On Saturday, we had our big birthday celebration for Nolan! It was eight days after his actual birthday, which was a little test of his patience, but it was worth the wait! I chose the theme for his party last fall when we were watching the Cubs play October baseball. I knew that 5 would be the perfect age for this sports-theme, and there would be a lot of fun things we could do with it :)
I took his photo a few days earlier in his new Cubs shirt so I could print it for decor.
"Bricks and Ivy" :) (Which strangely enough are the names of his cousins' dog and our dog, so we think that's funny.)
Steve and I worked all day to get ready, and everything turned out great. I designed the "Nolan is Five" poster and the "Concessions" banner, and Staples always does a great job at printing them.
We gathered up some mitts, balls, bats, hats, and a trophy, and they made for easy decor!
Steve did most of the baking and icing of the cake. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling and marshmallow fondant. It turned out exactly as we had hoped :)
My mom worked her magic again on these sugar cookies, and they were adorable!! There were 5s, Ns, baseballs, caps, bats, and gloves.
The hot dog station. Nolan LOVES his "5" balloon! It was a huge highlight of the party for him.
My favorite part of party-planning is making the invite, signs, and graphics.
It took a hot minute to track down Cracker Jacks, but we found them at Dollar Tree. Nolan helped me air-pop all of the popcorn before the party. He was happy to have a "job" :)
Blowing out his candles!
This is the last birthday in our family before the baby comes. Kind of surreal!
Nolan Bruce, always the life of any party!
We had all of the kids on the porch to break the pinata. Steve was brave to hold it while so many two to six-year-olds took a swing :) It broke open and the kids scrambled to pick up Baby Ruths, Butterfingers, and Crunch bars.
One last photo from his big day!
Thanks to all who came to help us celebrate our five-year-old! We wish we were closer to more family and friends so that everyone could join us, but hopefully these photos help you feel like you were partying with us :)