Aw, yeah. Clara’s second b-day party was full of food, family, friends, fun… and worms (she picked the theme based on her deep love of looking at, drawing, and even dreaming about worms). So… worm to your motha!
We were so thankful to be surrounded by the people we love, the bean had the best time, and the 75 degree weather and sunny skies were the icing on the worm cake. Or should I say worm cupcakes. Let’s get this party (breakdown) started…
But let’s start at the beginning. Clara was born two years ago today. Wait, that’s too far back. Let’s just cover the party. Here’s the sunroom all decked out for the big day. Nothing too fancy, just some balloons and streamers from Target, a colorful tablecloth from HomeGoods, and lots of worm-a-licious food. But we’ll get to that in a second.
We decided to use the sunroom, the patio, and the carport for the entire gathering, which was about 30 people total (ten were kiddos under the age of four). Of course if it had rained we would have partied inside, but it felt especially wormy and fun to have kiddos running around outdoors in the fresh air. Having the sunroom (which is located right off the patio) for food and drinks was also really nice since we didn’t have to worry about finding actual bugs in the food (fake worms = ok, real bugs = not ok).
Here’s a close up of the table seconds before everyone arrived. Fun fact: the table is actually a secret book project covered with a tablecloth since we can’t reveal it on the blog – and also since we didn’t have room to stash it anywhere else. Haha. We figured we might as well put it to good use for now (we’ll be auctioning a bunch of book projects off for charity this fall once the book is out and they’re allowed out of the proverbial bag).
We set out worm-ish food with worm-related labels (made in photoshop and printed at home) like “worm crudités” (long skinny slices of carrots, cucumbers, and cheese), “puffed worms” (white cheddar cheese puffs), “salted worms” (pretzel rods), and “worm dogs” (hot dogs that we cut into fourths and boiled to make them all curly as so many of you recommended in the comments of this pre-party post – thanks!!).
See those pretty flowers on the table? They were from J-boom for Mother’s Day. Love my hubby.
Here’s a close up of the worm dogs. They were a hit among kiddos and adults. I think we moved more of them than we had people at the party.
All of the bowls and plates were just things we had in the pantry. Nothing really matched in shape (round, scalloped, rectangular, etc) but it all worked because it was white – which was actually a nice combo with the crazy-colorful tablecloth (bright platters and bowls might have been a bit much with such an in-yo-face pattern).
We also set out little cups of gummy worms. Hanging a few over the rim like they were crawling out was my idea of a good time. Oh yes, I live on the edge.
We had another small table for the pizza – which is always a party pleaser. We did our take on worm pizza by ordering one with worm-like peppers & onions and topping one with pre-cooked spaghetti. The other two (cheese and peperoni) had a label that said “dewormed pizza.” Oh yeah, we ran with this worm theme, baby.
Everyone got a kick out of the bird napkins (birds eat worms, right?) that we found at Ikea.
On the other side of the sunroom we set up a little drink station. See this table covered with another HomeGoods tablecloth? There’s another secret book project under there. Haha. As for what drinks we served, we went with some cute glass bottles of orange soda and Coke for the 20-ish adults and also had Izze, water, and sparkling water in the beverage tin along with apple juice and water for the kiddos. Oh and see those apples in front of the drink tin? We plopped a gummy worm on each one. Ha. They actually got eaten, too!
And check out those worm-like pink straws…
Since this room is still completely untouched, there was no wall art going on (we just plopped down furniture 16 months ago and haven’t done anything but shove book stuff in there since). So we taped up Clara’s monthly pictures from this year along with 12 fun worm facts on a nice bare expanse of wall above the table. John just googled around for worm trivia and typed each 4 x 6″ card up in Photoshop.
