Tractor Themed Second Birthday

So my son Greyson's birthday is in the early fall which I absolutely love. I love fall weather in New England, fall decor, fall food, you get the point. So hosting a party in the early fall brings me great joy. For Greyson's first birthday he really wasn't into anything too specific so I chose his little man theme. Two years old is a whole new ball game though. At this point he was equally into tractors and monster trucks for a while, by the time his birthday rolled around I think monster trucks were ahead by a hair but tractors were a much easier theme for Mommy to pull off so thats what we settled on.

I found an adorable printable invitation with coordinating thank you cards and address labels on Etsy from this shop. I wanted the feel of the party to be tractor/farm/fall themed.

Photo from Etsy, shop Designing for Peanuts

So let's start with the dessert table. Over the table my friend Angela made the personalized Happy Birthday banner. She has a little side business called Just a Spoonful of Sparkle and she creates the most gorgeous custom banners and party decorations. I have her make things for literally every single party I host. Several of my friends now have her making things for their kids parties as well, check her out you'll be amazed (and her prices are great so go get crazy!). She also made picks to go in the flower arrangements and custom food tent labels.

I purchased mini hay bales at Walmart (Joann's had them too but they were sold out) and used them to hold my crazy cake pops. I created cake pops that looked like tractor tire wheels, indian corn, and scarecrows. This was a serious endeavor and I recruited by husband and our friend Sal for his assistance. The three of us were up until past midnight working on these bad boys, but they were totally worth it. (Shoot me an email if you want a detailed tutorial or stay tuned I plan on sharing a cake pop post soon!)

I also made boxed ( no time for home made this time) green and yellow cupcakes, crispy rice treats ("hay bales"), chocolate covered donuts ("tractor tires") and my mother in law made adorable sugar cookies in the shape of tractors. We also had a peach cobbler. I found John Deere fabric at Walmart that I used as a table cloth.

We had an old pitchfork that we used as a cute prop in the background.

For the centerpieces I used mason jars with fall flowers and lined the tables with burlap runners and a bandana.

We had yard games set up and for additional seating I got several large hay bales and put bandanas on top of them to make for some cute benches.

I set up a table with baskets of kettle, caramel and cheddar popcorn (from our local Stew Leonards grocery store) that people could scoop into bags to snack on or to take home. For favors I made tractor shaped chocolate lollipops using this mold I purchased online.

For additional decor my mother in law took a bunch of pictures of Greyson riding the John Deere power wheel they purchased him, so we blew the pictures up and hung them clothesline style.

Our menu we kept pretty country and had fried chicken, home made biscuits with sausage gravy, corn on the cob, green beans, potato salad and macaroni and cheese. We also had a bunch of appetizers and other side dishes but that was the main course ( we go heavy on food over here).

Greyson was thrilled with his party and had a great time playing with his friends and family. He also overloaded on the tractor cookies and was up all night but hey you only turn two once!