Planning E's Fifth Birthday

So, Eowyn and I have agreed on having a water themed party.  She, as usual, wants something princess related, but I think I finally have her sold on the idea of something more water-based (purchasing a kiddie pop-up pool for her might have been an evil way of me persuading her...).  In doing some searching online, I have found some really cute games that the kids can play:



Game One:  Water Brigade

In this game there are two teams of kids.  They have to get the water from one bucket by using different items (sponge, spoon, measuring cup, etc.) to a bucket on the other side of the yard.  I am thinking of adding a little rubber ducky or something similar that floats so that the kids can see their progress as they run back and forth.  This seems like an easy game for kids of all ages to play =)

 
Game Two:  Cold Feet!

We will put a bunch of ice cubes in a smaller wading pool for the kids to retrieve and fill a bucket.  The trick is... they have to get the ice out of the pool and into the bucket using their itty bitty footsies ;)  I'm thinking it will be a good idea to put some of E's smaller chairs around the pool so the kids can sit down to do this ;)



Game Three:  Musical Sprinkler

This is just a variation of musical chairs.  Well... without chairs... and WITH water.  I guess this is more like freeze-frame, actually.  The kids dance and run around while the music is playing and the sprinkler is off.  When the music stops and the sprinkler turns on, the kids have to strike a pose and hold it until the music stops again.  Anyone who doesn't stop when the music stops/water turns on is out.
 
Game Four:  Water-balloon Volley


I'm still contemplating which way to go with this game.  One way is to just have the kids break up into pairs and toss the water-balloon to each other (taking a step back with each completed pass).  The other option is to use a towel in which a pair of children will hold the ends of the towel to use to catch and toss their water-balloon to another pair of children.   


Game Five:  Sponge Toss


This is another game that I am not sure exactly how we will play it...


Variation 1:  This game will be played with a small wading pool that has some Frisbees floating on top of the water.  The kids have to toss their sponges and try to get them to land on a Frisbee to earn points.

Variation 2:  Children are paired up and are facing each other (with a decent amount of distance between them).  Each child has a sponge and a bucket of water in front of them.  The object is to toss the sponge and get it in the opposite child's bucket.  I think I like this one more because there is more opportunity for the thrown sponge to soak the child on the receiving end ;)


Game Six:  Fishing

Wendy and I saw a cute little duck fishing game at iParty the other day.  It's basically just a small wading pool with some ducks that have loops on their heads.  It comes with a fishing pole that has a plastic hook that is used to "catch" the ducks.  

Throughout the party kids will have the option to play in the sprinkler and little wading pools.  I'm still trying to come up with some party favor and prize ideas that aren't too hokey (or expensive).  I've tossed around the idea of getting little sand buckets with some beach type prizes (and maybe some travel-sized sunscreen)...  I'm also trying to figure out invitations and decorations.  So far the game ideas seem relatively inexpensive, so I may be able to splurge a little more on prizes.  


Oh... and a cake... What kind of cake....  


It's okay... I'm just getting started ;)

E's Fourth Birthday

Eowyn's fourth birthday was, by far, the most elaborate party to date.  Since she and her friends were able to be more interactive we had more fun things we could do =)  

The theme this year was "Lady Bug Picnic."  I made up some invitations using a scene from the Lady Bug Picnic from Seasame Street (where the ladybugs are sitting around the picnic blanket with a big 4 on it).  We picked up a bunch of butterfly and bee wings at the dollar store for any guests who were without "bug" attire.  I also found some cute little plastic bug boxes online and used those as goody bags.  We filled them with little ladybug rings, temporary bug tattoos, a magnifying glass, some fake bugs, and bubbles.   

One of the games we played was the famous sack race.  This was a must to go with our Lady Bug Picnic ("They had 12 sacks, so they ran sack races... and they fell on their backs and they fell on their faces").

 

Even some adults joined in... though the pillowcases I picked up at Marden's were a bit small for the older guests ;)

 

Pinata!!!

