A Little Man's Mustaches & Neckties 2nd Birthday Party

My Lil Mootz turned two during my blogging break!  TWO!  Can you friggin' believe this little munchkin is two already?!

And he is certainly living up to his age.  One minute he's in his Terrible Twos and the next he's a Terrific Two.  Seriously, the boy is a walking see-saw.  He thinks that if he hits you, but immediately follows the hit with a hug and a kiss all is forgiven.  And to be honest, he usually is forgiven, but we're desperate to quit the hitting altogether.

Anyway, back to the turning two part.  We had a birthday party for Lil Mootz this past weekend and it was awesome if I do say so myself.  It was a Little Man party and Stonewall and I put so much work into it, so we were so happy with the way everything turned and that everyone had a great time...


The Invite

I wanted Lil Mootz to look like the Little Man that he is, so I found the cutest necktie t-shirt at Jam n' Jelli on Etsy.  During the party though Lil Mootz wore a necktie t-shirt I made to match Stonewall and myself.


I called around to every party store in the area looking for a giant mustache balloon or pinata, but no luck.  Instead I made one out of foam to hang from the ceiling.

I made the necktie banner using my handy dandy Silhouette SD.  (If you're into the cutting machines, like Cricket, you totally need to check out the Silhouette.  It does the same things as the Cricket except you don't need to buy separate cartridges for each new shape.)  Do you like the mustaches Lil Mootz is sporting in some of his photos?

I made Mug-staches for the favors and filled them with hot cocoa mix and cookie lollipops.  I found a great tutorial for the mugs at See Cate Create.  I was so surprised at how easy they were to make and how little time it actually took.  I have no idea why anyone would spend $15 a mug to buy these on Etsy when I made 27 of them for $30.

I found the cookie lollipop recipe on Cookie Madness.  I used the Michelle Bommarito recipe.  The dough was very crumbly which made it very difficult to work with and I wasn't super thrilled with the taste either, but Lil Mootz was a huge fan of the finished product, so I can't complain too much.

My favorite part of the favors though was the necktie ribbon I made to close the baggies.  I'm pretty proud I thought of that little detail.

I also made mustaches out of felt served in beer mugs for our party guests.  Everyone had a blast picking their perfect 'stache and modeling it for the camera.  Even unborn Vivi joined in the fun.  As you can see all the guests came appropriately attired in their neckties!

I made Chocolate (Root) Beer Cupcakes for the cake smashing event.  (Last year, I made vanilla cupcakes for Lil Mootz's first birthday and I got in trouble for not making chocolate which is better for photos apparently.  I didn't want to make the same mistake again...)  The cupcakes turned out nicely and everyone, especially Lil Mootz, quite enjoyed them.  I forgot to get a good close up shot of them, but I decorated them with neckties, mustaches, and "2"s.

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the food, but we served what I called, "Man Food."  Stonewall made his soon-to-be famous hot wings with his signature hot sauce and a honey BBQ sauce.  We also served up sliders, chips and dip, cheese and bologna and tator tots.  Everything a man needs to fill himself up.  I also had bottled (root) beer to cool down mouths after scarfing down the wings.

Another little detail I was especially fond of was the napkins.  I found these cute necktie napkins that went perfectly with the Little Man theme.

Also, the chocolate cake made a huge mess on the floor.  When Lil Mootz wanted to help clean it up, I didn't argue...