About a month or so ago, I wasn't planning to do themed birthday parties with friends for Caeden and Annah this year. It takes so much planning ahead, thriftiness, time, money, organizing, creativity, shopping...whew! I also struggle with the silly "girl issues" of who to invite, who is going to feel left out if they don't get invited, who is going to spend the whole time giving reasons why they are the BEST friend...blech! I want my children's birthdays to be about celebrating them and their life. But, Annah was in tears one night asking for a birthday party...
I prayed about how best to celebrate these October birthday kids this year. I was reminded that even though I wanted the kids' birthdays to be about family, when I was a kid, the thing I wanted most for a birthday celebration was...a party with my friends. Ouch. As much as it may hurt, my parents were always good enough to oblige me and honor my wishes as a child, and I felt I should continue to do the same for mine this year. I did decide that I would choose their themes and their guests, and keep those things a surprise as long as possible.
We had an autumn themed party for Annah. It was so "her," and she loved it. It was really easy and fun to decorate.
I threaded some dollar store leaves together on the living room chandelier instead of hanging streamers.
I found these cute plastic leaf dishes at Dollar Tree (I'm telling you, it is my new favorite store!! I go there about every other week now, it seems!) the night before the party.
I ordered the paper plates, cups, cute little take-out boxes, and invitations through Oriental Trading when I placed a big order for various things a month ago.
Of course, we had candy corn! (Annah had the closest guess how many were in the jar.) And, I still had Jell-O left from Caeden's party to make gummy pumpkin candies in the trays I found at Dollar Tree. I also made chocolate pumpkins and Crystal Light ice pumpkins with the trays. And, we had our roasted pumpkin seeds from the 3 we carved for Halloween. The girls liked all the snacks, and kept visiting the table all night--even after we had tacos for supper.
Annah's cake was actually two angel food bundt cakes, one upside down with another on top of it, made to look like a pumpkin. I really am terrible at decorating cakes, but Addie has had training! So, she happily frosted Annah's cake.
Addie and Ashley, two of Annah's dearest, most wonderful friends...
Annah, Caeden, and Hannah waiting for cake delivery...
Per tradition, Daddy lights the candles and delivers the cake to the birthday girl at the table while we sing to her.
Make a wish!
Annah got a little close to her cake while blowing out the candles, and one of her friends thought she might have licked the cake! She looked a little sheepish, but said she didn't actually lick it.
Addie, Ashley, Annah, and Hannah
As a mother, I am SO incredibly thankful for these wonderful friends in my daughter's life!!! They are sweet, thoughtful, lovely girls--inside and out! What a blessing!
The girls all pretended to lick the cake. ;) And then we preceded to eat half of it.
The girls spent some time playing Barbies upstairs in the girls' toy closet, some time playing outside, and some time doing the craft projects I had prepared for them.
First they did some of the leftover Indian corn magnet crafts from Annah's school class party. Annah was able to show them how to do that one while I got supper ready.
We also made candy corn cones, which you can see sitting on the table in the picture below. I had seen the idea on Pinterest. We added felt pieces to the top and bottom. Most of the girls just randomly wrapped the yarn and it stuck very well to the styrofoam. Addie was very meticulous with hers and wrapped one strand at a time for a very even, flat look. They all turned out cute.
We also made twig votives (an idea I found through Pinterest), which I just love! They were really fun and simple to make. I collected twigs from our yard a couple times over the past week, and we just broke them to the length we needed as we worked. I found some cheap, ugly votive candle holder 2-packs at Dollar Tree, and we used the glue gun to put the sticks right on the outside of them. Some of the girls chose ribbon from my stash to tie around them, and others left them without. I am actually going to make some more for the mantle. They look so nice with lit candles shining light through the twigs.
The girls commented on how fun the crafts were, and we had such fun crafting and experimenting together.
There was some Wii action, of course, and a couple ipods floating around. They painted each other's fingernails and toenails with Annah's new crackle/shatter nailpolish and had fun talking about some of the random questions in the fun little "coke or pepsi" book Annah bought at the book fair at school the other night. It was so cute...One question was something about "If you could go anywhere you wanted..." and each of the girls instantly named a place. Sylvia said wild Africa to see the animals, Hannah said London, Ashley said Paris, Annah said Hawaii, and Addie said Disney World. It was so neat how they each said right away where they would like to go, and none was influenced by another's idea!
After their nails dried, everyone settled into sleeping bags in the living room, and they decided to watch Ella Enchanted. They were sleepy and non-argumentative when it ended and I asked them to go to sleep at 12:45 a.m.
Addie and Annah both had basketball practice this morning, so we all had to get up early. I made pancakes, and we got everyone out the door by 8:30. The guests all knew the party was over at 9AM, but Annah was in tears at the thought of her dear friends having to leave and having to go off to basketball herself. I'm glad she enjoyed her party. It did seem short but sweet, so I think we'll have to have these girls back again soon, just because!
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
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Matthew 7:11
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