The Birthday Bash

No Unplugged Project this week. We were so busy getting ready for Little Bit's party, we just didn't have much time left over for other stuff.

The party was great. The kids had a blast. And Little Bit LOVED having everybody over at our house.

Of course, we forgot to buy eggs, so the cake didn't get baked until about 45 minutes before the party started. In all of our last-minute preparations, we forgot to hang the Birthday Banner. And the ice cream balls came out looking like this

But, with all the fun, none of that really seemed to matter. Here are some of the highlights:

The sand bucket cake was a big hit!

As was the slip and slide.

Yes, we let the kids play with squirt guns. I know, very questionable parenting.

I love this one with the two little heinies. They're reloading their squirters in the pool.

We forgot to teach her how to blow out a candle before hand, but she worked it out (with my mom's help).

And, of course, presents. Here she is sporting her freezer paper stenciled birthday shirt while she opens a card.

The party really could not have gone any better. There were about 8 kids at the party (half 3 and under and half 8 and over) and everybody got along. I was afraid of the big kids taking over, but it wasn't even an issue.

Even with all the fun, these parties are a lot of work! I'm so glad they only have one birthday party a year. Now I'm in the clear until Bitty Baby's first birthday in October. Hmmm....4 months away? That might be enough time to recover from this one.

This Weekend's Birthday Bash

I've mentioned that Little Bit's birthday is coming up. Well, it's this weekend.

GASP!

She'll be TWO!

Anyway's, I didn't want anything big, but somehow I still managed to create a bunch of work for myself. In addition to the usual house-cleaning and other pre-party prep-work, I've added a few other things on my list of things to do.

Here's the rundown of our party preparations:

-Beach ball invitations- done

-Felt flag banner- mostly done...just have to cut slits to run a ribbon/cord through.

I decided to do the flag banner after seeing a post at Our Green Nest. I loved how festive and cheery all the colors are. And, since it's pretty generic, we can use it again for birthday celebrations down the road (assuming the felt holds up).

- Freezer paper stencil T-shirt with beach image.

You can read about freezer paper stenciling here.

- Sand Bucket cake.

I did a practice run of the cake and it was super-easy and quite tasty. I think I'm going to add a layer of bananas in with the pudding. Yummy!

- Beach ball ice cream scoops on a stick, from Martha Stewart.

OK. So not really beach balls, per se. But I think a ball of ice cream with colorful sprinkles (center) is close enough.

- Favors- plastic beach buckets filled with travel sunscreen, sunglasses, beach stickers, goldfish crackers, and SPF 30 lip balm.

- Sandbox- need to buy a bunch of play sand and fill plastic pool.

- Slip-n-slide- can easily be set up at the last minute.

Hmmmm. Anything else?

Oh, yeah.

- Take dog to groomer.

- Relax.

I really wanted this to be a small get together, but due to some family politics, I think there are going to be a few more people than I had planned.

As long as Little Bit enjoys herself it will be a good party. :)

The Writing's On The Ball: Beach Ball Invitations

Little Bit's second birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks and we've decided to do a beach-themed party for her. Really it's a ball theme using beach balls.

The girl has always loved balls and this was the best way I could think of to incorporate balls into an actual theme that wasn't all about sports. And actually, it wasn't even my idea. It was my friend, Christine's idea. One of these days she's going to get her blog going and I'm going to be able to link to her. But for now, she will just be my friend, Christine.

So, for this beach ball themed party, we decided to do beach ball invites. Again, not my idea. And shame on me, I don't remember the site where I saw it originally, so I won't be able to spread any link luv their way this time. My apologies.

I blew up the balls and used a Sharpie to write, "Come have a ball at Little Bit's Beach Party!" I also included other pertinent information such as where and when and how to RSVP on each of the balls' respective stripes. Then I deflated them and stuffed them in little manilla envelopes. I used 3 stamps and I'm still not sure if that will be enough to cover postage, but I figure even if the recipient ends up with a few cents postage due, at least they're getting a free ball out of it! :)

 

With her birthday approaching quickly, I will be sharing more of our ideas for her party in the coming weeks. I've also been working on redoing the nursery (if I can still call it that) and I hope to get some pictures up of that soon, too.

We're still in the planning phase of this thing, so by all means, if you have any ideas for the party, please feel free to share them with me!