Ella's Monkey Luau

For those of you who know me, know that I love to plan parties, obsessing over every little detail making sure that the theme is carried out everywhere you look.  Ella's 2nd birthday was no exception. I often say if I wasn't a hairstylist I would be a party planner! Ella is in to Monkeys at the moment. She always wants to watch Curious George movies, look at pictures, and she acts like a monkey too. With her birthday so close to Labor Day we knew it would be hot outside so we knew there had to be two things at her party, monkeys and water. There was no better way to combine the two than with a monkey luau.

 As our family and friends arrived, they were given a lei as Ella played with bubbles to get into the party spirit with her great grandma. We had lots of great food that fit well in our theme. We told everyone to enjoy the food as they came in.

 Menu:

Pigs-N-Blanket, Ritz Crackers with pineapple mustard ham and a pineapple,  pineapple cream cheese spread, mango salsa, and chips were a big hit, chocolate covered bananas with either sprinkles, coconuts, or pecans, and Cranbrosia (its like a fruit salad but ten times better) ,  mandarin oranges, gold fish crackers, tropical trail mix, and pretzels.

I made the two layer cake myself. The top is a 6inch and the bottom is a 9inch. I didn't have the time to make the cake from scratch so I bought two Sarah Lee white cake mixes the kind with sprinkles in it. I did make a pineapple frosting for the middle layers that was so good!  I bought two cans of Sarah Lee whipped frosting, one for each layer. I did the top layer first and tinted the frosting a pale yellow then crushed vanilla wafers and sprinkled it over the wet frosting. It looks just like sand! The bottom was tinted blue with lots of food color. After the base of the cakes were done it was time to stack and decorate. I found the monkeys and tree pics on orientaltrading.com and sugar flowers at Hobby Lobby. There are nerds for ocean rock and gummy rings as life preservers. I covered a drink umbrella with pretzel sticks to make a tiki hut and they were also used as logs for the bonfire the candles came from. It was so much fun to make and it tasted AMAZING!

It was pure chaos in our house! Between family and friends there were about 10 kids and forty adults! Luckily we have room outside for the kids to play and eat! 

We had gone to a friends birthday party a few weeks earlier and I stole an idea from her. She had to kids cups with lids and straws at her childs party. I thought it was the smartiest thing I have ever seen. We didn't have to worry about spills from the kids!

We had beach balls, slides, and swings for the kids.

And you can't have a luau without hula hoops!

Ella is fortunate to have both grandmas live close and love her so much!

We got Ella's shirt was perfect for the party with flowers and monkeys all over it. 

We have so many great friends and family!

This is such a great picture of her Great Aunt Lorie and her Great Great Aunt Flossie.                       (Ella was named Ella Marie after her Aunt Flossie Marie.)

 

 After we visited for a while it was time for Ella to blow out her candles. With a little help from daddy of coarse!

Then it was time for presents!  

She calls this card The Dora Book it sings to her when she opens it! She is so cutie!

  

There were so many presents she had to take several brakes to play.

She had to thank her Great Aunt Selina for her new apron and food set.

After presents the kids were welcome to play in the sprinklers. We attached a garden soak-er hose up high so the kids could play in a waterfall! I read where you could do this as a limbo game, but i know I didn't want to hold it! So attaching it up high and making a waterfall was a good idea from my mom.

The party was so much fun and Ella had a good time. Even though we all had a blast, I am glad we have a whole year before we have to do this again!