school bus party | sevenlayercharlotte

Singing Happy Birthday

I can’t believe I’m even writing about my son’s SECOND birthday party! How in the world do they grow so quickly?! I kept looking at him and wondering how he could already be two years old. He is pretty incredible, and I am one blessed mama!

Thank you to Todd and my mom for all of your help setting up this party. To Abbie, thank you for helping take pictures!! And a huge thank you to all of our family and friends for coming! It meant so much to us to have so many of our loved ones here to celebrate our little boy. Both sets of his great-grandparents were there as well – I just felt so much joy that night!

Moving on to the party details! Davis loves, loves any type of vehicle, so we were deciding between a tractor theme and a school bus theme. We have a lot of school buses come through our neighborhood, and he is always excited to see them! We went with a school bus/stoplight theme and I think it turned out really cute.

I ordered the invitations through Allison Powell Designs – I found them on their Etsy site. Then they offered to send me a few other items that can coordinate with the invitations! They sent me a “Happy 2nd Birthday” banner, food place cards, and a custom 8×10 welcome sign. I would recommend checking them out for any parties or showers you may have in the future. Thank you for working with me on this, Kristy!

The wreath on the front door was inspired by my Mom’s design last year. It was a team effort for us this year. (By the way, I cannot express how thankful I am to have a husband who is willing and able to help me with painting and building and setting up things for parties. I am spoiled for sure).

Typically for parties we move our island into the french doors into my husband’s office. It is right inside the foyer, and works well for a favor/welcome table. The favors included a ball, a wooden bus, and some stickers! I also had bus and “2” sugar cookies on the favor table.

The road table runners were basic yellow fabric with a more narrow piece of black fabric on top. My mom used bandage tape to add the dotted line to look like a road. These were simple and inexpensive!

We incorporated the stoplight theme in the food, and in the decor. The mantle was decorated with the welcome sign, as well as a large stoplight made from foam board, wooden circles (pre-cut from Hobby Lobby), and paint. My mom used poster board to make the bus.

For the food, we had the “school lunch” theme in mind, and stuck with the basics. For the kids we had bus-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and grilled cheese sandwiches. I also had halved bananas, red/yellow/green vegetable tray with dip, and pretzels and Pirate’s Booty cheese puffs. For the adults we ordered subs and cut them into smaller pieces.

Drinks were simple – water and juice.

Desserts were the most creative part of the food. I made a school bus cake, school bus sugar cookies, “2” sugar cookies, and chocolate cake pops to look like a stoplight. Todd made the cake pop stand, and I was so impressed! Because the food fit the school bus and stoplight theme, and because the banner was hanging behind the table, I didn’t have to come up with a centerpiece for the food table.

For entertainment, we moved the furniture around in our den to give the kids plenty of room to play. One of the activities was play-dough in stoplight colors, with a variety of cookie cutters. The kids also ran around outside and played. Todd did his best to organize a game of Red Light, Green Light, and it was hilarious! Check out my instagram to see a video of the kids attempting to play.