Hailey's 2nd Birthday Party--Apples!

This past weekend we had Hailey's birthday party.

We did an apple theme and I love how it turned out! It might be my favorite birthday party to date.

First up is the cake. For the first time ever, I made the birthday cake. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be so I see myself making them more often.

Then we have the cake toppers--apple pom poms--which I found the idea from HERE. 

For food, I decided to do a make your own sandwich bar. It was super easy prep-wise so that was a huge plus!

I also made a yummy apple harvest punch. You can find the recipe HERE.

Then, as a fun treat for everyone, we did a caramel apple bar. This was by far, the biggest hit of the party--minus the birthday girl, of course. :oP There might have been requests to do this at every birthday party!

The caramel apple bar was pretty easy to pull together. I just melted those little caramel candy squares in a sauce pan and then poured the melted caramel into a fondue pot to keep is warm. We sliced up a few apples and then--here's the big tip of the day--I soaked them in club soda for about a half hour to prevent browning of the apples. This worked so well! There were no brown apples even 2 hours into the party! So moms who have kids complaining about brown apples in their school lunches…Club Soda!! It works! Then we had a few different toppings to dip the apples in--mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, and nuts. This was  tons of fun for the party, but it also really got me in the Fall spirit! :o) 

Other decor included honeycomb apples. I had quite a few hanging around the house. I followed these instructions HERE.

 Little miss birthday girl looked super cute in her SheSheMade dress. When I saw this dress I knew it would be perfect for her party. Plus, we can wear it again at Christmas time with a long sleeve shirt under it so I can really get my money's worth out of it. :o)

For a few days before the party, Hailey would sing happy birthday to herself. It was super cute. I asked her if she was going to blow out her birthday candles and she would always tell me yes. So when the time came…she did in fact blow out her own candles…so quickly in fact, that I did not get a picture quick enough. :oP Aw well... I'll just have to get a photo on her actual birthday of her blowing out the candles.

But she was a big fan of the cake and ice cream!

And she was also a fan of the presents. :oP

Little miss had a wonderful birthday party and we are so thankful to our family and friends who could come help make it special!

We just love this little girl to pieces and it's really hard to believe that our baby is going to be 2 years old on Thursday. Wasn't she just born???