Come Fly with Me (part 1)

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First a little business... looking at these pictures makes me realize just how big all of my kiddos have gotten... it's crazy! It's like they all have just sprouted up this summer!! Even my Monkey's are looking more like big boys and less like babies!

Also, I know their names are printed on their shirts and their cakes and I realize that all of you sweet hearts can read them. But, they will still be known as Monkey See and Monkey Do. BTW- Monkey Do is the oldest by 3 minutes. :)

Most of the planning for this party was done in advance, since I knew I would be having surgery. And yes, Puddin's birthday is in October and we have already started planning... maybe surgery had nothing to do with it after all!

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Since I have over 350 pictures of Monkey See and Monkey Do on their birthday I thought I'd break this post down a bit, cause ya'll know how I love pictures. And instead of cleaning my filthy house like I should be doing, I thought I'd bring you the first installment of Come Fly With Me... my sweet little Monkey's 3rd birthday celebration!!

This birthday party was a bit of a change for us. With the exception of Puddin's 1st birthday party, all of our birthdays have been celebrated at home, and I really like that. Except for the cleaning like a maniac part- that... not so much. So, this year we planned an airplane party at our local airport, which we like to frequent anyway, and it was so much fun! I didn't even have to clean my house for it!!!

View from the tarmac

Since we had a morning party I went over the evening before to set up so it all worked out great.

Funny thing though, when I scheduled the party I was told they rarely have hosted a party, once in a blue moon type of thing, but on the day of the party the boys had theirs with another one backed up right behind us waiting to start their party! CRAZY!

So here is the first installment... the decor...

Let me just say that some of these ideas came from the world wide web- isn't technology great?! There are so many creative people out there that it's just crazy to not utilize their help. This site was especially helpful... check it out when you have time.

Also, a lot of the decor came from the boy's bedroom. Their room is done in red, white and blue and airplanes so that was kind of a no brainer.
And having a July birthday means you can rack up on the after the 4th of July discounts and score some things super cheap.


So let's start with the invites. I knew I wanted them to look like an airplane ticket so I started researching how to do that. And it's what they say is true, there is more than one way to skin a cat. In fact, there are tons! There were so many suggestions on how to do this that I finally settled on something that I didn't have to purchase to make it happen...Microsoft word. I wish I could tell you how I did it but really I just followed the directions on the first one then cut and pasted for the rest.

The envelopes were made from an old atlas my father in law had that he was getting rid of. I used a regular envelope that I had around the house, took it apart and used it for my template. I just cut them all out and used a glue stick to hold them together. I also made birthday labels for the boys but they aren't in this shot. The were basically the airplane you see pulling a sign which had their names and return address on it. Same thing for the front of the envelope except with the recipients info. The labels were also made through Word using their clip art.

Here are some pics of the kids before the party... a kiss for the brothers... they were wishing each other happy birthday as Puddin was trying to strike a pose for the camera...

Daisy actually wearing a hairbow... that lasted 3.2 seconds... silly girl!



The cake/food table

Starting from the left of the table... a bucket of juice boxes, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, Cheetos, strawberries and blueberries. Al of the boys favorites!
The quilts of on the table came off of their beds at home.
They matched perfectly and were great table cloths!


middle of the table... birthday cupcakes... so much easier than cutting cake for everyone while also juggling 2 toddlers that desperately want to put their hands in everything!
The airplane toppers were made from card stock and glued onto small wooden dowels and just stuck in the cake. The wrappers were 4th of July clearance at wally world.


Monkey Do's cake.... a little back story... since the boys were infants they have both had a signature color... I made sure that when ever I purchased pacifiers or cups I always purchased them in their color so that there would be no mix up as to which paci belonged to which baby. Monkey Do has always had blue things and Monkey See stuff has always been red. So when searching for cake toppers I did the same thing. Each of them got an airplane in their signature color to go on their cakes!


Monkey See's cake

Now, I do not claim to be a baker. I could have purchased some of the beautiful cakes I have seen out there but in my experience they always seem so dry for our liking and well, they are just too expensive. Plus, my one regret from their birthday party last year was that they had to share a cake (I made that one too but just didn't think about having 2 for some reason). With twins, sharing a cake means sharing blowing out the candles. So I decided that from now on, they will always have their own birthday cake.

They requested the "yummy brown kind", aka, chocolate. So I made yummy double chocolate cake with butter cream icing. The big white thing the airplanes are "flying through" are butter cream clouds. They didn't turn out looking exactly as I wanted, but they were yummy and the boys LOVED them!

Right side of the table... chocolate airplanes in cotton candy clouds. I bagged these up and tied them onto some branches from our yard and put them all in a vase. EASY!

Also, the children received an "in flight meal". I just packaged up what was at the other end of the table, except the sandwiches were cut out with an airplane cookie cutter and I added an airplane sugar cookie, and packaged them up in clear take out container from Publix. Again, easy. No one had to make a plate for the kids! They just picked it up and found a place to eat!

Mommy and my sweet, sweet little Monkeys



The book table. This is something I got from one of my besties...
Each year we purchase our kids a book on their birthday, starting from the day they are born. When people come to visit them and celebrate with them on their birthday we ask them to sign the book with a message to the child. It helps us remember who was there and also gives us some great memories about who our kids were at this time in their lives!
Daisy is attacking a balloon from the book table!
(The table cloth for this table was one of their baby quilts, also from their room).

Picnic tables from our back yard were set up for the kids so they could do their craft and eat while looking out on the tarmac and watching the planes land and take off.


Pilot badges... I found this site to help make these....
These were super fun for the kids and the parents. For each child I added some sweet characteristics about them. After they signed the book they got to pick up their badge and wear it during the party. It was also part of their goody bag.

Speaking of goody bags- we had a baggage claim area set up too. I borrowed 2 old suitcases from the boys room that we use to store dinosaurs and cars and trucks and set them up as our baggage claim area. The plastic tubs were Wally world clearance from the 4th of July. They held a small airplane, a place mat made from that atlas I used for the envelopes, a wooden picture frame with a plane on the front, Southwest Airlines peanuts and wings and color sheet and a bi-plane that the children got to paint as their craft.

Ok- so that's it for installment #1 of Come Fly with Me! I will be working on #2 and #3 this weekend so stay tuned!!!