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What to do for a birthday party when one daughter is turning 1, the other is turning 2, the budget is limited, and you have 2 weeks left before Baby #3 arrives????
SOCK HOP!!!
And thankfully the rain held out for us. It got a little chilly by the end, but I think both kids and parents had fun, and I honestly felt like it was the easiest party we’ve thrown. (BTW – VERY HELPFUL to have a very patient and helpful husband, and a fabulous sister!)
My sister went along with my crazy plans to make flag signs. Not tough to make. I’ll post a tutorial soon, just nice to have another set of hands while you make it. We used construction paper.
Pretty much the entire direction for the party came from our invites from Sarah and Abraham. I knew I wanted to use her invites last fall when I first found her site. Sara did an AWESOME job on both the invites and the gift bag stickers. Super cute…absolutely love the dancing girls!
I wanted the gift bags to be in theme, and fun. We made one for the boys and one for the girls. Basically the same, sunglasses for both (Ray Ban & Cat Eye), candy bracelet, 50s rubber ducky (Boy or Girl), couple toosie pops bought on Valentine sale with Oriental Trading Company, and the best part – a CD that was made to look like a record filled with fun 50s music for kids. Both of my sisters and brother-in-law helped to collect the songs, and then my youngest sister put the playlist together, burned the CD, and made cute labels to match the invites. Great inexpensive way to add something fun to a goodie bag, just takes time. I definitely recommend asking family for help when possible!
OHHHHH how I love Susie Cakes! They are pretty much the only bakery I use for birthday cakes. Yummy, yummy cakes and delicious butter cream frosting! I asked them to do a cake for each girl, one vanilla and chocolate cake, one vanilla and lemon, and to match the invitation. I think they turned out darling! And Addie obviously LOVED hers!
A super easy way to add lots of punch and not spend a ton is to rent a helium tank and buy your balloons in bulk. If you have a discount card to somewhere like Shinoda (in Southern California), great! If not, you can buy large quantities at Oriental Trading Company, or Party City. You will be shocked, its so much cheaper to blow your own balloons ups. You can get one of those small tanks, but its about $40 for 40 balloons. We rented a tank from a loal supplier. You could blow up 220 12″ balloons for $41. We had 216 so that was the way to go for us! I filled our front room with loads of balloons and streamers. The kids loved it that morning! Again, good to have a partner in crime to help you! Thank goodness my sister was here!
I had not made a balloon arch since High School, but a quick Google search, and I was back in business. Nothing more than time, paper clips, fishing line and balloons. Again, good to have an extra set of hands! There are many more official and professional ways of making one, but we went for easy! No one was going to judge us!! We blew up 4 balloons of the same color and threaded them onto a large metal paper clip, between the knot and the end of the balloon. Then we clipped that balloon set to fishing line that we had tied to a chair and weighted down. We made 2 sets of each color and then onto the next. It took a good hour, but was not tough to do in the slightest. And again, our girls loved it!
I had a large bucket of black and white pom-poms out for the kids to play with. Ordered them from Oriental Trading Company.
Hayden and Addie’s poodle skirts KILLED me!!! I found a cute Etsy shop, Hip Hop 50s Shop, that made infant skirts. Then I used Gerber onsies from Target that my local FAVORITE mongrammer, Ann Pike, put their initials on for me.
My husband spent weeks cleaning up the garage and we borrowed a projector and screen from a friend. Then we asked a few friends to bring their kids’ “cars” and made the garage into a “Drive in Theater”. By far the most popular! I wanted to have “Grease” playing, but in the end we went with “Cars” since the kids love it!
I ordered sippy cups from Oriental Trading Company just before Valentines day with the 50% clearance sale (I also ordered the Tootsie Pops, chocolate lips, and candy bracelets from the Valentine sale). These came with Valentine liners, we took them out and made new liners for hte party. I had these out for parents to fill with water for their kids, and then also passed around trays of Vanilla milkshakes from In-N-Out.
Addie thought it was a good idea.
I picked these coke cups up at a resteraunt supply store ($20 for 500) and filled them with Coscto movie theater popcorn ($5 with manufactures coupon).
I did rent 2 tables and 16 kids chairs with a couple table cloths. Kids like their own place to sit, eat, do projects. I ordered cardboard guitars from Oriental Trading Company and then put them on a couple tables with crayons. If you had older kids, you could use paints, pens, glitter, anything. But we had to keep it kid friendly for 1 year olds so just stuck with crayons.
