Jackson's 3rd Birthday Party!!!

We went with an M&M themed-party because Jackson has always loved the M&M guys!  Whenever we were in CVS or the grocery store where they had a "life-sized" plastic M&M guy with a hole in his tummy for candy, Jackson would point and laugh!  I thought it would make a cute party theme :)

 I made M&M invitations: M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand!

For party favors, I made this Pinterest idea: fill balloons with playdough to make squishy balls!

We attached a set of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and brown balloons to the mailbox out front!  The porch railing and columns were wrapped in red, yellow, green, and blue streamers, but they didn't pack quite as much punch as I had imagined...

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson!

More balloons inside plus additional M&M circles on the walls.  This was totally Josh's idea!  It was a really good one, and he even cut out the additional circles and taped them up :)

 Goody bags!

 I LOVED stocking up on different flavored M&Ms in preparation for the party!  They were all labeled and I think the peanut butter ones were definitely the favorite!

 M&M cupcakes!  The cupcakes were Chocolate Chocolate Chip flavored, but with just store bought frosting, not the Nutella frosting in the link ;)

 Jackson knew he got three candles plus one extra for good luck.  He was ready to blow out all four!

 The table to the left had party hats and stickers to decorate them.  There were more M&M flavors on the tall table along with the photo books from Jackson's first two birthdays.

 Parading around the firepit!

 Josh, Joe, and Mark all matched!

 Mary Jo and Bobby hanging out with Lora

 We were more than happy to enjoy the Bloomin' Pizza Bread and Bloomin' Onion Bread!

Lora, Sara, Susie, Dana, Rachel, Jolene (and Owen), Mary Jo (and Bobby), and Stephanie!

Rachel, Ella, and Jackson "playing" Baggo ;)

 Lining up for Pin the M on the M&M

 There was no blindfold or spinning around.  They were excited enough about taking turns and using tape!

 Reagan and Avery were a hit with their matching outfits :)

 Dinner on the deck!  Josh grilled delicious burgers and hotdogs (as usual!)--YUM!

 Getting a little shy as it's time to hear "The Birthday Song!"

 Jackson blew out most of the candles with just a little help from Daddy!

 Not quite as messy-funny as the first couple of years, but still pretty good :)

We ended the evening with a fire in our firepit.  The kiddos got to wind down with a little Mickey Mouse.  A win, win situation :)

Jackson was SOOO looking forward to his special party!  It was really fun for us to have him be able to look forward to it in advance--for real, not just a few hours, or maybe a day.  He had fun shopping with me for all of the decorations and getting things ready.  He was particularly excited for the cupcakes and candles :)  We had a great time watching Jackson be celebrated by a great crowd of good friends--we are so blessed in that arena especially :)