For anyone who wants to see the whole shebang a little closer, just click this photo for an enlarged version:
Oh and here’s the carport all snazzed up with pink & orange streamers. When it comes to bang for your buck, they’re pretty festive (and so cheap!). It’s hard to see in these pics, but we swagged them so they were sort of wiggly and worm-ish. And I proudly hung the fabric banner that I made for Clara’s first birthday on the half wall that looks back onto the patio. We brought a few chairs and a garden stool out from inside as well as all the sweet little watering can favors for each of our young party-goers to take home.
I can’t tell you how happy it made me to see all ten of those little watering cans lined up on that wall. As I mentioned here, they were each filled with a bottle of bubbles, a pink or orange shovel, and a stuffed snake-turned-worm that we found at Ikea for 49 cents (we cut off the forked tongue to complete the conversion). We also grabbed the watering cans at Ikea for 99 cents each.
Other than streamers and balloons, we just hung three paper lanterns that came in a pack from Target and some funny worm-like pink swirlie paper things that we found for a few bucks at Party City. Then we brought out a low table from the sunroom and made a little play station for the kiddos with things like bubbles, a puzzle from Melissa and Doug that has bugs/worms on it, a box of crayons, and a bunch of color-the-worm pages that I sketched before the party.
I just took cardstock and a gray marker and drew a few happy little worms for the kiddos to color. It actually went over pretty well. It was so much fun to see all those colorful scribbled worms at the end of the day.
Here’s a people-milling pic for ya. Is there anything better than a patio full of people you love?
Sidenote: Clara was kind of hilarious about the pizza. She took a big bite of mine and then moved over to her cousin Jake and asked for a bite of his and when we all stared laughing she went from person to person, requesting a bite of each slice (thankfully there were only two other people nearby so it didn’t turn into a giant germ-sharing fest). It was very “welcome to my party, now feed me” of her. At least she wasn’t asking us to bow to her and fan her with leaves.
The other crowd favorite of the afternoon (besides our sweet little pizza-mooching bean) were the dirt cupcakes. We just picked up tasty little 40 cent vanilla cupcakes from a local bakery here in Richmond (Ukrops), pressed them icing-side-down into crushed up Oreo cookies, and plopped a gummy worm on top. We also made some that were dirt free (just squished a worm into the white icing) but the consensus from the crowd was that the Oreo ones were the best since they had some crunch.
Here’s the birthday girl getting her special cupcake (she hand-picked that green gummy worm before the party) in her favorite yellow chair. We stuck two worm-ish pink candles from Target on top, sang our little hearts out, and blew them out fast (since she’s still mildly afraid of fire from a certain Hawaiian hibachi incident).
She did momma proud with her cupcake-eating skills.
We even remembered to try to take a few family photos. Of course we didn’t get any with all of us looking at the camera and smiling (what are those odds, one in a million?), but we did end up with some sweet candid ones (yes that is a random bubble floating by in the foreground).
Clara took the worm theme very seriously. For example, she took great pleasure in feeding them to me.
She and her daddy even got all Lady and The Tramp for this shot:
We all seemed to gravitate to the carport after a few hours in the sunroom and on the patio, and then we decided to open some presents. This wooden worm (well, actually it’s a snake) from one of Clara’s best buddies was a huge hit. The funny thing is that John and I played around with that exact same thing (from Michael’s) for this old Halloween post before we had any idea Clara would develop a deep, strong love of worms.
Clara was seriously smitten.
Here’s another people-milling shot in the carport. As much as we would someday love to convert that space to a garage, it sure is good for friends and family (and balls and balloons). We ended up bringing out our dining chairs with their slipcovers back on (so any rogue icing could just be washed off) and we did what we do best: hung out and watched those sweet kiddos of ours. Although there are only three out of ten kids in this pic, so there must have been a gaggle of them staring at a spider in the corner or dunking by the basketball hoop (a sweet gift from my brother Dan, which you can see two pictures up).
The general gist? It was a great day. We are so thankful for our friends and family and our sweet, happy little girl. I always cry at her party. Just can’t help it. She’s our little miracle (birth story here, sniffle sniffle). And we’re so grateful to have awesome folks like you guys to virtually attend our weird little worm party. Haha. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.
