What our small town lacks in big box chain stores we more than make up for in exceptional small businesses and local shops! Allow me to introduce you to the local squad who helped us put together a fabulous birthday for my oldest daughter!
My daughters' birthdays are two weeks apart and last year their birthdays looked drastically different. We held my oldest daughter's birthday party at a trampoline park the first weekend of March. All of her friends were there and the place was PACKED. By the time my youngest daughter's birthday rolled around, we were all quarantined and had to celebrate her first birthday on Zoom (which you can read about HERE).
This year things continue to be different and we continue to adapt. At this point, many of the adults in our family are vaccinated and we have some close friends who've remained in our "quarantine circle" the entire year so we felt comfortable having a smaller-than-usual social gathering to celebrate my oldest daughter's birthday.
One of my favorite things to do is support local businesses (and not JUST because I love shopping) so I was extra excited to use some local service businesses and franchises to jazz up my daughter's party.
CARD MY YARD - STILLWATER
Carding our yard is quickly becoming one of our family's favorite birthday traditions. Last year when they couldn't come to my youngest's party, my parents ordered her a Card My Yard to make her feel extra special. Bonus points that this ended up serving as the cutest backdrop for her 1st Birthday photoshoot!
Card My Yard - Stillwater is run by the sweetest woman named Elizabeth. She's very flexible which is a necessity when dealing with Oklahoma weather and - on a completely unrelated note - she's super involved with Casa for Kids so you KNOW she is a wonderful person!
One of my favorite things to do is support local businesses (and not JUST because I love shopping)
Card My Yard sets up the night before the event under the cover of darkness and comes back to take all the cards the following night. You don't even have to be home which makes it a super easy way to surprise your loved ones.
POP - STILLWATER
POP is seriously my new favorite business! I messaged the owner, Lacy, on Instagram, told her the party theme and sent her a pic of the space and VOILA! She put together this incredible balloon display and then came to the house to set it all up. Let me tell you, I blew up a bunch of balloons and tied them to my railing last year - this was SO MUCH BETTER. Not only does it WOW visually, but it took absolutely no effort on my part!
My oldest daughter told me she wanted to have a "Disco/Makeup theme" which - what? I relayed this to Lacy and she put together the best balloon combination I would have never thought of myself. The best part? These balloons last for WEEKS! My youngest daughter will have a Baby Shark themed party in two weeks so Lacy is going to come back to the house, take off all the pink balloons, leave the white, and weave in Baby Shark themed balloons. It's an easy switcharoo that's a lot of bang for your buck! Lacy is so sweet and spunky - we've been told we could be best friends and I think people are RIGHT!
SMALLCAKES
Smallcakes is my go-to location when I need a delicious sweet treat! These Birthday Cake cupcakes are fun and beautiful with their rainbow sprinkles and they're HUGE. I picked up a dozen the night before my daughter's birthday and sent these with her to celebrate with her class.
The Rainbow theme carried over with the ice cream cake we picked up from Marble Slab for her actual party. Full disclosure - not counting the cupcakes, this girl had FOUR birthday cakes this year. We got a cheap on from Walmart for her actual birthday, my mother-in-law made her famous Texas Sheet Cake for her, and we bought TWO ice cream cakes from Marble Slab because I knew one would not be enough for the Sweet Tooth Monsters that are a room of young kids.
Smallcakes and Marble Slab have locations all over the U.S. so if you're lucky there are probably locations near you!
As if these sugary sweets weren't enough, we also had a candy-filled piñata. My daughter has been asking for you for years and I finally acquiesced. The kids did a great job beating the heck out of that thing to get the candy and the best part is that I hid a huge bag of unused candy in the pantry for me to eat after the kids go to sleep. Win!!
We completed the party set up with a large Chik-Fil-A spread because it's a crowd pleaser and we knew we could eat all the leftover chicken, mac n cheese and salad throughout the week! Why the heck not? It may not be MY birthday, but a ton of Chik-Fil-A and multiple cakes sure made it feel like it was!
What are your favorite things to have at birthday parties? Do you have kids getting ready to party hardy or do you avoid kids parties like the plague? No judgement here! Thanks for checking out this post and I hope you will show some love to the local businesses I tagged! They really are awesome!
Until next time!