Z's 2nd birthday party

so a few weekends ago we had Z's birthday party.  his first birthday party was more for me than him probably, hahaha.  i spent time on making decorations and it was a little man moustache bash theme.  our family helped us prepare a couple days beforehand, it was a lot of work, and we had lots of guests.  this time we wanted it to be a little more low key.  i wanted it to just be fun for z and his little friends and cousins.  i didn't put up decorations, we had simple food.  the only thing i did that took some time and planning was the sensory bins.  i wanted all the toddlers and kids to have fun, that was my main goal, so in the backyard i put Z's tent with tunnel, basketball hoop and ball, and some other toys like his lawnmower.  then i set up different stations.  i got the idea from this blog, which was so great: http://mamapapabubba.com/2012/09/05/gracens-2nd-backyard-birthday-bash/
so using that as inspiration i set up a bubble station, a sidewalk chalk station and then 4 sensory bins; one was a construction theme with dirt and pinto beans as the foundation and then dump trucks and shovels and diggers; the next was a garden bin filled with dirt, fake flowers, shovels, sifters, and flower pots; the third was an ocean bin filled with water that i put blue food coloring in, little plastic sharks and whales, fishes that squirt water, cups, boats, a watering can and some sponges cut into different shapes; and the final bin was probably the most popular, filled with cloud dough which is just a mix of 8 parts flour to one part baby oil, inside that bin was shovels, measuring cups, little rakes and cookie cutters.  this dough is cool because it has the consistency of flour but it can also be compacted into shapes similar to how you can form wet sand.  so basically, we just snacked on the food which was just a spread of fruits, veg, hummus, pita chips, spinach artichoke dip, toddler trail mix (i mixed some chocolate chips, chex, pretzel sticks, dried banana chips and raisins), some toddler squeeze pouches, and some banana nut muffins.  oh and i made these sandwich roll thingies-really simple, whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter, banana slices and honey and the other was tortilla with cream cheese and then a chicken salad which was just chicken breast mixed with a little cream cheese, spinach and some seasonings, roll them up then cut into slices.  and instead of cake, i just made chocolate cupcakes and iced them with cream cheese frosting that i whipped up.  the toddlers seemed to have liked the food, and they loved the sensory bins.  i was surprised that they all played in them, even z.  the cloud dough bin was the biggest hit, then the ocean themed bin and then the construction and garden bins.  it was kind of an experiment for me to see if z would like them, so that i can use them again in the future with him.  after almost 2 hours of playing, we opened the presents from our generous friends and family, although z was still more interested in playing, then called it a day.  it was great, i know z enjoyed it and it seems like the other littles did , too.  i was still exhausted afterwards, after we cleaned everything up, but it was fun. so anyway, if you are interested in ideas for toddler activities i would highly recommend those sensory bins!  just check out the link that i posted to the blog above.

i wasn't able to take pictures, because i was running around taking care of stuff and trying to visit, but my father in law did take some.  so here are the best shots of some of the party details:

this is the cloud dough bin, all the kids liked it

behind z is the ocean themed bin

bubbles!

here is another shot of the kids playing in the ocean bin, behind it is the garden bin, at the very back is the construction bin

z playing with his fan, garden bin behind him

opening presents, his cousin lucy was really excited to help! it was cute, z would run off to play with something in the backyard and lucy, holding one of the presents, would chase after z saying 'open your present zabih!"

so that's pretty much it.  thanks to everyone who made it such a fun day!