But perhaps Burger had the most fun, gazing dreamily up at all the leftovers at the end of the festivities.
He even got lucky and found a cheese puff under the table.
The End.
Oh wait, we made a little Clara video like we did last year – not to show at the party this time, just to have so we can look back on it (and watch it with Clara, since she loves the one we made for her first birthday). So here’s her last year in seven minutes. My favorite parts are her Britney Spears impression near the beginning and some Flash-Dance-ish ottoman dancing in the outtakes at the very end.
Love that girl. Love you guys too. Lots of mushiness flying around. Haha. What did you do this weekend? Any Mother’s Day fun? Any worm eating?
Psst- We have a bunch of outtakes for this month’s Clara picture in front of her homemade fabric, so you can check those out here on Young House Life.
Sheena says
What a fun party idea! I love it!
I have to ask…I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but what camera and video do you use? Your images and video are such good quality!
Happy Birthday Clara! The video at the end was so cute! I bet you can’t watch it without a few tears! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Sheena! We have a Nikon D3000 that we use for photos and a Flip HD for video. Really happy with both of them!
xo,
s
cc says
Looks like a cute party, but I must confess I sort of skimmed this post, as what we did this weekend was yardwork– and turning up about a dozen baby snakes all over the place. Aauugghhh!! *shudder*
YoungHouseLove says
No way!!
xo,
s
Michelle says
Absolutely freaking adorable. And it looks like you had a gorgeous day for it!
Ashley @ sunnysideshlee.com says
what a cute party! so bright and colorful! looks like clara had a great time!
Erin says
Our little girl is a year younger than Clara (almost exactly- on May 1st she was 1!) and I’ve really enjoyed watching Clara grow- and being ahead of the curve for what our boo boo has in store in the coming year. Love the video, especially the music. I think she she gets older she’ll have fun knowing what songs were popular when she was young. (Cue Fun’s “We are youuuuuuuuung”)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, it’ll be so funny when all the songs she sings now are “old timey music” – haha.
xo
s
Steph says
Happy Birthday Clara! I watched that video and it had me crying 20 seconds into it. My boyfriend actually just walked in and even asked me what was wrong because he heard me sniffling from the other room, haha.
Sherry you look so gorgeous!! I absolutely love your outfit! You guys are the most adorable family :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Steph! You’re so sweet! You don’t want to see me watching that video. It’s the ugly cry. Haha.
xo,
s
ang says
It has been SO MUCH FUN watching Miss Clara grow- I can’t believe she’s already 2.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARA!
Looks like you had a squirmy wormy fun day!!
(and a GREAT JOB to Mom & Dad!)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Ang!
xo,
s
Nicole says
Her party turned out great! The video at the end was so sweet, and made me a little teary. So fun seeing her grow up on here. I love all of her dance moves, she looks like so much fun!
Rachel says
Seriously, cutest worm party ever. :)
Lindsay says
Love the cupcakes :) Looks like the party was a blast!
Cassie says
OMG that video! I laughed throughout it and got teary at the end! Of course you guys already knew how blessed you were to have such an intelligent, sweet, and radiantly happy little girl but this video/slideshow just sums it all up perfectly, doesn’t it? I don’t even know you guys and I got emotional ;) LOVE IT! Thanks for letting us watch her grow over the past year!
Julie says
You guys are such an inspiration! What a fun party and the video made me tear up! By the way, thank you (better late than never) for the nursery posts from way way back. I was having a tough time looking for cribs this weekend until I remembered that you did an extensive crib posting. Looked it up and it was sooooo helpful!
Kim W Rily says
Aw crap. Now I have to go and make a million and a half videos for my kids as I’m’ 5 years too late for Sammie and only three years behind for Max. :)
What program did you use and where did you find the peppy but word-free music?
Love the video and if I were to pick all the stuff I love about it, I would go on too long. :) (Particularly the grandma pictures were great!)
