Grace’s Second Birthday

My baby girl’s birthday was yesterday, and it was all I could do to not cry.  Why do the teenage years seem to drag on forever, but when life really begins, does it go so fast?? It seemed like only yesterday that I held this tiny girl in my arms, staring into her sweet, newborn face.  Anyway, enough sappy-sweet stuff.  We celebrated Grace’s big milestone by having a bird-themed birthday party.  Right now, she is really into birds of all kinds, so I thought it fitting.

I made vanilla sugar cookies and hummingbird cupcakes, and had caramel apple cider and lemonade for drinks.  My husband told me that all previous birthday parties I made too much food and sent goodie bags of desserts home with guests, so I decided to agree with him this year and make it simple.

I purchased these really cool apothecary jars from Amazon as an early Christmas present and loved putting candy in them.  My original plan was to have the malt-ball robin eggs and chocolate eggs wrapped in the shiny foil, but I think they are only out around Easter.  Gumballs, sixlets, and Jordan Almonds worked as a close second.   And the birch straws added a nice touch.  (It was also nice that I happened to have them in the pantry. Yeah to reusing!)

The birdhouses come from JoAnn, and I bought some paint to match the colors of the sugar cookies.  The sugar cookies were a lot of fun to do.  It has been a full year since I decorated sugar cookies (as I made owls for Grace’s party last year), and forgot how much fun decorating is.  I added some edible glitter to a few of them.

The hummingbird cupcakes tasted so good! And since they have bananas and pineapples in the batter, you know you’re getting your fruit serving.  Sadly, I did not make those cute sugar birds, but maybe someday I will learn how.

So there you have it–a bird themed birthday party.  I will post the recipe for the hummingbird cupcakes next week, as they are delicious and easy to make.

And everyone loved them, especially Grace.