A 2nd Birthday Bananza!
This post has been sponsored by Balloon Time. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
You guys. I love throwing parties. Don’t you?! All the fun food, decorations, music, people, and laughter just fills me up.
Over the last three or more years, I have helped my sister-in-law, Kelsey, throw parties for their kiddos and I love it. Normally, I just show up a few hours before the party and we figure out what exactly we are doing and then decorate. But this year, with them being our neighbors, was so much fun and so much easier! All day when we were setting up we were just popping in and out of each others houses to create all of the decorations and it was great!
My favorite thing about most parties is the balloons, and this one was no exception. I love having a Balloon Time helium tank on hand, because you never know when you’re going to need to blow up a bunch of balloons and celebrate someone, right?!
Kelsey chose a banana theme for Gray because well, he is two, and loves bananas. She ordered a really cute banana balloon online, which tied in perfectly with the banana colored balloons we used for the Smilebooth backdrop and the giant confetti-filled balloons with tassels.
Whenever I help to “design” a party, I always try to encourage picking a color palette, because this really helps the whole party feel cohesive. After Kelsey found some really great banana wrapping paper, that we used like a wallpaper to cover the lattice on the deck (to make it more a-peeling 😂), we landed on yellow, mint green, black and white as the colors for Gray’s party.
The morning of the party, I used our Balloon Time helium tank to blow up two (because Gray was 2!) giant clear balloons and filled them with mint and yellow tissue paper confetti, and a few gold stars. Then I hung tassels from them in mint, yellow and white, and topped it all off with these cute little banana “gift tags” we’d found at the store!
The ballon backdrop was made by blowing up lots of balloons in yellow, black, citrus orange and white, and tying them together in groups of three, and then tying those groups to a big piece of wire. This gave it stability and allowed us to staple gun the big string of balloons right to the deck!
We knew we wanted bananas to tie into the party in other ways too, so mini banana splits were served as a dessert, alongside some adorable cupcakes with banana candy on top!
A few hours before the party started, Kelsey and I decided to make a banana piñata! So I drew and cut out the banana shape from a cardboard box, and then we covered it super fast by using yellow streamers that we cut a fringe into before gluing onto the banana. It turned out SO cute and the kids loved smacking it as hard as they could. Apparently, we made the banana piñata a little too well, because none of the kids could get it to break, so my brother, Taylor, ended up smacking it super hard with a big styrofoam bat! *EMOJI* We were laughing so hard trying to get it to break!
We set up a slip and slide, because you know, banana peels are slippery 😂, along with a blow up pool for the kids to swim in. Right before the party started T.J. and June poured a bunch of those water beads into the pool, which made it extra awesome.
The party was a ton of fun, the weather was great, and Gray had the time of his life running around with all his cousins and friends, shooting water guns and eating cupcakes. June and Sunny both ate ice cream, played in the water, and enjoyed playing in the yard. T.J. wore his banana shirt, which was perfect. And funny enough, it was already in his closet... just waiting for a moment like this to shine.
Everyday I am so grateful that my brother and his family are our neighbors. And that someone invented portable helium tanks, because y’all, I would happily blow up giant balloons and decorate them with tassels for the rest of my life. Maybe I should work at a zoo or something when I’m older and be the balloon lady. Hmm…. I’ll think on that for awhile…. in the meantime… Happy 2nd Birthday Gray! We love you!
If you’re wanting to throw a Banana themed party too, here are a few ideas for you to try!
Paper banana leaves as decoration
Balloons galore! (Yellow, black, white, and an accent color of your choice!)
Tissue paper tassels in yellow, black and white, to hang from balloons or turn into a garland!
Black and white striped plates, napkins or cups, to make it feel more modern!
Invitations that say “You’re invited to a birthday bananza for...” “This party is going to be bananas.”
Serve mini banana splits
Bowls of banana candy
Banana flavored cake or cupcakes
A banana shaped piñata for the kids!
Yellow gift bags, for the kids to collect candy in.
A favors table with a sign that says “This party’s over! Now make like a banana and split!”
