Take it back to November when I started playing Christmas Movies, and Brennan quickly became obsessed with Home Alone 2. She started requesting “Kevin” and babbling Home Alone. Between the cannon ball in the pool and the craziness of the bad guys, she was hooked. Come January, we were STILL watching it, and I knew this was what I needed to do for her second birthday. As usual I put together a mood board and color story. I wanted to add in pinks to make it girly, yellow to pick up the taxi cabs of the New York scene, and try not to be OBVIOUSLY Christmas, being that her birthday is in June. From there I went straight to Lindsey of Itsy bitsy Parties, she has been doing my invitations for over a year and she has a talent of customs to make a party come together!

The Invitation 

I focused the theme on Home Alone 2 but there are some key moments in the first movie, Home Alone, I could not leave out. For the invitation, Itsy Bitsy Parties designed a Battle Plan all about the party. Incorporating key moments in both movies and details I would be high lighting at the party. It was of course front and center of the infamous flatlay along with all the other amazing details!

The Food

This was the easy part, and one of my favorite ways to follow through with a theme. I didn’t serve any food that felt like it didn’t fit it. We did “Little Neros” Cheese pizza and Ice cream sundaes, both items are KEY in Home Alone and Home Alone 2. I created my own small pizza boxes for the guests to take home a couple of extra slices and I love how it carried on the theme. I served Jeni’s Ice cream with all the fixings as well, “two scoops, make it three…”

Of course, I had to have cookies and macarons, because it is not a party without them, even if they weren’t in the movie. The Sugar Bug did the most incredible hand painted cookies. One even had Brennan’s Face yelling like Kevin, the bad guys, turtle doves, you name it. I love how the captured every party of the theme and fit right in. Tara of Soiree Macarons really showed out for this one! Not only did she bring macarons, but I giant macaron Christmas Tree CAKE! The cookies were shaped like paint cans, ice cream sundaes and even the McAllister Door Knob that was burning hot. The tree was a last minute addition, but I knew I had to have a mini train with a Micheal Jordan cut out so the cake was perfection!

The cake sat on top of a clear cake stand filled with ornaments, army men and a fake tarantula of course. 

All the food and sweets were served on a long table with a super fun installation above it. A sign that read Eating Junk and Watching Rubbish was totally fitting. Surrounded with paint cans, it was the perfect way to add whimsy and color. 

The BAR

I kept the drinks very simple, my guests tend to drink only a few specific things. I knew I wanted to server “Kerosene” which was actually an Arnold Palmer. I also had Pepsi of course. I served Champagne, beer and water in the kitchen and everyone was happy! I set the bar on our dresser in the kitchen, when throwing a party at home I really try to work in my home decor into the party, purely so I am not taking a bunch of things off the wall and I can keep it all in house. On the dresser I printed out a city scape by The House Lars Built. It was perfect with colors of pink, purples and golds. I used a chalkboard table runner and drew on it to look like a street- and there were tiny toy Taxi Cabs going up and down, just like NYC.

I used red solo cups, just as they did before the airport in the first movie. I added Modern Birch stir sticks and gold straws. Stir sticks are some of my favorite things to add to a party, another custom thing that really ties everything together! The ladies at Modern Birch knocked it out of the park with the house from the logo, iconic NYC elements, Filthy Animal and my favorite, BReNNAN- with the Home Alone e and everything!

Above the bar, I utilized our gallery wall. I usually have this wall blank and was kind of stuck with what to do, but made it work. I used my Petal Lane dry erase boards to my advantage. I wrote out the Plaza Room Service bill on one, and used the other to print a large battle plan and hang. In the frames I printed out scenes and iconic moments from the movie adding speech bubbles of quotes, I even painted a canvas that read KEVIN. The final touch was the Chalk Designs by Me shelfie signs, Miranda surprised me with signage that said, Lost in New York, Filthy Animal, and Wet Bandits Escape. They were totally unexpected but the PERFECT added touch around the party! She also did the Kerosene tag and other tags I used throughout the party!