YoungHouseLove says
We used Final Cut Pro to edit this year’s video because we had recently purchased it for a book purposes, but we did last year’s in iMovie. Final Cut Pro gives a bit more control with everything, but we didn’t really rely on the more sophisticated capabilities in this instance. Oh, and I found the music on CreativeCommons.org after searching “instrumental.” I’ve always loved Josh Woodward’s music on there and when I found he has all of his album in instrumental versions I was in heaven.
-John
Lynne says
Hi Sherry, do you happen to remember the name of that song by Josh Woodward that you used? I love it and didn’t realize he has so many songs. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
It was actually two songs. The first was called “Cherubs” and the second was “Swansong.” Hope that help – we did have to go through quite a few to find ’em. He does have a lot!
-John
Jennifer says
I love the photo collage with all the different pics of Clara! How adorable! And the hot dog idea was so cute – did you cut them after you cooked them? or before?
YoungHouseLove says
We cut them before we cooked them. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Kristi says
Such a cute party! I love it!
Here’s a completely unrelated question. Do you have any book recommendations for decorating that you love? I already own Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small Cool Spaces and am totally psyched for you book of course! But I’d like to start a collection of books I can turn to for inspiration when the mood strikes. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
If you search “Lucky Seven” or “Lucky 7” on our sidebar search a post about our faves should come up! Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Melissa M says
Awesome party! Looks like everyone had a blast. I love seeing that you guys did a mix of make-it-yourself food and catered/delivered food.
I loved the 7-minute Clara video… I think you just re-ignited the baby fever I had been hoping had gone dormant! haha!
Katie says
Beautiful little girl, beautiful family! Thanks for sharing and inspiring!
Lauren says
Waahhh that video made me cry! She is such a sweetheart.
Vanessa says
The party turned out great! I love the video- its so sweet. Happy bday Clara!
Nicole says
When I saw the first photos, I thought the gummy worms crawling out of the cups were actually swans you had made out of the worms somehow. Ha! You guys are so fun, I’m glad you had a wonderful day.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha – so funny!
xo,
s
Erika says
Hmmmm I have 3 months to get my 21 month old obsessed with worms, because I love this party. Any tips? HA jk
I love the pizza idea though. We had our party catered with all this hot food – it was a mess and $$. Of course everyone loved the PB&J sandwiches I had out just as much. How much pizza did you buy for that many people?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, gardening! We did lots of planting and the love affair was born! As for how much pizza we bought, we did four pies along with a whole mess of worm dogs. Haha.
xo,
s
Katy M says
Clara is so DANG CUTE! What a great party. I can’t wait for my little 5 month old peanut to be a silly dancing girl.
Andrea says
It looks like you guys had a ton of fun! I also love the video. Have you ever considered doing any music & movement classes with Clara? From all of your videos it looks and sounds like she LOVES to sing and dance. These guys do amazing classes and I’m sure have classes in the Richmond area: http://www.musictogether.com/.
YoungHouseLove says
We actually do go to a MusikGarden class every week with her – she has gone since before she turned one!
xo,
s
Kristina says
Thanks for all the great ideas, looks like the pary was a hit with the birthday girl. My daughter will be 3 in August and is also crazy about worms. (We spent Mother’s Day digging for them!) Hope it is ok to use a few of your ideas for her birthday party.
Jennifer says
I can totally relate to the birthday tears. My babies are about to turn 4 and 7 and I have cried at every birthday. When I turned 30 my mom let me in on a secret – she STILL cries on our birthdays!
YoungHouseLove says
No way! I’ll have to ask my mom if she does. Haha.
xo,
s
Whitney says
What a beautiful party and day!
Your video made me tear up… I started reading your blog daily probably a month and a half before Clara was born… it’s so crazy to see her all grown up now! You have a beautiful little family!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Whitney!
xo,
s
misa says
so sweet! you guys are the best!
Bethany says
Your daughter is just perfect! Ahh brought tears to my eyes! Can’t wait to have one!
