The Boy’s Birthday Jam Session

Everett and Reid’s birthdays are eight days apart and so, because it just made sense, we decided that their parties would be combined into one. And this year as the boy’s birthdays approached and I browsed through Pinterest for birthday party ideas I kept coming back to two things. One, the boys love, love music and two, the boys love the show “The Fresh Beat Band” about four friends who have a band. It’s very colorful and full of musical instruments and songs. So I decided to go with a Jam Session party theme basing it on the colorful show they love but personalizing it for Everett and Reid. This also worked out because it was easy to stick within our small budget since I was simply buying colorful paper ware, all very inexpensive at Walmart, and due to Dustin and the boy's love of music, had many musical things around the house. One of the best privileges of being a mom is when you have the opportunity to do really cool things for your kids and for me, birthday parties are near the top of that list. This party was a blast to plan, I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun planning anything. Everett’s first birthday party last year was fun but planning something that I knew for sure my boys would love made it all the more enjoyable to put together.




Our guests received birthday invitations that were created in the shape of a ticket. The idea was that Everett and Reid were the musical duo that everyone would come see. It took trying on two different days but miraculously on the second photo shoot attempt we were able to get the perfect perfect picture to use for the invite. We took them in front of the back of our house and using Photoshop Dustin darkened the brick the of the house and added “Kramer Brothers” to Everett’s drum set.



When our guests arrived they were given the red carpet treatment and were greeted by a marquee stating “One Night Only! Everett & Reid’s Jam Session” and colorful balloons.



Inside was the stage where Everett’s drum set, Dustin’s electric guitar, mic and speakers (which were paper boxes Dustin spray painted) were set. This also doubled as our gift table.



Our dining room table was set with party favor buckets for the boy’s friends and were filled with an inflatable guitar and mic, rocker glasses, a bubble wand, a small bag of smarties and a large lollipop. These were all found on amazon.com, the Dollar Tree and the clearance section at Walmart. All the kids loved rocking out on their very own instruments!



And the Kramer Brothers had their very own posters with pictures of them over the past year. Reid’s pictures were from every month and Everett’s from every quarter. I made all of the signage using poster board, scrapbook paper (on sale at Michael’s) and the cricut my mom gave me a few years ago. They took some time to make but I was so excited with how they turned out. And when they awoke from their naps and saw the party changes in their house, the boys were very excited too!



Our jam session menu was all music themed food including ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches (cut and laid out to look like a piano), fruit medley (fruit salad), pitch perfect pasta salad, musical note pizza (pizza cut in the shape of music notes), eighth note veggies (a veggie tray in shape of a music note), guitar picks (potato chips), drumsticks (chocolate covered pretzels), lyrical lemonade and serenading sweet tea. Our cupcakes were baked in ice cream cones, frosted with chocolate frosting and covered in chocolate sprinkles to look like little microphones.





And our decorations were complete with shirts made by my mom. Everett’s shirt was a drum set with his name and new age of 2 and Reid’s was a guitar, his name and new age of 1.



Dustin and I had our own shirts as well, just for fun. Dustin’s reading security and mine reading manager.



When we had our cake both boys enjoyed being sung to. It was for this reason I was glad the boys were sung to together as Everett, who becomes overwhelmed when a lot of attention is on him at once, handled it just fine with his brother by his side.




And Everett had also learned how to blow out his own candles and it was to his delight when, after noticing Everett putting his candles back in his cake, his Papa Murray relit the candles again and again for him to blow out. Reid was just a little unsure of what was going on but he did enjoying woofing down the cake when it was all over!




Then it was time to open presents! Everett and Reid are blessed with so many family and friends who love them very much and as a result each received quite a few gifts! They opened their presents together but even so it took some time to get through them.




Their loved ones also know them well as they were gifted with their favorite things. Trains, cars, musical instruments and all sorts of other neat, new toys to play with. All of which they loved and are keeping them very entertained.





Among the gifts they received were rocking chairs from Mimi and Papa which were also a big hit.



The boys had so much fun at their party and we were so happy that so many of their favorite people were able to celebrate with us. We are definitely blessed to have such a large group of family and friends who our kids adore and who also love our kids so much.





It’s hard to believe that we have already celebrated our boys turning two and one! I have no idea where the time went and yet here we are.



One thing is for sure, as fast as the time went and as crazy as it was, I wouldn’t change a thing. We love our baby boys so very much and they are the best of friends. And so Happy, Happy Birthday to lights of our lives!