Not even going to lie y’all, Sully’s 2nd birthday sure did sneak up on me. Maybe that’s why I had a harder time with this birthday than her 1st (see that post here). I felt like I did a lot of prepping for her 1st birthday party (theme Babies Who Brunch ?) and we always were documenting and celebrating milestones every month throughout that year.
This year, I decided to throw a little party together at our house that was Moana themed. Not to mention, this theme lent itself to easy and fun luau decor. Sully is in love with “Mooonnaaa” and “Pua Pua Oink Oink” (the cute pig in the movie) so it was a great fit. See how excited she was when she saw all the decorations after her nap?!
Sully’s Pineapple Bubble Outfit // Sully’s Bow // My Lilly Dress // Ryan’s Shirt (old, similar on major sale)
I of course turned to Pinterest for inspiration and knew that I wanted to do a really fun cake for her and even more fun balloons – her two favorite things. From there, the rest was just luau decorations which I ordered from Oriental Trading, a fun print out from Etsy of Pua (+ invitations that I #momfailed and never sent) and Ryan in charge of some heavy apps since the party was at 3pm. Huge props to my Mom for the awesome photos!
You might recognize this lady from her blog The Southern Sophisticate (see, blogger friendships are the best!)
Just when I was looking for good balloon solutions and ideas, Cannonborough Collective owned by my friends Liz at Charleston Weekender and Mimi at The Tiny Tassel announced it was opening it’s doors soon and would have all the cute balloon solutions a gal could ever want. They were sweet enough to do Sully’s party before officially opening, but you can now go see them at their cute shop downtown!
As for the cake, after looking at multiple bakeries around Charleston, I read great reviews about Ashley Bakery and was especially drawn to the fact that everyone said their cakes were as yummy as they were pretty. The banana chocolate chip cake that was decorated like the ocean and included Moana figurines I put on there turned out SO cute and it was indeed delicious!
I did fun dining table decor, including the awesome palm and pink balloon runner from Cannonborough Collective. I may just be keeping these straw and palm leaf place setting out all summer long.
Speaking of balloons, how fun are these large gold ALOHA letter balloons that fit perfect across our uppers in the kitchen?! The perfect hello and goodbye :).
On our island, we did food with more of the same decor. We served Polynesian meatballs (fun fact – Moana is actually Polynesian, not Hawaiian), cowboy caviar and chips, chicken salad mini croissants, fruit on hibiscus screwers and black/white cookies.
We had a small bar area where Ryan mixed up his famous pain killers for the adults (we had non-alcoholic drinks in coolers & put water in Sully’s cup). I put out little pineapple cups with flamingo straws too!
The backyard was super simple with some garland because it was so ding dang hot and humid! We did everything inside pretty much because of this (and because the her big birthday present, her play set, didn’t get set up in time).
I did a little bit more in the front to welcome everyone, like flamingos, a bamboo sign and some tropical garland. Don’t mind our dingy front porch, it’s about to get a big makeover.
The best part though was having all our family under one roof!
Overall, Sully had a blast and loved hugging on all her people! She even went around and collected everyone’s leis and wore them all at the same time like baby Moana does in the movie. Heart. Melts.
Happy 2nd Birthday Sullivan Louise!!!
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