Katy says
Happy Birthday to Clara. You did a great job on the party; I love how it’s kid fun but still adult friendly. I absolutely love the video. What a great way to preserve memories. I’d love to do videos like that one day for my (hopefully) future children.
JenB says
Happy Birthday to the tiny dancer! I love how she’s so into music. Isn’t it amazing how much they change and grow from age 1 to age 2? I know it’s amazing every year, but they truly seem to become their own little person during that time.
We were told on Thursday that we’d have a baby over the weekend, but alas, I’m still very pregnant and just a little bit irritated about that! Maybe baby Charlie will have the same birthday as Clara:)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man I feel your pain JenB! Here’s hoping she comes today – it’s a great day for a birthday! At 38 weeks my doc looked at me and said “you’re dilated to four- you’re having this baby within the next day or two” – we called our parents – got all ready… nothing! She didn’t come for another week! But she was still a week early so I can’t complain too much! One of my best friends was really late and she was reeeeeally ready to have hers. Haha. Good luck with everything!
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
yayayayayyayay. What a great party!!! I love that adorable girl! I can’t believe this past year went by so FAST!!
Rebecca says
Happy Birthday Clara!
Cami says
Ok, so this is my first real comment (commented once for a giveaway). I’ve totally been a stalker (in a good way) but I just had to comment on this post. You guys are seriously cute and talented and inspirational. Clara is adorable and so smart. I had to comment because, OMG, I have a tape of my son when he was about two years old or so singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and this totally reminded me that I need to go get those stupid VHS tapes converted to digital. Yes, I totally dated myself. He’s now 14 going on 21. Lol. Love you guys! Love the blog! Happy B-day Clara!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that’s so cute! Thanks so much for the sweet comment and we love you right back!
xo,
s
Ashley says
Wondering how you guys make those adorable food label cards!! is there something i can download to make them or did you order them?!
YoungHouseLove says
We just used photoshop and a free typeface called Blackout (from fontsquirrel.com I think). We typed up the descriptions and just printed them out at home.
xo,
s
Karla D. says
You guys are so creative. What I love most of all is that you embrace Clara’s love for worms even though it may not be the theme a mom would have dreamed of for a little girl. LOL. I love that you let her be her. I see many moms that create the default princess party even if their child isn’t into that theme because to them it looks cute for photos. I think a party like this has so much more meaning and that video is great! You guys have done a fabulous job documenting her life journey so far!
As always, thanks for keeping it real! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks Karla!
xo,
s
Kathy says
What a worm-derful party for the little lady. I didn’t see any cute pictures with her grandparents. Were they at the party this year?
YoungHouseLove says
John’s mom and dad were there but my mom couldn’t come down until Sunday- so we had some secondary partying going on that day as well! Haha.
xo,
s
Sabrina says
Adorable! My little girl is going to be 4 in late december and she wants a “peter pan, fairy, princess, tea party with a pinata and swimming pool party” lol I will have to figure that one out. But if you guys made worms look cute, I guess I can make this party happen! They grow up so fast. My little boy is already 16 months! When did that happen? My hips still hurt from him haha
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha.
xo,
s
Lisa says
It was an awesome party! You really out did yourself and made it so fun for everyone. Thanks for including Sophie. Happy Birthday to Clara from her b-day buddy :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, so glad you guys came Lisa! Clara LOVED seeing her! You’re so sweet. And we were cracking up at the “you rock” line from Rob. He’ll know what we’re talking about. Haha.
xo,
s
Rebecca says
It’s the posts like this that make me think I should have a baby.