 

We also had a castle for the guests to color.  This was supposed to be for last year's party, but it was hidden in a closet and forgotten about.  It was a hit anyways ;)

 

We had a tic-tac-toe game to play as well.  This worked well for the smaller guests ;)

  

These are my sad attempts at "bug" cupcakes.  I foolishly purchased some new dark tins and I didn't get the timing down for the cupcakes... so they look goofy... 

 

Cakie time!  I had a tin to make a football or Easter egg cake, so using each section separately worked well for two ladybugs ;)

 

 Eowyn got a ladybug pop-up tent that all the kids had fun playing in =)

 And the bubbles were a hit as well ;)

E's Third Birthday

Eowyn's third birthday party was a princess theme.  No, we didn't go the traditional Disney Princess theme, we invited guests and asked them to dress up as princesses, princes, wizards, or other fairytale creatures =)  

We had a basket of dress up jewelry for our princesses to pick from to get dressed up...

We played pin-the-candle-on-the-cake...

The girls fought a ferocious dragon pinata...

And I decided to go with a more simple approach with the cake.  My mom added the flowers as I was stressing about other things when she arrived =)

Snackies!!

 My favorite part of getting ready for this party was making the Rice Crispy Wands ;)

Make Rice Crispies like you normally would, then after they have cooled, use a star cookie cutter to cut the crispies into star shapes (I suggest greasing the cookie cutter to prevent breaking/sticking)...

Sprinkle with sparkly sprinkles (they stick very nicely to the marshmallow in the crispies)

Then insert a wooden dowel, popsicle stick, or some other stick type thing for the handle.  I then used a snack bag to cover and tied with a ribbon.  

E's Second Birthday

Eowyn's second birthday was celebrated at my mom's house in Carmel.  They were still in the process of building, so we got to benefit from the open basement in the hot and muggy August weather.  

This birthday had a bubble theme.  We played with bubbles and hula hoops (we just LOVE hula hoops).  I added some color to some of the bubble solutions and the kids blew bubbles on white paper and made some pretty neat pictures with the different colored bubbles as they popped on the paper.  

 E also got a ball pit for a present that we promptly filled with blow-up balls for the kids to play in =)

 

My attempt at E's second birthday cake came out less cool than I had hoped.  It's supposed to look like bubbles on the cake, but you kind of have to be told what it is... =(

 

E's First Birthday

Eowyn's first birthday party was a luau theme.  We had a hula hoop contest and a game where one person was blindfolded/had their eyes closed and their partner gave them directions to find all of the items to put on for their luau outfit.

 

We also had a bubble machine... because, well... bubbles are awesome =) 

Eowyn loving the bubble machine ;)

We also had quite a few snacks for everyone to eat.  I particularly love little umbrellas and other fun things to add some flare to the table ;)

This was my first cake that I made for Eowyn.  I crushed up graham crackers for the "sand" and figured out how to make pretty little frosting flowers =)

Birthday Parties

So, each year I stress over Eowyn's birthday party and always make a super big deal out of it.  This year I have decided to figure out a way to not make the event so stressful.  My first big milestone is that I have not already completed the planning (normally I have an outline and the majority of the decorations and goodies for goody bags ordered by now).  Ordinarily, doing such things in advance is a great thing, but for me I end up getting way too much stuff and that just adds to my stress. 


At this point, I am going to blog about E's past birthdays.  They aren't anything spectacular, but putting the information in one place seems like a good idea for me to work off of past ideas =)

Vacation (part 4- May 6, 2011)

Our last fun day of our vacation was spent at Sea World.  Eowyn had such a great time (as she did the whole trip), but I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the atmosphere there.  Yes, the employees were nice, but the overall feel of Sea World is quite different when compared to Disney.  Still, we had an awesome time and Eowyn got to see lots of things that she would never be able to see in Maine =)

My little map reader ;)

 One Ocean Show

 This little aquarium was in one of the gift shops =)

 Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island (show)

 Baby dolphin area ;)

 This one was playing with a flower that fell in the pool.  She would toss it up and then retrieve it...and then toss it again =)  Super cute!