Hayden and her friend felt like big girls at the craft table!
This little craft came from my Latte Fairy Friend’s daughter. I asked her for the best birthday party project and she said “Fruit Loop necklaces!!!!” I was a little hesitant last year that I didn’t pull it out until halfway through the party, but sure enough, THE BIGGEST HIT, no matter the age! All you need is a big bowl of Fruit Loops and something to thread them on. I used curly ribbon (that we had for the balloons) and think it was much easier to thread than the string from last year.
All in all, I think the kids had a great time!
Although I’m noticing the one thing we don’t have pictures of is the food. And I’m pretty sure it was a success! One dad even said I had ruined all future birthday parties that they ALL better have In-N-Out! We ordered and paid for it the day ahead and scheduled it for pick up at a certain time the day of the party (Grams & Gramps went off to pick it up for us). Cheeseburgers, plain kids burgers, vanilla milkshakes and fries. Everyone LOVED it, went with the theme, and it was BEYOND AFFORDABLE!
So that’s the Sock Hop wrap up! Hope this gives you a few tips. It really wasn’t hard to put together. Just needed to think through things, plan early, and watch for sales!
Thanks for stopping by! See ya tomorrow! I’m off to start working on next years TRIPLE birthday party, HAAAA!!!
Simple family party….mmmm’hmmmm!
Woman, this rocked! I’m laughing cause we totally must revolve in the same circle of 17th St. I’ve used Ann Pike for years, since I went to High School.
The goodie bags and the decorations rock!!
Angry Julie Monday´s last blog ..Spotlight Saturday 2.14 to 2.20.10
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Stop it! This is one of the cutest b-days themes ever! I am seriously going to consider stealing this. So original!!! Okay and Sarah and Abraham — I die! I am a sucker for stationery and usually use Tiny Prints (who I see an ad for in the side bar) but it’s always nice to have another option. Will def. be checking them out. So glad I found you via Twitter! Happy B-day to your girls and good luck with the baby on the way.
Mama Mary´s last blog ..monday, monday
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ADORABLE as ALWAYS – I love the balloons, girls outfits, fruit-loop necklaces…I-N-O -for real? wow… you are a source for creative inspiration and a testament to being ORGANIZED!
So next year is it going to be a combo of all 3 birthdays in March?
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Standing Ovation! Terrific party.
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Standing Ovation. Terrific Job, per usual.
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WOW! What a great idea – I love all the little touches you did to personalize and make it special. My favorite thing (besides the poodle skirts) that you did is the drive-in movie – I love it. That would be fun to do on a rainy day with kids too :)
Becky´s last blog ..Messy Monday – Color Wheel Cupcakes
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OH MY GOSH!! I’m dying at HOW CUTE THIS IS!! How PUMPED are you that you could combine BOTH of their birthdays!! My 4 kids are as close together (almost) as your soon-to-be three! Going from 1 to 2 was MUCH harder than from 2 to 3, if that matters any!!
I can’t get OVER how adorable this party was. When you said you did it “affordably”, I was thinking Dollar Store, through and through. What a production — GORGEOUS production, nonetheless.
How fun was this!! LOVE IT ALL!
Love your site… will be staying tuned!
Kat´s last blog ..Shrimp and Grits – Amazing!!
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OMG!!! What a fabulous birthday party. You thought of every little detail, and your hard work paid off. What great memories you have created for your children!
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shanna as always you did an amazing job!! my kids had a BLAST! not one detail was overlooked!
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Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by MyFavEverything: who’s ready for a little shoobie-dee-doo?? http://ow.ly/1adbb...
How fun!! I could do that for Hannahs 13th Bday. What beautiful girls. Much love!
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Thanks for taking the time to share these great ideas! I am planning my son’s first b-day party and will definitely be using this as a guideline. Can’t wait to make my first balloon arch ; ) I also loved your idea of putting balloons in your girls’ bedrooms upon waking b-day morning! So simple and so fun. love it!
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Happy Happy Birthday Babies! Such a special party…congrats on an amazing job well done!
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You are soo AMAZING!!!! What lucky little girls! Thanks for sharing the details with us. I am soo keeping this idea for when Anna is older.
Happy Birthday to your beautiful babies!
