Nandini's third birthday: Oh joy.

Planning a birthday party a few weeks after having a baby is not necessarily the easiest thing in the world.  Nandini really really wanted one. She even composed a song about her party surprise and her love for her family.  Who could say no to that? Well played Nandini, well played.

So, I set out to put together a party for her, but keep it easy and low key.  Cute, but low key. She had a few wants too. Yellow cake. Yellow balloons. Her family. 

We chose the wildflower center as the setting.  There is a small grove of oak trees with rope swings hanging from them.

For the decor, I got majorly lucky.  The Oh Joy collection from Target just came out so I picked up some awesome pieces from that line.  It seems that other older lines of their party decor was on clearance so I picked up a ton of plates, napkins and honeycomb balls for cheap to supplement everything.  The table cover was some kraft wrapping paper that was on clearance.

I got the Happy Day banner, party flutes, goblets and bowl from the Oh Joy collection.  Enough color to give everything just the right touch.

The most important thing was that Nandini had such a blast.  She loved swinging with her friends.  She was pretty much too excited to eat cake but I didn't think she was going to let anyone else have any donut holes. We had a pie fight, which was more amusing to Avinash, and probably better for five year olds than three year olds, but he loved it.  We had Holi colors and face painting with us, but skipped it.  The kids were having enough fun playing in the flowers, leaves and going on the swings.

Tips to keep it easy:

• Don't cook! We ordered breakfast tacos and donut holes.  It may not have been fancy, or themed, but it was good. 
• Find a setting with natural charm.  We knew the wildflowers would be out so we really didn't need to decorate much. In years past we have held our parties at a pretty gazebo in the park.
• Let kids be kids.  We didn't hire a magician or clown.  Avinash made clown noses for everyone anyway and brought them along.  I had my face paint kit with me but no one was even interested.  We had rope swings and a pie fight.  Honestly, the swings held their attention longer than the pie fight anyway. 
• Let it go. Keep crafting to a minimum.  I skipped my usual handmade invitations, banners and goodie bags this year.  We used evite.  I found a party pack of goodie bags at Target.  The whole thing was 9 dollars, princess themed and a no brainer.  I think we added gummy bears to it, but the kids may have eaten those before we handed them out.  I really didn't check. Lol.  
• Wide washi tape for water bottles.  I think that taking off water bottle labels is such a nice touch, but printing out new labels and taping them on is a pain.  This year I just used one strip of wide washi tape on each one.  Fast, easy and cheap. Score.
• Reuse handmade items. I had my chalkboard banner which I made a few years ago with me.  This was a great project because I can use it for each child's birthday. The clay letters on her cake were also a project I made years ago and are reusable.  The honeycomb balls came home with us and are hanging up in her room now.

 Linked up with the Idea Room. You can other parties I have planned here.