Isabella's 2nd Birthday, a Minnie Mouse Party!

Hi there,

Isabella turned 2 in the end of May... can you believe it? To be honest, I can't,... time is going by so fast. I look at my baby (who is no longer a baby) and I see a little girl, a smart, confident, sweet little girl,... that loves to play and take care of her big sister Kiki,...

She is my everything!

Isabella is not allowed a lot of screen time. However she watches a few baby/toddler shows: Wiggles, Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves all of them, but lately she's been really excited about Minnie Mouse, or as she says "Mimmie". So for her second birthday I thought that it would be fun to throw a Minnie Mouse themed party. Also, I thought it wouldn't be difficult to find cute and inexpensive party decoration.

With that in mind I started the search for her outfit and once I found the dress I ordered the hair bow from Brazil.

We ordered the invitation from Inspired by You Designs and they did a fantastic job, as always!!!! They created exactly what I was looking for in the perfect color scheme. We didn't print invitations this time, it was all virtual.

I found these water bottle labels online and we customized them for Bella's birthday party,....

We hosted the party at our place, and we ended up preparing most of the food at home; We served pulled pork sliders, vegetarian frosted layered sandwich loaf, veggies (tomatoes and carrots) & hummus. As for sweets we had brownie bites, M&Ms, passion fruit mousse and overnight oats.

You might be thinking: 'it is different (not to say odd) to serve overnight oats in a birthday party!',... and you might be right hahaha,... but we were thinking about the birthday girl -  Isabella has never had any refined sugar or sweets so far (and we intend to keep this way for a bit longer), so we wanted to have something that she really loves eating. We served them in little cups with spoons. It was a huge success: everybody in the party asked us for the recipe. If you guys want the recipe, I am happy to share it with you, jus leave us a comment here!

Isabella's Godmother baked the birthday cake. It was a Kit Kat cake with M&Ms,... OMG,... it was delicious and beautiful. She is not a professional baker (although I strongly advise her to start a business in baking!!!) and she took the time to do it for us. Thank you so much dinda Lu!!!!

Isabella stayed up late that day enjoying her party,... she ended up with tomato seeds and oats all over her dress, but it didn't deterred her from dancing until the last minute. I was not expecting to have a toddler, who didn't nap that day, in such good mood and showing her dance moves by 9pm!

We want to thank our friends that came to celebrate with us and again a huge thanks to Lu and Ana (including husbands) for all the help in organizing and setting things up for Bella's birthday party. We have no words to thank you enough!

This is one of the few pictures with the 3 of us!

The birthday girl and her sister dressed to impress!!!!

This selfie was taken at the end of the party,... when Isabella had her dress (and face) covered in cherry tomato seeds!

Again,... a big thank you to dinda Lu and tia Ana!

Invitation: Inspired by You Designs
Party decoration & balloons: Party City
Isabella's dress: Walmart
Isabella's hair bow: Menina de Laço
Mom's top: Guess

It is Cake Smash time!

I can't believe how fast the first year has gone by. It feels like it was just the other day that we were bringing our newborn baby home from the Hospital.

Isabella had a great time during her birthday party (check here),... she played with her friends and had lots of carrots. She was so excited that she didn't nap a bit!

After celebrating Isabella's 1st birthday, it was time to look into the "Cake Smash thing". I think it is adorable to see the pics of the little ones having fun with a cake. Little did I know that most of time the cake smash photo session should take place before the 1st b-day party,... oh rookie mom!!!!

For those who (like me) don't know, a cake smash photo session consists of a baby literally smashing a beautiful cake and making a controlled mess. As I mentioned, it is a sweet mess (pun intended)!

We chose the package that started with the Milestone pictures (1 year old), then the Cake Smash when Isabella got in touch with the cake and had a blast and wrapped up with a  relaxing Bubble Bath.

I wanted a cake that looked like a giant cupcake and the ladies from Mangia Cake Desserts did a great job! It was beautiful and yummy. This was the first time that Isabella tasted sugar.

As for he theme, I love the clean backdrops with all possible shades of pink. Another prop that I wanted was the large letters that spell out ONE.

The photographer - Alona Rose - was really nice and made Isabella, mom and dad feel comfortable during the photo session. Everything that she prepared - props, backdrops, balloons - was pretty & elegant, I love the flowers and the balloons! Needless to say that she is a great professional,... look at some pictures:

We took the Birthday board with us, it was made for her Birthday party and now it is in her nursery.

A few tips: 1) think about the theme/color scheme you want for the cake smash in advance, try to search on Pinterest and Instagram for ideas; 2) Be prepared for you to get some cake on your clothes and maybe your hair :) It might be a good idea to have a spare outfit for you just in case! 3) Make sure your baby is well rested,...

So,.. did you like Isabella's Cake Smash Session?

Photos by Alona Rose: https://alonarose.com
Cake by Mangia Cake Desserts:https://www.instagram.com/mangia_cake_desserts/?hl=en
Birthday board: https://www.facebook.com/inspiredbyougraphicdesign/

Isabella's 1st Birthday Party

Isabella turned one (a few months ago) and I can't believe how fast she is growing. She is no longer that baby that depended on us for everything,... it is a bitter sweet feeling because at the same time that I miss that little baby, I am proud of the (tiny) human being she is becoming.

We decided to have a small birthday party at our home just for the closest friends and family. I chose the theme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - it is one of her favourite songs.

After picking the theme, I went online to order the party supplies: plates, napkins, cups, some centerpieces and balloons.

I was able to find this adorable invitation online, I knew it would be perfect for the colour scheme we chose.

Checking Pinterest I saw some birthday boards, and I became obsessed with them,... It is such a great idea to register this milestone. I contacted a Canadian company (great customer service!)  that designed it just the way I wanted, and the result is here:

I ordered it 20'x16'and it was the perfect size. I love it so much!!!!! See the contact for this company at the end of this post.

The menu was prepared at home and it included pulled pork sliders, carrots (Isabella's fave!!!) & tomatoes with hummus, tostitos, layered sandwich - vegan and regular (this is like a layered savory cake - I know it doesn't make sense, but our guests loved them), passion fruit mousse and "brigadeiros" - tradicional Brazilian chocolate truffles.

We ordered the cake from a traditional bakery. The shades of rose-pink matched the colour scheme of the party.

It was such a great time,... Isabella had so much fun from start to end. We would like to thank our friends for celebrating such an important day with us,... also a special thanks to Grandma Ivete, and her God-Parents Ivana and Izzet for helping us to prepare everything for this special moment. We love you guys!

Grandma came to help us and celebrate with our baby Bella! Such a great memory.

I just love this picture!!!!!

Isabella's friends (two of them in the picture), the little girl was fascinated with Isabella's headband!!!

Brigadeiros - Brazilian chocolate truffles

Passion fruit mousse.

Invitations: Little Monkey Design
Party supplies/decoration/balloons: Party City online
Isabella's personilized board: Inspired By You Graphic Design
Cake: La Casa Dolce
Isabella's dress: Gymboree
Mommy's dress: Rick's



Next step: cake smash!!!!