Lyra's 2nd Birthday Party

Lyra's second birthday was last weekend, but due to a couple of our dearest friend's wedding the birthday party was pushed back to this weekend. I am proud to say we learned a few things since her first birthday.

First, our house is too small to hold parties that include friends and family. So, we held the part at Milagros Boutique in their Family Room. This turned out be the perfect size for our party. It will hold up to 40 people comfortably and cost $60 for a three hour block. For $30 more dollars they will do all the clean up for you or you can save the money and do it yourself. The room has a little play castle with a few books and toys perfect for little kids to play in. There are also fold out tables along one wall perfect for food and drinks and chairs and fold out tables for eating at.

Lyra enjoying a carrot

Second, cakes are much less work than cup cakes! Last year I made cupcakes and it was very labor intensive. This year I made two cakes. The first cake was a gluten and dairy free chocolate cake with a vegan coconut frosting.  I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix with coconut milk in place of cow's milk and earth balance in place of butter. This cake can also be made vegan by using egg replacer instead of eggs (this I forgot to do). The second cake was a chocolate beet cake with a cream cheese frosting. Before you get all weird about beets in a cake I will tell you that my husband hates beets, but loves chocolate beet cake. Beets are naturally sweet and when mixed in a chocolate cake they lose their earthy flavor and add the perfect amount of moisture. They also make a beautiful pink colored frosting! Lyra loves chocolate beet muffins, so I knew she would love the cake. 

Testing the frosting while everyone is singing

Thirdly, with a new baby at home order decorations online. Lyra loves Winnie the Pooh so we had a theme. If I only had a dollar for every time I had to watch that movie! I purchased everything I needed from Oriental Trading and Amazon. Lyra loved the Pooh party hats and made sure that everyone had one on. Including her baby sister.

Baby Etta and her Great Aunt Sherrye

It was a very fun event with friends and family. Lyra took a three hour nap to recover from all the fun. She received some wonderful gifts and now has enough dolls to distract her from "helping" with her baby sister, at least for a little while. Its hard to believe its been two whole years already. It seems just yesterday I was holding a 6 1/2 lbs little baby.