The Outfits

I put Brennan in her favorite June and January, they have every color of the rainbow and I thought the forest green was perfect. I wore a  graphic tee that quoted the movie, but my favorite part was Brennan’s Party hat. It was a one of a kind made and a major collection of art. I took the printable file from House that Lars built and layered it with artwork by Itsy bitsy Party. August Root then took the art, made it into a hat and added the most beautiful pom pom on top. It was so magical and on theme! I last minute ordered army men necklaces from Honey and Gray that were the perfect addition, even if just for the flat lay. 

The Party Ware

Don’t come for me, but I didn’t set a table, I KNOW- crazy right? Honestly the kids never sit down any way and it didn’t feel quite right, I had plans for table (shown below), but omitted it. I did however have everything I needed on the food and drink table and these details were some of my favorites. I used some of the new melamine items from Ellie and Piper. The “paper” plates felt just perfect, and I also used her new hot dog holders and sundae boats. My favorite thing were the napkins. My first thing was I wanted real Plaza hotel cocktail napkins, I couldn’t make that happen and I’m so glad, because what we did instead was CRAZY cool! I went to Amy at Suburban Soiree and she custom prints any napkin you can imagine! We did two dinner napkins, with iconic Home Alone quotes and a cocktail napkin with a twist. I ended up illustrating the Plaza Logo but instead of the letter P for Plaza, I made it a B for Brennan. She made the logo in gold on a black cocktail napkin and it was the coolest thing EVER.

The Games

The pinnacle in both Home Alone Movies has to be the scenes when Kevin is totally defeating the bad guys! We wanted to make sure this was highlight at the party. We started as you walked in the front door, “The Paint Can Pummel” navigating through 40 tiny paint cans as you walked up to the party. Inside you had to “Scorch the Burglars”- this was one of my favorites. Essentially it was pin the tail on the donkey, but with a twist. The kids pinned the iron on Marv and Pin the fire on Harry. Wearing a snorkel mask, the kids places tiny irons and flames onto AMAZING portraits of the bad guys. These were hand drawn by Stacy of Thread Mama and came out absolutely perfect. 

Outside the games were even more fun! The “Brick Toss” corn hole into Kevins mouth, the “Pully Sling” to get the handle bars into the play house, and the “Army Man Shoot down” with nerf guns had to be the biggest hit! Don’t forget to “Race to The Gate” and claim you favor. 

The Favors + Gifts

This one was actually tough for me to come up with, but when it was all said and done, it was one of my favorite elements! My girlfriend Jeromee was using these paper suitcases for party favors for a party a few months ago, it got me thinking and I ordered right away. I immediately called Itsy Bitsy to design stickers for the suitcases. The scene when the family is traveling to Miami and it was baggage claim where they realize Kevin is missing. Lindsey out did herself with six different sticker deigns all representing different elements of the movies and finished each bag with a tag that read “Hand This to Kevin”. The suitcases were filled with the coolest sensory kits from Bright Box. Little boxes of handmade play dough, tiny paint cans, a Christmas tree, spider, skyscrapers, jacks and toy cars. 

And last but not least, we had to have “Brennan’s Toy Chest” for everyone to leave her gifts. I used Marissa’s vintage toy chest and a custom sign from Itsy Bitsy! It was the coolest detail. 

Brennan had the BEST time and the theme was such a blast to execute. Of course, I could not have made this happen without the amazing vendors and Marissa, who not only help me plan every detail but took all the the photos! Shop all my Amazon finds for this party HERE

XO, 

Kelsey

Planning / photography @house.of.fete
Paper products @itsybitsypartieskc
Acrylic @modernbirchco
City scape @houselarsbuilt
Cookies @thesugarbug
Macarons @soireemacarons
Bad guys @threadmama_story
Chalkboard signs/ tags @chalkdesignsbyme
Napkins @suburban_soiree
Party supplies @ellieandpiperco
Party hat @augustroot
Cabs @candylabtoys
Favors @brightboxplaykit
Necklace @honeyandgrayshop