The party looked amazing. Happy 2nd Clara.
renee says
That video needs to come with a warning: “will induce many tears”
God bless you all – such love I see in all those pics!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Renee!
xo,
s
Cara C. says
Love the theme and how you made it come alive in such a vibrant, creative way. Clara will have so much fun watching these videos when she is older too =)
Ally says
*Sniff* *Sniff* *Blubber* *Blubber* *Happy Tears* :)
I *love* Clara singing her rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” *sniff* *sniff*
Little Miss Clara, you are a star, and may you always twinkle as brightly as the ray of sunshine you are :)
Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweetie! :)
Ally xox
Ashley W says
What a cute and sweet birthday party! I must confess that on Saturday I thought, “Oh, Clara’s having her birthday party today!”… and I couldn’t wait until Monday to see the details, not weird at all right? :D
Oh and the video was totally adorable. Makes me want a baby that I can’t afford!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, it’s so sweet that you looked forward to the party details today!
xo,
s
Gaidig says
I love the worm party. Everything looks great! And good job cleaning up the sunroom, too, since you said it was crazy in there. Plus, the video of Clara is so sweet.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, that was a last minute crazy-fest! You should see the playroom and the guest room. Packed to the gills. Can hardly open the doors! Thank goodness no one was staying over with us this weekend! Haha.
xo,
s
Miranda says
Cutest kid EVER!! Happy birthday to sweet Clara.
Jess @ Crunchy Hot Mama says
Did you mean ‘made?’ I think we ‘moved’ more of them than we had people at the party.
That has to be the cuteste party EVER!! You two are so creative and I try to take inspiration but am not as clever as you are. I still have a few months til baby girl turns 2 and have yet to think up party ideas…hopefully you will get me inspired :)
Happy 2nd Birthday ‘Cara’ (as my daughter says) and Happy Mohter’s Day $herdog!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks for the sweet words Jess! I actually meant moved. It’s such a weird expression, but it means “got rid of” – you know like how you can “push something on someone” – you can also “move something” – you know like a car salesman might say “I moved fifteen cars in one weekend!” – haha.
xo,
s
Jess @ Crunchy Hot Mama says
Ok, I gotcha now :P
I hope I’m not asking the same question twice, but have ya’ll decided on the car seat situation? I’m thinking I will still hold out and keep her rear-facing since it’s the safest. I know people will think I’m crazy and that she’s uncomfortable but I figure it couldn’t hurt her to do it for that much longer.
Just curious on your take…
YoungHouseLove says
Clara’s really happy being rear-facing and still small for her age (25th percentile in weight) so our doc said as long as she’s comfy we should just leave things as-is. We also appreciate that she does a lot of things independently back there and can’t see if we are doing something (ex: eating french fries- haha) so we can wait until we’re home and get her situated instead of sharing everything we’re doing with her, if that makes sense!
xo,
s
Jess @ Crunchy Hot Mama says
I have to agree, as long as they’re content there’s no need to make a change. I wonder when I do turn baby girl around, if she’ll think the world is coming at her too fast.
Ha! I totally get ya…we do that, too (hiding things from Emma)! The joys of parenthood :)
georgia says
I want a worm party for my 25th this year! haha
I love little clara shes the cutest, i totally welled up watching the video, its nice seeing her grow up, amazing what difference a year makes!
I am eagerly awaiting a phone call from my cousins whose in hospital as we speak having twins.. babies are so exciting!
xxx
YoungHouseLove says
Whoa- that is so exciting!
xo,
s
Shavonda @ AHomeFullOfColor says
Yay for Clara! Today is also my bday:) My party wasnt nearly as fun as hers looked though!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! Happy birthday Shavonda!
xo,
s
Campbell says
Hi, Your blog is incredibly interesting and fun. How did you combine photos and video clips into a video? I have 18 years of family photos, slides and videos to do this with. Is there a tutorial or basic info you could provide? This may be a very basic question, but I am not sure how to do it. Thanks.
YoungHouseLove says
We used iMovie for last year’s video (it’s free video editing software that comes with a Mac computer) and this year we used Final Cut Pro (which is an editing program we paid for since we needed it for making a book promo video). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Beth says
It looks like the birthday girl had a great wormy day!
I must confess, at first I thought the worm cup was a sculpture of a swan until I saw your later close up.