a nemo, dory + crush bash!

*disclosure: all opinions expressed below are my own + come from my personal experiences with ordering + purchasing goods and services from the shops below.

last weekend wrapped up a whirlwind two months of creations, designs, planning + partying for all of us in the re-nest house. and, what better way to wrap it all up in a pretty little bow (no pun intended!) than with a little two-year-old birthday celebration for our little mr. re-nest #2?!?

it all started back at christmas….i noticed our little man took quite a liking to “memo” (aka “finding nemo”) + my first thought was “ohhhh….birthday party!” and, i mean, could you get any more fun? the color palette alone was getting me giddy! i started my trusty inspiration board over on pinterest + just slowly and surely kept collecting ideas and things to incorporate. this started in december. i can safely say that i started scrambling to get this day together, ohhhh, about may tenth or so. (eek!)


first up were the invitations. i have to admit, this made me nervous. i went to my trusty etsy to find a fabulous artisan who could help me with a graphic file of an invitation + i just wasn’t finding what i wanted. i kept on until one night (i’m sure it was late + a margarita was involved), i found it. it was the perfect blend of my modern design preference, without being too overdone with the character touches. the order was placed, and i couldn’t thank sosimplydesign on etsy more! (note: i had big, big plans to add to just the printed invite….you know, do a cover with a cute design on it. it didn’t happen. this created unwarranted mommy guilt which i had for about ten seconds and then i realized, “oh yeah, he won’t care.”)

the cake. so, i believe cake is a food group. (i’m pretty sure i’ve said that before.) i love any flavor of cake, with pretty much any flavor of filling or icing. and, i believe cakes can be works of art. admittedly, i’ve become a little obsessed with the cake aspect of our parties (it is kind of the centerpiece…), but this year, the challenge was different. i had to find a peanut-safe cake. i started doing my research and i came across nutphree’s bakery in mount prospect, illinois through the blog, the nut-free mom. i got on the horn + started talking to becky, the amazing executive chef at nutphree’s. we talked design + theme + most importantly, she reassured me that the reason why nutphree’s exists is to be able to give those with allergies the chance to have great cakes too. and, what they created was nothing short of amazing….i added a few “finding nemo” characters + the cake was more than i could have imagined!

massive thanks to screenbroidery for making my
matching shirts dream come true!




the best pic we could get of him modeling the awesome shirt!

yep, i went there. we did matching family shirts this year….because i found an idea + i loved it. and, having shirts that said “i speak whale” only seemed appropriate for a two-year-old who is still finding his way through his vocabulary. not sure how to get these finished, i turned to a good friend from high school, who just so happens to own screenbroidery in noblesville, indiana. these guys were amazing…i sent my idea, number of shirts i needed (only four!), and the colors, and they handled the rest. they literally printed these and shipped them in less than two days! and, they were a perfect addition to our little celebration (and will be totally fun to just wear out-and-about after the party!) (oh, and here’s a big bonus for those friends + family reading this: screenbroidery was kind enough to offer you – yes, you! – a discount on their online retail shirts! be sure to go to screenbroidery.com, check out their retail section, and enter in RENEST10 at checkout for 10% off! isn’t that just incredible?!?! please go check them out + support a great company!)

and, then can you have a “finding nemo” party without the greatest line of encouragement ever? i had to have a “just keep swimming” sign…i mean, there was no way around it. so i made one. and i think i really, really like it! 

and, not to be left out….we had to mark one of little mr. re-nest #2’s very fave lines from the movie in framed sign form…with “give me some fin. noggin. dude!” (no joke, the boy does it when you ask him to….you get a little high-five, a head knock, and he says “dude.” cutest.thing.ever.) 

my next obsession that we had to have: the chalkboard sign. i had one of these done for the first birthday last year, and so of course we had to get an updated one. and what surprise (and total elation!) did i have to find a wonderful etsy artisan that designs a “finding nemo” one?!? very, very special thanks to amddesigns1 on etsy for helping me out with this + making it such a lovely addition to our party! and, it now also sits in little mr. re-nest #2’s bedroom as a very cool piece of decor!

another addition i made this year was to add a little

somethin’ to the front door….it ended up being a windy + kind of ick day, but i figured i could do something on our covered porch that would still feel + look festive! i happened to come across this idea of the balloon wreath on pinterest, and it seemed easy enough….sure enough, it was super simple to make, and i added a little extra something to the center just so everyone knew they were entering a party for a two-year-old. 🙂

and of course, you can’t send little ones away from a party without a little treat! we went with full size hershey chocolate bars, to make sure everything was a-ok for little mr. re-nest #2 + the allergy. i happened across some super adorable customized hershey bar wrappers from krittskreations over on etsy, which were super easy to print on my home printer, trim out and wrap around the bars. 
it was a great, great celebration….one where our boy had a great time, got to eat some great food (from chipotle catering…peanut safe!), had a yummy cake + got to play with his friends! and, we so loved having so many friends + family come celebrate with us!
our little family, helping blow out the little man’s candles!

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