Audrey's penguin party

First, I would just like to say that I have a new found respect for parents who have little ones with birthdays so close to all the winter holidays. It. Is. Hard.

In December, I was focused on Christmas – the decorating, the shopping, the traditions... Soon it was New Years, and then the frantic rush of getting every Christmas item out of my sight. Before I knew it, Audrey's birthday party was less than 2 weeks away. It seriously came out of nowhere.

Now on to the party.

While I'm sure I'll have difficulty picking birthday themes later on (that is, if Audrey allows me to choose any more), I never had any doubt on this on. It had to be penguin. And for good measure, I added some snowflakes.

In the past, I've always done a welcome sign. But since Kansas winters are iffy (and the weathermen predicted 7" of snow), I went with a wreath instead:

But, don't worry, I had a penguin greeting all the guests in the entry way:

THE DRINKS
I was worried about spills, so I bought plastic penguin cups with lids for the kiddos. Then there was lemonade, soda and water.

And of course, beer and wine. Seriously, if I could have found a penguin beer, I would have been a happy girl.

The dining room table centerpiece:

(And this is where I get mad at myself and apologize. My food curse continues, and I forgot to take pictures of the table with the food out. A family friend took pictures as well, so I'm hoping he might have some).

But I do have a menu label picture:

THE DESSERT

Dessert consisted of strawberry, lemon and chocolate cupcakes, cake pops and sugar cookies.

Dessert was a tag-team effort between my mother-in-law (strawberry and chocolate cupcakes), Aunt's Mary's Cakes, Cookies & Cupcakes (lemon cupcakes, sugar cookies, cake pops and smash cake) and Etsy vendor Claudia Cupcake Lady (penguin toppers for the strawberry and chocolate cupcakes).

Audrey loved her cake:

So Brent and I decided to get in on the black-mouth fun:

Some other decorations (yes those are penguin gummies, and yes they are amazing):

In the family room, I did a photo display of the her monthly photos:

PARTY FAVORS
Aside from the penguin cup, the kids also got a penguin coloring book and penguin beach ball.

Audrey was a fan of the beach balls:

It really was a fabulous time. And those 2 weeks of constant stressing was worth it.