ELMO BIRTHDAY for 2-Year Old. For our 2-year old, Ayanna's, birthday we planned an Elmo theme party. For the invitations, I first took her picture sitting with her "Tickle Me Elmo" and "Hokey Pokey Elmo."  I printed several copies of these photos, then using a cute "ScrapKids" font, printed the invitation:  It's AYANNAÆs 2nd Birthday; Hope you can come to help us celebrate! Followed by date, time, address. To add to the festivities, please wear your Elmo shirt OR a red shirt(if you've got one).  We inserted a cute picture of Elmo that was downloaded from the internet here, and then added, "This party is being brought to you by the Letter A and the Number 2."  We printed that sheet using red ink (and a colorful Elmo) and laminated it to the back of the photo of Ayanna. This was quick, easy and adorable!  The decorations were pretty simple. We used an Elmo tablecloth purchased from Party City. We also used the Elmo plates, along with solid red and solid yellow plates. We stacked these by placing one Elmo, one red, one yellow and so on...  There were Elmo napkins and solid red cups and red utensils. Our dining room table is rather long, so there was plenty of room for the centerpiece which was a real goldfish (just like Dorothy) in a glass fishbowl on top of a large box covered in red.  Surrounding "Dorothy," were Crayons of all colors.  We also had the Elmo table Centerpiece (which was purchased at Party City) standing next to Dorothy. On one end of the table we had the Elmo Birthday Cake (which had a figurine of Elmo, Dorothy and Mr. Noodle. The opposite end of the table had another goldfish bowl filled with Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.  Next to that bowl, we had a sheet of paper for the game.  At the top of the sheet, I used a cute Scrap Bubbles font for the heading, "How Many Dorothy's in the Bowl", and printed it in red.  Underneath, was a place for everyone to write their name and their "guess." The bottom of the sheet had a picture of Elmo (also downloaded from the internet), and a phrase, "ELMO wishes Ayanna a Happy 2nd Birthday" (again using the Scrap Bubbles font and printed in red).  The winner of the game was the person who came the closest to guessing the number of goldfish in the bowl without going over.  They won the REAL Dorothy and got to take her home with them. This was a big hit! There were also Elmo party hats for everyone.  The birthday girl sat on a stool at the head of the table with a cluster of balloons behind her that included an Elmo mylar balloons and red and yellow helium balloons.  Just above the balloons was an Elmo Happy Birthday banner.  We used the buffet table to place "Hokey Pokey Elmo" (in HIS birthday hat) and the favor bags. This party had few small children in attendance, so favor bags could be a bit more elaborate. We used red lunch bags (purchased at Michael's Craft Store).  Inside the bag, we had plastic Elmo cups, Elmo noise makers, Elmo super balls, Elmo Memory Card Games, Elmo Tablets, and mini bags of goldfish crackers.  The bags were hole-punched and tied with a brightly-striped ribbon of red, yellow, green, and blue.  An Elmo sticker was placed on the bag, just beneath the bow.  Then down lower on the bag, we placed a sticker (made with the Xyron 250 Create-A-Sticker machine), that said, "Thank you for helping Ayanna celebrate her 2nd Birthday." We cut the edges of that sticker with a fiskars Paper Edgers scissors to give it a fun look. Along with the cake and ice cream, we served pizza (Elmo's favorite), and other finger foods.  After opening gifts, we took the birthday girl into the next room and dressed her in an Elmo outfit (we did this rather than have someone come to the house dressed as Elmo because we KNEW she would be terrified since she is afraid of so many things at this age).  The birthday girl walked back into the room of guests wearing her Elmo costume and carrying a bag filled with pictures of herself that were recently taken by a professional photographer. These were the favors for the adult guests.  (This was also a big hit)! Once that excitement died down a bit, we had Ayanna cover her eyes and brought in her "BIG" gift, which was a pretend kitchen set that we had put together the night before and kept hidden from her.  And that was the end of the party (because we couldn't get her to do anything else at that point)!  This was just enough excitement for a 2-year old and we managed to have one game that everyone could participate in playing.  It was a successful party with many smiles....