SURPRISE! Happy Birthday Reader R! (part II)

So, as you now know, this past week was Reader R's birthday....

Her BIG party, however, was almost didn't happen...  in her mind, anyway!

I had set the scene several weeks ago by telling her that "Since Daddy was celebrating a BIG birthday this year, we just won't be able to have friends party for you, too."  She accepted the information graciously, but then she, unfortunately, spent several weeks being too self-less and over concerned about our finances.  (Opps!)

Anyway, the big day came, and all of her sweet little friends gathered at our house and anxiously awaited her arrival.  

I had decorated with LOTS of balloons, streamers, plastic table cloths, and pieces of fabric leftover from a baby shower several years ago.  Since I was trying to keep within a budget, I was thrilled to figure out that I could make these super fun tissue poofs, using the stash of leftover pink and purple tissue I have meticulously smoothed out and saved for the last 8 years!  I started with this great tutorial that I found on Pinterest.  (My only additions would be that you can use 1/2 a sheet for smaller balls, and for bigger balls, I liked 15-16 sheets better than 10, which looked a little sparse to me.)


The girls made fruit loop necklaces and played a couple of ice-breaker games while they waited for sweet R.  



When she got here, Reader R. was super surprised, and the girls rushed her with a big group hug!





Next, we had a super-girly breakfast with pink and purple pancakes, cherry yogurt, and sausage.  At the suggestion of this great blog post from Cassie at Hi Sugarplum,  I put fun toppings (strawberries, blueberries, bananas, granola, chocolate chips, and whipped cream) on the table for the pancakes and yogurt. (Actually, I got a LOT of "my" ideas from Cassie!!! Thank you!)  The girls also had fun cutting their pancakes into fun shapes with cookie cutters!


After breakfast, I painted the girls toenails.  (I had asked permission from the parents ahead of time, which was a good thing, because one little girl said "My mom doesn't let me paint my toenails without adult supervision."  I guess, I didn't count as an adult. ;^))  I kept the colors simple, pink, purple or blue, and then a second coat of "princess sparkles."  It was so fun.  the girls sat in a semi-circle around half of a dollar store plastic table cloth.  It was a great way to keep the nail polish put.  When we were done, I just wadded up the table cloth and tossed it!

Even her little sisters got in on all of the fun!

I kept the girls hands busy with a fun craft while I was painting their toes!  We made these cute flip-flops! I used this tutorial to do all the prep work ahead of time.  I also made a pair for myself and the two little sisters ahead of time, since I knew we would need a prototype and they wouldn't be able to get theirs done without my help and I would be painting toenails!


We opened gifts and then sang Happy Birthday!

Then, we enjoyed the cute cupcakes at the top of the post.  My good cookie friend, Kim from the Cookie Puzzle, lent me her fingernail polish cookie cutter and her recipe for glaze icing, which made these  nail polish bottles shinny and extra fun!  Thanks Kim!!

(Please ignore the construction zone in the background...
my wonderful husband is painting my dining room!)

The party favor bags included a bottle of water (wrapped in hot pink duct tape, like this idea, and then labeled with a fancy initial sticker; sorry, I forgot to take a picture), a package of pink bubble gum, and a set of party favor cookies with a pair of pjs (just like my daughter's favorites) and a bottle of nail polish.  (I'll post more about the PJ cookies soon.)

I also threw in a kit to make a cute bracelet that I had picked up in a 10 pack at Hobby Lobby, that was my back up craft, but that we ran out of time to do at the party!

A special thanks to Poppie for taking Reader R on a special date night and sleep over, so we could decorate  and really surprise her!  Thanks to Aunt Dana for being my right-hand girl, helping out in every way on party day!  Thanks to my Sweetheart for working so hard to help get the house ready and for capturing the big event for me!  Thank you to Kim and my SweetBook Sisters for all of your encouragement!  Thank you to Hi Sugarplum, Oh Sugar Events, Design Dazzle, and a thousand other hard-working moms on Pinterest for inspiration!

All pandemonium broke loose at pick up time when we momentarily lost control of the party! ;^)

Cheers!!
Sarah

P.S. - Come back tomorrow for all the details on the PJ cookies!