The Birthday Bash

The big "5" was a big deal around here.  My sweet girl counted down the days until her birthday for months and then, as soon as that day arrived, she counted down the days until her little party.  I love birthday parties, but my way of planning them has definitely changed over the years.  I used to think out the parties months and months in advance and have everything ordered, sketched out and ready to go on party day.  Now (other than a few thoughts), I just wing it on party day.  It's not perfect, but it makes my kids super happy.  Plus, who doesn't want to have a special day just for themselves???  

Anna and I used my craft goodies to put together a few goodie bags for the girls a few weeks before the party.  She only had three little friends over, so they didn't take much time.  And just like her momma, Anna kind of loves embellishments.  The bags are plain white square lunch bags and we added a doily, washi tape, stickers, resin flowers and buttons to the bag.  I used my uppercase alpha stamps to spell out each girls' name.  Having a few number of guests keeps this process from being too overwhelming, I think.  

The night before the party, my husband and I made this knotted fabric garland.  I used some of the beautiful fabrics supplied by DoCrafts.  The colors and patterns screamed party and making the garland couldn't have been easier.  Even my husband loved it!

Party day was all about pancakes and pajamas.  I'm not quite sure where Anna came up with the idea, but I loved it from the minute she mentioned it.  I'm super surprised she didn't want a "Frozen" themed party since that's her favorite right now, but a non-themed party was beyond perfect in my eyes.  

We set up her tea set, added in a pretty paper flower sewn table runner (that I made from these Docraft flowers) and made a few toppers using some of the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer die cut shapes and washi tape.  

Unlike in other years, I decided to just pick up pre-made cupcakes, cookies and doughnuts from the grocery store.  It's obviously not gourmet, but I can't even begin to tell you how much time and stress this saved me.  I made the pancakes about an hour before the girls got here and just warmed them up when they were ready to eat.  I'm pretty sure we are having a pancakes for parties from now on!!  Getting everything ready beforehand was awesome.  I'm usually baking and cutting and prepping until the first guest arrives and throughout the party.   I love that I was able to enjoy the girls from the moment they were all here until the moment they left. 

After the pancakes and cupcakes were gone, we had makeovers and manicures and all the girls left with blue eyeshadow and a crazy array of sparkly fingernail polish. 

I set out a bowl of princess stickers and some pretty paper and each girl created a pretty picture while they waited their turn for a manicure.  It's amazing how many stickers they can put on sheet, isn't it??

The girls played dress up, ran in the backyard and giggled.  It was the perfect party and a wonderful day.