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OH… MY… GOSH!!! Okay, now you really are SUPER MOM!!! You’re girls are so lucky to have such a fun Mom. Saving this post for ideas! Andrea
Andrea Marshall aka.Haolegirl´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
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Shanna, you are amazing! No other way to say it. Every detail is perfect!
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My munchkin had a blast! Great planning and fabulous party!
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Fabulous! Everything down to to the smallest details are amazing. What a clever idea to have a Soc Hop too!! And your littles are adorable in their outfits. Great job!!
Heather´s last blog ..Swanky Paper :: Star fish
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I am so impressed and very jealous! I just held a party for my 3 year old and it was really lame compared to this one. You rock!
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Wow!!! Having a baby in two weeks and you pulled an amaing party off. You rock!!! The decorations are amazing. Love the photos. You inspire me!!!
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All I can say is WHERE do you get the energy?!?
It looked fabulous! But I’m tired just looking at the pictures!
Tania ´s last blog ..Diva Guide – Use Less Plastic in Your Home
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Um, you did all this 38 weeks PREGNANT?!?! You really ARE superwoman!!!!!! SO CUTE! Everything! Amazing!
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OMG you are freaking amazing. You can please come by my neighbor. You ARE super mom!!!!
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wow!! looks awesome!! first time here!! saw you listed on top mommy blogs, then i saw you over on SITS!!! awesome blog here!!
julia´s last blog ..The Final Giveaway
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Shanna, thanks for mentioning me, I feel famous! Also wanted to share a poodle skirt related book you may want to add to your girls favorite book pile. It was written by a local mom, it is really cute- keep the party memories going for awhile.
Kasey’s Poodle Skirt by Sandy De Young
http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61566-302-6
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All I have to say is wow, ADORABLE!!! Look at you with the balloon arch. What a great party! And good luck with #3 on the way, we have girl #2 coming, would love advice on 2 girls :)
MommyB´s last blog ..Bob The Builder: The Best of Bob The Builder
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Love your blog. I cannot fathom how you pulled off this party with two darling kids underfoot and pregnant. Incredible job- lots of cute ideas!
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Wow. Just…wow. Amazing party! You have such fabulous ideas – I have idea envy! And you’re about to have a baby?? You are very inspiring!
Cheryl´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday – Encouragement
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What an awesome party! Love it!
Jamie´s last blog ..DIY Personalized Disney Shirts
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wow, the girls looked like they had a blast! and your ideas are so cool! you got yourself a new follower :0
by the way, why is it called a sock hop?
cheri´s last blog ..hamming it up with the boys
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You are a super duper party planner! Can’t believe you did all this for a 1 and 2-yr-olds party. This was AWESOME. Obviously, you enjoy planning a outstanding party. Those goodie bags are terrific and I love all the balloons, even an arch that you did. You set the bar very high here for all future parties, you know that, don’t you?
Congrats on your SITS day!
Karen & Gerard Zemek´s last blog ..What Is The Joy In Your Present Moment? (Writer’s Workshop)
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I love all those photos. I felt as though I was right there! Your photographer is da Bomb!
Cheryl´s last blog ..Newborn
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Such a great tip about renting the balloon blow up machine! I love that : ) Thank you!
life with Kaishon´s last blog ..Kids Night Out
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The hoop skirts and pon poms….TOO much! How adorable…..
My brother lives in CA also and they always have big ol themed parties… I’ll bet your girls were just thrilled!
Kerri´s last blog ..A Picture is Worth at LEAST a Thousand Words!
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Oh my goodness! This is such a fabulous theme! I love it!
Sandy´s last blog ..Happy Earth Day!
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Oh my goodness what an ADORABLE idea for a birthday party! You are so creative and I absolutely love the poodle skirts! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such tiny poodle skirts! I don’t think you left anything out of this themed party! Now I’m jealous that I couldn’t come! It looks like you had a blast!
Caity´s last blog ..Unless.
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I just love this party, all the details are amazing. I was wondering on the balloon arch did you use the helium tank to blow them up or can you just blow them up old school style? Also did you have to use anything to keep the arch in an arch shape?
Texas Monkey’s last blog: Blogmania Twitter Party
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I did use a helium tank. The arch needs the helium to become an “arch”. You might be able to do this by just blowing up, but you would need to use fishing line or something to anchor and hang the arch for a ceiling or something. And no, you do not need to do anything to keep it in an arch shape, if you use helium, you just need to anchor both ends to the ground somewhere. Good Luck!
Shanna’s last blog: road trips a favorite thing
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