Happy Birthday, Chloe! I officially have a 2 year old and I'm so shook! We tried to keep things small this year, but my birthday is July 10 and Chloe's is July 15th, so I kind of just made her party into my party ;) Aside from the ballet theme, I would have planned the exact same party for myself! It took me a while to come up with the theme, but she has a couple ballerina books that she has been very into lately so I just decided to run with it! (Tallulah's Tutu and Miss Lina's Ballerinas - both so cute!)

I'll write out a few things, but mostly wanted a permanent place for her party photos to live to give other mamas some inspiration for upcoming parties, so this is a photo-heavy post! 

I used Paperless Post for the invitation and it was so easy, as usual. The best thing I did was include a "schedule" for the party in the event details. That way, guests could easily see if it was come and go, or if they needed to be on time and know what to expect.

I kept a pretty tight schedule because a party for a 2 year old can only last for so long before the guests get a little wild ;) We started at 9:30am with welcome and snacks, then started our ballet class at 10am, then moved quickly to cake at 10:20am. The party officially ended at 11, but I only had the photographer until 10:30am so kept things moving pretty quickly.

I'm obsessed with how the decor and setup came together! DEAD over the little toddler table and chairs!! I have been to quite a few parties where they have a big kids' table and then nobody ever sits there, so I didn't want to do that and take up a ton of space. I decided to just have a small 4 foot table that I rented and use that as a decor focal point and be where we would have Chloe blow out the candles. WELL, I was surprised to find out that all the little girls wanted to sit at the table! LOL so basically they took turns throughout the party.

I used a canopy tent that I puchased years ago and never ended up using to be a visual backdrop, along with my DIY helium balloon bundle. I used the ballerina banner as my focal point that would essentially be in all of our photos of the table and the cake, and I love how it turned out. I don't think I've ever loved a store-bought banner more! I used my bar cart as a little gifts area. I was shocked at how many gifts she got. I know it's a birthday party, but still! Wow!

The big event at the party was the "ballet class!" It was the cutest thing ever! I hired an instructor from a local dance studio and she arrived in a full ballet costume and was ready with her playlist and moves for the kiddos. This instructor does all of the ballet birthdays for the dance studio, so she was a pro and all of the little girls loved her, of course. I held the ballet class in my office, a separate room, so it could be a dedicated space for the kids and instructor and would help wrangle the kids a little bit. Overall, it was a hit! I would absolutely do it again. It also gave some of the parents a minute to relax/grab a bite to eat while the kids were with the instructor. Of course, there were other parents in the room, and Chloe's grandparents participated too ;) 

Let's talk: Chloe's outfit. I'm deaddd. How precious is her little tutu dress?! She looked like such a big girl! I wanted all of the girls to feel fun and ready for ballet class, so we had pink tutus for everyone to wear, if they wanted; those were also party favors, and they were a hit!

Our house isn't too big, so our main party area were the dining room with the toddler table and cake and the living room with the balloon swag and signage to greet guests when they walked in.

I made the balloon swag myself a few days in advance, along with the little "tutu cute" goodie bag favors. Most of the guests were adults, not children, so I wasn't too worried about handing out candy ;) I used Zazzle to make the large themed sign and the coordinating stickers - they turned out so cute!

We had a pretty minimal food spread. The party was pretty short, and the big food focuses were the cake (beautiful, stunning, amazing, delicious omg) and the cookies (most precious things i've ever seen, so delish, insane). Beyond that, I wasn't too worried about food, so we kept it simple with fruit, mini pastries and cute mini cinnamon wheels and fritters from a local bakery, waters, and organic juice boxes. I always overdo it with food, but I finally got it right at this party and didn't have tons of leftovers.

See Chloe's happy birthday reels; party setup reels.

Any questions? DM me @rhondajenkins!

LOL this photo. Definitely my child - double fisting the cookie and the cake! ;)