There’s nothing more exciting than planning a birthday for your little one, and we had the best time prepping for Frances’ 2nd birthday. Since Frances’ 1st birthday was on Thanksgiving (plus during COVID times), we kept it small and special with just family. However, this year I wanted to do a true celebration with lots of friends and family to make her 2nd birthday extra special!
Frances absolutely loves music, so it was easy to choose the perfect theme! I wanted the party to be outdoors and casual, but full of fun entertainment and color! The main challenge I had from a decor standpoint was that I wanted it to feel girly and young, but most music decor was black/white, bright primary colors, or rock n roll. When we found this on Etsy, we knew this would be our theme, it kicked off our planning, and we worked everything else around this color scheme – and we loved the way it turned out!
We planned the party for mid-afternoon in our backyard, and we got so lucky with the most beautiful weather. The party was so much fun, and best of all, Frances was ALL smiles! We were so grateful for all of her friends that came and celebrated, and it was a special day we will never forget!
Today I’m so excited to share photos from her birthday + tips for planning a music-themed party!
SHOP BIRTHDAY DRESSES
SHOP BIRTHDAY BOWS
Start Planning Early & Give Your Guests Time To Mark Their Calendars
Planning a child’s birthday party always takes a bit more time than anticipated, so I highly recommend starting early to have a stress-free planning process and allowing yourself the time to cover all the details – from booking entertainment, making party favors, and ordering all of the decor and accessories to make the day special! Giving yourself time makes the planning process a lot more fun and exciting too. If there’s too much to do, you can buy some things pre-prepared to save time. For example, entertainment providers might bring their own setup, so you don’t have to rent anything, and pre-packed assorted chocolates make great party favors.
I also recommend sending your invitations out early to make sure your friends and family can attend. As a mom, our schedule books up way faster than it used to, so we always appreciate an early invite to make sure we can attend!
Hire An Entertainer
Since the birthday theme was music, we hired Mister David, and he was fabulous! He brought all his own equipment and speakers, and he even brought puppets and balloon animals. His energy was amazing, and both the children and adults loved it! If you’re in the Dallas area, I highly recommend Mister David for a child’s party.
Have Fun With The Decor
Since we stumbled on our party theme from Etsy, we had the best time adding in all of the details to coordinate. We used these adorable music sticks everywhere from the flower arrangements to the favor bowls and more. We hung this welcome sign on a boxwood wreath with lots of colorful ribbon to welcome friends into the party, ordered festive linens from CV Linens, and we scattered music note confetti all over the place.
Since we always love balloons for parties, Ellen made balloon garland for the party and we tied these music notes to balloons throughout the house. It was very festive and an easy way to bring a lot of color into our home!
SHOP DECOR
Serve Finger Foods At The Party
We had the party mid-afternoon, so we served lots of snacks and finger sandwiches (which were cut into music notes and these were a hit!) plus drinks for all ages – this is our favorite children’s juice box currently.
Kids are always excited and running around during birthday parties, so chances of sitting down and eating a meal is slim. Finger foods make it easier to grab a bite while you’re chasing little ones, plus bite sized foods are easier for kids to enjoy.
SHOP SERVEWARE
Provide Party Favors
For party favors, we made goodie bags with bubbles with personalized wrap from Etsy, animal crackers, music note-shaped crayons, a coloring book, and maracas! We ordered custom favor tags to personalize the bags, and they were super easy to make. We also ordered candy in bulk to fill the gift bags, and the children loved it!
SHOP PARTY FAVORS
Order Toy Musical Instruments
We ordered a mix of toy musical instruments for the kids to play with, and they had so much fun with with these. You can find so many child-sized guitars, tambourines, maracas, etc for a steal on Amazon, and they were a fun addition to the backyard bikes and trampoline for the children to play with.
SHOP TOY INSTRUMENTS
Find A Local Cake Decorator To Create Something Special
Keeping with theme, we brought a mix of photos from Pinterest of cakes we loved + one of our Etsy decor items to a local caterer, and she created the perfect birthday cake for Frances! It was so special, plus it was delicious too!
Overall, the party was so special, and we loved seeing how much fun Frances had celebrating with her friends! We hope these tips inspire you if you’re planning a music party too!
