Wild, Young & THREE :: Planning a Quarantine Safari Birthday Celebration

Whew! And just like that all the birthday celebrations are over!  When I began planning Neve’s third birthday all I wanted was for the kids to enjoy themselves.   That is why I opted for a simple and intimate celebration including our closest family members.  In the past I have thrown large birthday parties that took a lot of work prepping weeks prior. This year I did not want to do as much party prep, so just family. At that time I had no idea that the US would be experiencing a pandemic and be placed on quarantine.  It turns out because of quarantine we would truly only be celebrating with those truly closest to us. Given the current circumstances I was actually happy that it worked out this way. We were able to enjoy in our daughters birthday excitment about her day, her presents, pink chocolate cake and being around her closest family. It was a welcome change not having to prep tons of food, send out invitations or entertain a bunch of guest that you only see once a year. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy big celebrations with friends and family. But let’s be real those large celebrations take a lot of work and time.  And with two small children as working parents who like to be hands one.  We felt that it just worked best for us to keep celebrations simple and intimate.

The original plan was to have everyone over Saturday to celebrate together but we had to adjust our plans due to the pandemic.  So on Tuesday evening we had my in laws , neice and nephew over for dinner and cake.  Due to corona virus precautions my parents and sister were able to attend via FaceTime.  They may not have been pshyically present but it was great to still be able to have them present with the help of technology.  Then on Saturday we were hoping to see my parents but it just ended up being just Neve and her cousins.  We are so thankful that we were able to celebrate Neve’s third birthday but can’t wait to be able to celebrate with her grandparents and aunt in Miami.   Celebrating while on quarantine has been interesting to say the least.  But we managed to pull it off and have wonderful time.

Quarantine Party Planning

Decor

I used a white table cloth from the dollar as a blank canvas to build upon.  To the white table cloth I attached the tropical photo banner and a few of the DIY construction banana leaves.  I used my letter board to create a “Happy #3 Birthday Neve” sign on one end of the table and on the opposite end a birthday photo of Neve.  The evening before we inflated the ballons and rose gold three but it seems like the helium did not hold up.  I strung the deflated ballons together and ended up hanging them from my sconces.  The rose gold three held up thankfully! I attached it to a banana leaf plant that I also already owned.  Finally, I added the Wild, Young and Three wreath behind the tablescape.   Bringing my Wild, Young and Three girls safari birthday theme together.

I came up with Tropical Photo Banner because I had card stock booklet that I found at hobby lobby over a year a ago.  In in were a varitiey of prints including six tropical sheets which gave me the idea.  Which prompted me to order 4 x 4 photos of Neve from shutterfly to attach to the card stock.  Once photos were attached I used a hole puncher to punch out holes on both top ends of the card stock and thread through twine (another item I had on had) to create a tropical photo banner.

Wild Young and Three Tropical Wreath

This was another improtu DIY project that I came up with while looking for banana leaves at Joann fabric.  After searching Joann fabric for banana leaves and coming up with nothing.  I came across their summer collection and this tropical wreath.  It was on sale so I ended up getting the tropical wreath although no idea how I was going to use it.  Once I got home I saw the rose gold glitter banner that I purchased on Amazon and decieded to attached the banner to wreath.  It ended up turning out beautifully.

Food & Cake 

When it came to food we noramally like to create a menu that fits the theme of our parties.  Keeping in mind our want for simplicity we did not plan an eloborate menu. Instead my hubby did not have any cooking to do the finger he lifed was to place an order.  That is why we ordered an Italian dinner from Pete’s A Place a local small business in our community.  All the kids in our family LOVE pizza so that was a hit.  With most business experienceing a shut down during the pandemic we still wanted to do out part by supporting those small businesses within our immediate community.

If you noticed there was a homemade cake and then there was the pink safari cake.  Since becomomg a mom I have thought up ways we could create family traditions.  One of them was to be able to make each other birthday cakes.  Rian was into my idea and helped me make Neve’s birthday cake this year.  It make not have been the most beautiful cake but it was made with lots of love.  The Cake Lovers Cakery another local small business created the beautiful Pink Safari cake.

Birthday Girl’s Outfit

If you know my three year old then you know she likes to climb, jump and get messy.  All the while she makes sure that she is doing with lipgloss and a new nail color of the day.  That is why I kept her birthday outfits simple and cute.  One of my favorite local mom owned shops created the Wild & Three rose gold tee that I paired with a denim ruffle skort.  I found the coral Three tee from a small shop on Etsy that I paired with a colorful tutu that we already had in her closet.  Both tee’s are made from quality material and are so soft to the touch and machine washable.  I really like the ablity to be hands on and being able to communicate with these small shops directly is priceless.  It’s also great to know that I am able to support another mom building her empire.

Celebrating in a small ways with those closest to us is what was most important to us as a family.  I hope that you are able to take some of my ideas and incorparte them in your families celebrations.  Leave me a comment below I would like to know some of your party ideas or ask me a question.

Thanks for reading!

Cindy