Pinwheel Party // Easy DIY Kid's Party

Bubs’ has spent many hours outside running up and down our little garden between daddy and her little windmills/pinwheels. One evening while she was running around I decided that a pinwheel party would be such a cute theme for her second birthday party. Conveniently I’d done a pinwheel cake topper DIY a few years ago, just for fun, and so it all fitted together really easily. In general we kept things really simple and it turned out so well. She really enjoyed herself too, which is obviously the most important part.

Before I get into the details of what we did, I’d just like to share a few reasons why I think that specifically asking someone to take photos at your kid’s parties is a good idea. Whether that person is a photographer or just a party guest who will remember to snap the moments is up to you.

All these party photos are by Grand Little Adventure. (Full disclosure: Tabitha is my sister-in-law and I did not pay her to take photos. She would’ve been at the party anyway, but I did ask her to take a few photos. She is truly talented at what she does and is 100% worth following on Instagram and if you’re in Cape Town, booking your own shoot!)

Photos let you see it from an “outside” perspective. Often as the host things just whizz right past and it feels like it’s over before it even began. Photos allow the party to live on much longer.
It allows you to relax. Knowing that someone else is taking some photos means that there is one less thing to worry about. You can talk to your guests and be present, without trying to be behind the camera. You are in the moment, rather than trying to capture it.
Frozen moments. These little kids grow up so quickly and these special moments are fleeting! Looking back on pictures from Bubs’ first birthday to second birthday she has grown up so much! Somehow birthdays are such a wonderful time to be able to reminisce and really see the change.
Special photos for friends. Not only did I get special photos of our family, but I was also able to send lovely photos of each of the other children to their parents. What a wonderful thing to be able to give something precious to your friends.

For the privacy of Bubs’ friends, I am not posting their photos here.

Venue

We had the party in a little public greenbelt close to where we live. It’s a quiet, free spot and has a jungle gym, so it was a great start. Being a winter baby there is always a risk planning an outdoor party. The weather played along really well though. We woke up to really strong winds, but by party time there was a breeze just strong enough to keep the pinwheels turning and some nice warm sunshine. A few hours after the party? Rain.

Food

I made a bunch of snacks, including puff pastry pinwheels (inspired by these), which all just went on a white table. Simple. (Time consuming, but simple.) Side note: We went to another second birthday party since then and they had just done big cheese, cracker and veg platters for the adults. It was brilliant! So keen to do that next year)

Decor

I always enjoy coming up with the cake idea. Generally all my effort goes into the cake topper. Lately I’ve been using a box cake as the base, because who has time to actually measure out the flour and sugar from the packet 🙂 Every little bit of energy saved helps! This year was no different. I made a whole stack of rainbow coloured DIY paper pinwheels in various sizes. I often find myself using my own blog to follow my previous tutorials or recipes and I love it! For the cake I arranged them as a rainbow and then they just went randomly into the cupcakes.

The only other thing I did for decor was buy some pinwheels that could be stuck right into the ground. These then doubled as favours for the children to take home. Honestly, so simple, but effective.

Activities

I had made some cookies (together with Bubs) and while icing them on the morning of the party we decided last minute to leave half of them un-iced, to be iced at the party. I made some extra icing to take along and took a few tubs of sprinkles. It was the best decision, as it was the hit of the party! And bubbles, always bubbles.