This Mama Needs Grace

For Hudson’s 2nd birthday party, we celebrated just with family at our home.  Before the pandemic, I had grand plans of throwing him a party at an indoor soccer facility and inviting lots of people and planning lots of things.  Of course all of those plans in my head did not happen, but the result was actually much more enjoyable for us all. 

We had a small gathering with family spread out throughout the day.  I bought most of the decorations at the Dollar Tree and barely did anything homemade.  This was quite the contrast from his first birthday party, which was baseball-themed and I spent way too much energy, stress and time on little details that ultimately did not matter much.

This year was different.  2020 will forever be the year that changed everything.  While some of the changes have been hard to swallow, there have been some changes during these times of quarantine that have actually been very good for my own soul. The elimination of elaborate party planning has definitely been one of those good things for me personally. 

Hudson’s 2nd birthday celebration was not elaborate or costly or extravagant.  It was simple.  It was small.  And it was good.  I enjoyed myself so much more with this type of celebration versus his first birthday party where I was so concerned that everything had to be perfect.  I am learning that the small, casual gatherings, filled with love are actually the types of parties that our children prefer!  

With that said, I wanted to share some of the fun details from Hudson’s trash truck-themed party!  Even though I kept decorations to a minimum, I had a lot of fun with this trash truck theme! 

The Invitation 

There are a ton of cute trash truck invitations out there, but since we were not throwing a big party, I did not want to use any budget on invitations.  So instead, I quickly designed a PDF invite that I texted to family members.  I am by no means a professional designer and it is not perfect, but I thought it was a fun (and free) way to invite family. It is also something for me to keep and remember from his 2nd birthday.  

I used Canva to design this.  Canva has a free option and it is a really great tool for design, especially for non-designers.  If you would like me to send you this trash truck invite PDF, enter your email below, and I will send you an editable PDF version so you can quickly make your own changes! 

Send Me Editable Trash Truck Invite for FREE!

The Birthday Shirt 

My mother-in-law found this shirt for Hudson from Etsy and it came right in time!  It was perfect and a fun way thing for him to wear all weekend long as we celebrated trash truck-style.

The Decorations

This year, I decided to not do a million DIY decoration projects and I was so much happier.  I found this amazing trash truck birthday banner on Amazon and it was perfect.  Since most of the party was held outside we hung it outside on our house wall.  It was the perfect addition for the theme and it required no extra work on my part- it was even pre-strung!  

For balloons, I just did a small order of a few green balloons and a big gold “2” foil balloon!  Party City delivered it directly to our house, which made the whole balloon process even simpler and less stressful.  I also got a smaller 2 foil balloon to put on our mantel.  I had leftover banners from last year’s birthday so made a simple, “Hudson is 2” setup.  This was a nice spot to get photos of H and for people to put presents.  

All the other decorations, were from Dollar Tree.  I got strung green pom-poms, which made a nice touch by where all the food was.  All paper good (plates, napkins, straws) were also from the Dollar Tree.

To top it off, I put out a couple of Hudson’s toy trash trucks, put straws and utensils in little blue bins (these were perfect and dropped off by our local trash truck company), and blew up a few extra balloons for the floors.  It was all super simple, but it still felt festive and very on theme!

The Cake 

I had grand plans of making a homemade chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream frosting.  As I was making this cake the day before his party, the whole cake literally began to crumble as I was frosting it.  Hours of work in the kitchen literally crumbled before my eyes.  After shedding a few tears of frustration and stuffing my face with chocolate cake, I realized a store bought chocolate cake would be just fine.  

Even though the cake was store bought, I made it still feel homemade by:

1. Putting it on a pretty cake platter
2. Topping it off with a toy trash truck and lots of candy, which was supposed to look like “trash” coming from the truck!  

Even with the cake fiasco, this alternative, turned out really cute and was a fun centerpiece to have out on our living room table! 

The Piñata 

This was all my mother.  She spent weeks making this handmade trash truck piñata for H!  It looks just like the trash trucks in our neighborhood!  It was such a sweet and unique decoration for his party.  It of course was a big hit for H, as he got to pull the string from the bottom, and let out all the balls and candy!

The Gifts

Every holiday and birthday, I always make sure one of the gifts is a book.  This year, we got him The Wheels on the Garbage Truck by Jeffrey Burton. I was not sure if this would be a hit, but Hudson loves it.  It goes to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus” and it points out all the different parts of a trash truck!  This is a new favorite.

The night before his birthday, we let him open one present.  It was trash truck pajamas for him to wear that night!  He of course does not get super excited over clothing, but they looked so cute on him. They were perfect for the next morning when all the trash truck drivers in our neighborhood stopped by to wish him a happy birthday! He wore the pajama bottoms with his birthday top! 

Hudson’s 2nd birthday was so special and one I will always remember.  The thing that put this birthday over the top was the kindness demonstrated by our trash truck drivers.  On the morning of his birthday, which happened to fall on trash truck day, all three drivers stopped by to wish H a happy birthday.  They did not merely honk and drive away.  They stopped and chatted and let Hudson hop up on the truck and pull the horn!  They went above and beyond to make this trash truck-loving birthday boy extra happy!  

This year as I planned Hudson’s simple trash truck party, I was reminded of a few things.

1. Store bought cake is not the end of the world
2. A simple call (in my case, calling the department of sanitation for our city) can be the thing that really makes the birthday extra special
3. Big parties are overrated

Happy partying!