Eliana’s Candyland Birthday Party

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you choose to purchase through links I provide(at no extra cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

2020 was obviously not a great year to throw parties or have large celebrations. We love hosting parties at our house and after over a year of keeping it to small gatherings, I was going through party withdrawal! Thankfully, now that life is returning back to normal, we decided to go all out for Eliana’s second birthday. I spent more time on decorations for this party than I ever have in the past. Some people like to read books in their free time, I like to browse Pinterest and make cutesy things for parties. In this post, you will find some of my favorite party planning advice and also some decorating ideas for a candy themed birthday.

Decorations

Balloon Arch

This was something that I always thought would be way too difficult or expensive to do, so I avoided even attempting it. I was walking through Hobby Lobby one day and I saw a balloon arch kit. As I looked closer, I saw that it was under $10. I figured for $10, it’s not the end of the world if I screwed it up. I did decide to invest in an electric balloon pump because as embarrassing as it is, I cannot blow up a balloon! I started making the balloon arch the night before the party and cringed when my four year old asked to help because I didn’t want to say no and make her feel bad, but I didn’t want her to mess it up. It turns out that this project is actually easy enough for a 4 year old to help with! She helped me attach the balloons to the balloon strip. The hardest part was attaching this arch to our fence. We used twine to attach it but I think over time I will find a better solution to hanging it.

We had two parties, two days in a row, because we wanted to have family one day and then invite her friends over the next day. Since the party was mostly set up outside, we decided to leave the balloon arch attached to the fence and hope for the best. I’m not sure if it was the heat, the humidity, or something else, but quite a few balloons popped between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. I took out the popped balloons from the balloon strip and added some new ones. While it didn’t look perfect, I don’t think most people could tell.

The background between the balloon arch and the dessert table is actually a plastic table cloth. I added some vinyl lettering to it with my Silhouette machine. The vinyl would not stick long term to that table cloth but it worked perfect for the duration of a party!

Candyland Direction Sign

When I was searching Amazon for party decorations, I came across these signs. I needed to find something to attach these to. I decided to use some PVC we had leftover from a drainage project and red duct tape to create a pole. This was actually really easy and didn’t take very long, since the PVC was already the correct size, and this probably took about 10 minutes. I started with the duct tape at one end of the PVC and slowly turned the PVC while sticking the duct tape on. Once I was finished with the pole, I attached the signs with the remaining duct tape.

Dum Dums Centerpiece

I got this idea on Pinterest but the original Etsy link is no longer available. The photo I saw used gumballs in the vase but I didn’t want to buy gumballs, so I decided to place tissue paper in a vase. Then I added foam and rocks to add some support to the dowel rods that were sticking in the vase. I bought a foam craft ball to stick all the Dum Dums in. If I were doing it again, I would choose a smaller foam ball because of how heavy the Dum Dums make this project. I made two and they were very large. One was moved around some at the party and so it fell off. I think if I had made it smaller, it would have been completely fine.

Balloon Sticks in Vases

I bought some balloon sticks from Hobby Lobby that I plan to reuse for future parties, and I attached confetti balloons to them. I took foam blocks from Dollar Tree and put them inside of tissue paper and stuck everything in a vase.

Food

I hate hosting parties and then getting stuck in the kitchen for half of the party cooking. In the last few years, I have switched to trying to serve food that can be set out and people can eat whenever they feel like it. This also helps because then I don’t have to set up enough tables and chairs for everyone to have a seat at one time.

North Carolina Pulled Pork

My mom found this recipe years ago and has been making it for parties ever since. The only thing I did different from the recipe, is that I cooked the pork in the oven for 30 minutes per pound instead of 40. I cooked this the day before and shredded it. I put it in a crockpot and refrigerated it overnight. Then I reheated it in the crockpot on the day of the party.

Hot Dogs

Funny back story is that when James and I were registering for wedding gifts, he decided to add a hot dog roller to our registry. I thought we would never use it and we didn’t use it often until we started having kids birthday parties. We could not believe how many people commented on how excited they were to eat a hot dog off of a roller! I had bought hot dogs just for the kids and the adults ate a ton of them too! This hot dog roller isn’t something you use often but apparently people love it!

Sides

• Apple Sauce Pouches – these are so easy for parties with small children
• Individual bags of chips – this allows you to have a variety of chips without buying 10 different bags
• Strawberries and Blueberries
• Veggie Tray – I opted to buy one this time and I was so thankful that I did.

Desserts

My friend Molly baked all of the cupcakes, cookies, and cake pops. They were absolutely adorable and delicious! If you are in St. Louis and need some baking, check out Molly Ryan Bakes on Facebook or Instagram. I added some candy to the table and it turned out so cute!

Invitations

I usually design and print my own invitations. However, this year I didn’t have any great ideas. Instead of stressing myself out and spending way too much time on something I wasn’t enjoying, I went ahead and ordered a design from Etsy. I was very happy with the designer. Everything was emailed to me within a few hours. Then all that is left to do is print, text, or email your guests.

My best advice for planning parties is on the day of the party to not think you have plenty of time. Things always take longer than expected, so you should get started as early as possible. Also, try and do what you enjoy and not stress over it. I truly enjoy making decorations and planning parties. However, my two year old wouldn’t have cared one bit if I had just ordered pizza and sang to her with a box cake that I made myself. Hopefully this post has given you ideas that you can tweak to help with your future parties!