Happy 4th Birthday!

We had our first Friend Birthday Party yesterday.  Grace turned four and has been talking about having a Pink Princess Party since last September.  And sweet girl that she is, has always included her "fwiends" in those plans.  So, we did it.  Turns out she has a lot of "fwiends."

We had 16 kids running around our house for an hour and a half!  (Sincerely, thank-you for all the help.)  And our house and yard are really not that big.  So, we adjusted and moved some furniture around even borrowed an extra little tables and chairs and used every part of the downstairs and outside to host the energetic little guests.

I spent the most time making these little goodie bags (notice the scepter-candy stick sticking out of the bags and all the glitter paper) and the day before Grace told me what she really wanted was a pinata. Um.  That would have been much simpler.  Live and learn, eh.

"Slaying the Dragon"(thanks for instagramming your dragon, Karin, and finding it in the first place, Jill)--these cardboard swords (and enough crowns and the jewels) showed up with our  first guests. Little miracle that it all arrived before and not after for not-so-stress-free me!

Grace wanted pink yogurt for her birthday party.  We added fresh strawberries and put it in fancy pink glasses and voila:  Princess Parfaits!

The menu was chosen by Grace, fancied up by me:  peanut butter sandwiches, cut into hearts; apples sprinkled with fairy dust; the extra strawberries; watermelon (last minute addition, so no sign); "enchanted trees" (what kid wants broccoli at their birthday party!?!); Princess Parfaits and Pink cupcakes, with purple and blue and crowns like last year.

When there was a little too much sword fighting among the knights, Tyler scooped up a puppet and started a whole new game--attack the queen!  Even the princesses found their swords and joined the charge.
*Note: the cardboard swords were fun to decorate for the 5 and 6 year old siblings, but didn't hold up with the sword fighting--blow up ones or foam ones would have been better for all the play.

15 minutes before parents came for pick up, Grace said she wanted to open presents... with everyone here.  (Its popular here to skip that part and concentrate on celebrating with friends and not make it a gift centered day.)  Well, its her day.  And she isn't often the center of attention without prompting, doing her own thing for much of her party.  And isn't it a good practice for being grateful and a chance to let the givers see her excited about what they gave her...  so we did a speedy version--full of chaos and ooo's and ahhh's.  (See how excited she is over the gift receipt.  Seriously!)  And she told me later that afternoon that it was her favorite part of the party 'cause it was soooo exciting!  (Conrad actually said it was his favorite part too and it was all girly stuff--he just liked the suspense.)

And that, in response to Tyler's question to a tired me the night before,  is why we did this.  Because it isn't for much longer that opening presents will be the most innocently exciting thing in the world, that anything pink will make her smile, that Princess will be her personal motto (more about that some other time), that she will include boys in her list of must-be-there-"fwiends," that blowing out a candle after everyone sings to her will be magical, that putting yogurt in a fancy glass will make it from a fairy tale, that her "fwiends" will dress up like princesses or knights, that every little detail that no one but her or me will even notice will make her glow...  It isn't much longer that it will be such a simple thing as a party to let her know how special she is. 

 

We celebrated her getting one year older.

 

But I celebrated that she is four.