Taco Twosday - Themed Birthday Party

This past weekend was an absolute blast hosting my daughter's 2nd birthday party! When I saw the theme "Taco Twosday" on Pinterest, I knew I had to do it. My daughter, Kora, loves tacos (and all food, as most know) so this was right up her alley too. Most of the ideas shown throughout my pictures, are from Pinterest. I created the menu myself using family recipes and my own. The food was easy and cost efficient, which is excellent for serving large crowds! I will explain more below under each photo, and include links to where I bought certain items! Please feel free to reach out with any questions about this party.

Cookies from https://www.livcreativity.com/

We baked crunchy taco shells and soft tortilla boats (if you never saw the boats, check them out). Served with a choice of my favorite taco beef, seasoned grilled chicken, or fried boom boom shrimp. Two kinds of rice and beans, white and yellow. Grandma's mac and cheese for the kids. Buying in bulk from Costco allowed for big savings on meats, cups, plastic ware etc.

These mason jars were such great condiment and topping holders! I used a step stool to display the jars, and make them easy to see and get to. We tried to include every popular taco topping: shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, red onion, tomato, sour cream, jalapenos, black olives, pineapple salsa and a variety of different hot sauces.

Using the pineapple shell as a bowl for pineapple salsa was a really fun presentation! You can find the salsa recipe here: Pineapple Salsa 

Kids drink: Cactus Juice! Green berry Hawaiin punch in a two tier dispenser. Ice is held below the juices to keep them cold. You can switch tiers or even fill them with two different kinds of drink.

Tons of invitation ideas on Etsy! Our specific invite was made by TheOliveCorgi on Etsy and then I used Vistaprint to have them printed and shipped to me with envelops.

Using a chalk board display allows you to get creative. In this case, I used it for our taco bar, letting our guests know to dig in! I used liquid chalk markers, and also use this menu board for our dinner planning each week.

Why didn't anyone ever tell me how easy these balloons were?! Each letter comes with a straw to blow in and fills up within seconds. They also self seal! String was supplied to hang the letters up (each letter had holes cut on the top and bottom for hanging). I will definitely use these types of balloons again for our next event! I purchased these at PartyHaus on Etsy.
If you notice, I used mini sombreros to hold food name tags! That wasn't my intention for the sombreros when I purchased them, but I really loved how it looked!

Another Pinterest find... Using cans for flower vases. I wish I had a big Goya can leftover but these did the trick! These gorgeous roses were so cheap at my local grocery store. Adds some color.

Extra party sombrero laying around? Use it to hold your plastic ware! I purchased "Let's taco bout a party" napkins on Amazon and just rolled the forks and knives in them.

Brown paper bags to hold the chips - Creative and easy cleanup! I cut them down a bit and folded them over. These bags were also used for the kids goodie bags - markers don't run through and fun decoration ideas on Pinterest. The orange guacamole bowl is a garlic grating bowl from IseeSpain - they are absolutely gorgeous, and hand painted!

A local friend made this incredible, most delicious cheesecake on earth. 

She decorated the taco and ribbons around the cake. The hand made cake topper 

with the word "two" is from BellsNBerries on Etsy.

For goodie bag treats, we had a pinata (open by pulling strings, instead of hitting with an object), so kids filled their bags up with the pinata goodies, and I also gave each child a taco plate. They came in 6 different colors and came in sets of 6. I had 12 kids so purchased two sets. They are really awesome and well made! 

It is safe to say that Kora had a blast turning 2 years old! We may even stick with the same type of theme next year... Adios Dos?!