Yea! Our birthday party is featured online.

I'm excited - the place where we had Justin's birthday party put up a photo of our birthday party on their site!!  It only shows a little bit of the decorations, but I'm happy that they wanted to use our party as one of their example pictures!

Take a look below - or to see it live, visit the Bubbles website.

I have to give another shout out to Bubbles -- having our party there was great! Highly recommend if you live in the Chicago area!

What is appropriate to spend on a birthday gift?

We have a number of upcoming birthday parties and - this being my first foray into the children's birthday party world - I have some questions on birthday gift related etiquette.

I have some initial thoughts, but I have no ideas if I'm on target or way off! Take a look at the questions below and please let your thoughts!

Question 1: What is an appropriate amount to spend on a child's birthday gift?

I would think between $20 - $25 for someone who isn't a relative or close close friend is a good amount, but I have no clue! Is this nice? cheap?  Do tell me please! 

Question 2:  Do you try to be an equal spender or do you stick with what you believe is appropriate, regardless of what someone spent on your child?

Hypothetical #1: Someone spends $15 on your child. You are invited to their child's birthday party soon after. Do you:
a) Spend $15 and call it a day
b) Spend $25 because you feel that's a good amount to spend
c) Split the difference and make it $20

Question 3: If you cannot attend a birthday party, do you get a gift? If so, how much do you spend? 

a) The same amount you would if you had gone to the party
b) Less, since you weren't there
c) No need to get a gift at all
d) More because you feel bad you weren't at the party

Would love love to get some input! We have a birthday tomorrow and a birthday next weekend and these answers would be super helpful!!!!

Justin's Sesame Street party: part 2 (party pics).

You probably (hopefully!) already read Part 1 of Justin's Sesame Street birthday party, which was all about the planning and the decorations (if not, visit here to read).  Now here are some great pics of the birthday boy enjoying his party "so much" (his words).  And what a sweetheart he is, hugging and kissing all of his little friends! Enjoy!

Birthday boy in action!

Hugs with his "older" friend Lila.

Kisses for his friend Noah.

Tickles from his friend Colin.

Big hugs from cousin Abby.

Little friends hanging out.

Blowing out candles with some help from mom & dad.

Great big friends and great little friends.

Happy Trio.

I adore this little boy.

I can't believe my little boy is already two!  It's incredible to watch him grow and learn. And such a happy happy little boy he is. Justin brightens our lives every day! Happy Birthday little buddy!

And now it's time to start thinking about birthday #3! Will it be Thomas? Super Why? White Sox Baseball?  We shall see....

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions for themes or great sites for party ideas (or even better, your own), let me know! 

Justin's Sesame Street birthday party: part 1.

Last weekend was Justin's 2nd birthday party.  The party was at Bubbles, a local Chicago children's "play" venue, and the theme was Sesame Street.

When I decided to have a Sesame Street theme, I knew that I did not want it to be too overtly Sesame (think Sesame Street party kits), so I decided to focus on bright primary colors and accent with Sesame Street decor.

It turned out great and I'm excited to share with you all a look at the party.  Keep on reading and have a look!

Cute Sesame Street themed Goody Bags.

Little boy's 2nd birthday party is tomorrow, and I'm really excited.  The theme is Sesame Street, and the party is at a local play space.

I can't wait to see how much fun the little boy has, and I'm also really excited to blog about all of the details.

I'll start with a sneak peek of the goody bags! More details on these and everything else to come later.

The gift bag tags were purchased on Etsy from Twinkle Twinkle Little Crafts.  Also, I hope I will be able to get some photos of the decor and set up before the party starts - I can only go 30 minutes early!! But I've given a LOT of detailed instructions as to how I envision everything....

We shall see how it all turns out! Most important is that Buddy has a wonderful time!

Happy 99th birthday Bubi.

An overdue post, but I have been sort of delinquent writing. It's been really busy and I've been trying to get to sleep earlier (previously late night was my blogging time).

So let's see - time to catch up. This post is going to be about my grandma's 99th birthday.  We had a party for her. She is incredible and until very recently was 100% taking care of herself. Now she has a lady for a couple of hours a day, which is hard because she's always been so independent.

Anyways, the party was great. Relatives from all over the world sent in some videos wishing her a happy birthday, and my brother and I, on behalf of the grandkids, made a sweatshirt for her.

The theme was The Bubi Bunch (a la The Brady Bunch) and we made a design that featured all of the immediate family surrounding a nice picture of my Grandma with the words "The Bubi Bunch". On the back we wrote "Bella's 99th".  Here's a pic of the shirt:

Front of shirt

Our Model

Wishing my grandma  many more healthy & happy years and many more celebrations! Much love.

Yes, restaurants will give birthday desserts to 18 month olds.

Buddy's 18 month birthday is tomorrow. I can't believe it! It came so fast!

So today, my parents, buddy and I went to lunch. during lunch, I somewhat jokingly suggested we let them know it's buddy's birthday and see if they'd bring a birthday dessert.  

So, we told our waitress we were celebrating a birthday and let her know it was for the baby.         Um, do you bring desserts for18 month old birthdays? we asked.  Sure, replied our lovely waitress.

So, a birthday sundae was brought out for buddy to enjoy. Complete with candle and all. He was so excited.  And he definitely enjoyed that sundae. See photos below.

So, two things - one, happy 18 month birthday to my precious, happy, sweet little boy. and two,
whether you're 18 months or 18 years, everyone loves a restaurant birthday celebratory treat!