I was thinking about what Brooks' second birthday party theme should be about a month before the day. Sesame Street? Super heroes? (Or as Brooks calls them, “Supers.”) But anything I was coming up with I didn't love. So I turned to Brooks and asked him what he wanted his theme to be. Without hesitation, he replied, “Milka?" I laughed and went back to the drawing board. A couple days later I still hadn't decided but remembered what Brooks had said-- milk. I thought, why not?! Along with Hampton (his green stuffed hippo), “milka" is definitely at the top of his favorite things in the world list.
I had to get a little creative because his birthday was during the quarantining due to the pandemic of 2020, so I knew we couldn't invite a ton of friends and family.
On the invitation, I asked our family to grab a glass of milk to cheers Brooks and take a photo with the enclosed letter that spelled out “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKS!" There was also a small card that they could write well wishes to the birthday boy on and send back. I wanted to keep it simple for anyone who was quarantining.
Brooks face lit up when he saw this! I laminated a copy of it that he looks at no less than five times a day to name the faces.
My sister used her Silhouette to print an iron on of the shirt design I made.
Brooks drank his “milka" out of a vintage looking milk bottle. I used my embosser to put a label on it that said BIRTHDAY BOY. As you can tell from the middle photo, he loved it.
Everyone at the table had a party hat and a milk mustache that I cut out of foam paper with adhesive backing.
Brooks' guest list included:
• Elliott, his little brother who he was not sure about when we first brought him home, but literally loves more and more everyday;
• Hampton, his very loved green hippo;
• Indigo (Indy), his golden puppy;
• Woodford, Elliott's right hand guy;
• Pickles, a bulldog full of rolls;
• and Chubs, a happy gator.
I designed the “MORE MILK please" sign and had it printed at Staples as an engineering print. It came to less than $5 for a big 36x24 inch sign. It's printed on super thin paper, but it does the job for something that's going to get thrown away. I used Command Strips to hang it.
I made a tres leches cake, which means three milks-- couldn't have been more perfect for the theme.
I wanted this to be a milk themed party, not cow themed, so I kept the cow touches to a minimum. I used a glass milk bottle with some flowers in it as the center piece. I also designed some paper milk cartons with a MOOOOOO graphic on the side. I filled them with white M&M's in place of milk and finished each with a black and white paper straw.
Brooks' nana and papa were able to come along with his Uncle Austin and Callie.
We had so much fun celebrating our sweet, strong-willed, packed full of personality, “milka" loving two year old.
With love from South Dakota,
