets included, kwim, so think about having a range of ages at your DS's party.

Take home gifts - we sent home an iced iggle piggle biscuit, some stickers and about 3 lollies done up nicely in a clear cellophane bag - as well as an ITNG mask & left over bubble bottle - hot tip: use half a fancy pipecleaner to tie the party bags as it's much quicker than sticky tape/ribbon but still looks nice.

What didn't work? I had more fabulous things planned but due to my treatment wasn't able to organise them all...it also meant we were very pressed for time on the day.

Did you buy them a special "gift" for their 2nd birthday like you might have for their first? If so what was it? (traditions) No traditions, but we had a cake with candles and our presents to her with her aunty & cousin on her actual birthday - because I was having medical treatment the party had to wait 10 days.