Priya's 13th Birthday

My very sweet neighbor Priya wanted her 13th birthday party to be crafty.  One problem:  Priya's mother avoids shopping and crafting at all costs.  One trip to Michaels was enough -- they were in need of a professional.  Perfect!  Planning and teaching crafts to 13yos is my kind of thing.  Priya and I had a planning meeting and then went on a little shopping trip to Joann to choose supplies.

The crafts . . .

. . . decorating locker frames . . . plastic frames + puffy paint + paint pens

. . . covering corkboards . . . corkboard + fabric + ribbon + buttons and flowers and beads + hot glue

. . . decorating tin buckets with springs and feet . . . bucket + paint + hot glue + feathers and pipe cleaners and flowers and puff balls and beads

. . . and later decorating composition books (didn't get any photos of those).

The girls were all so busy creating they extended the party into the night.  They had a great time and made some great crafts.  Happy Birthday Priya!  I loved helping with your party.

Ethan's Mario Party

Check out this snazzy mustachioed bunch.

Nine kids in hats and mustaches -- it was too cute.  Thanks to my friend Jamey and National Karate I had the perfect place for Super Mario Bros. inspired games.  And just to be clear, its "bros", not "brothers" according to my boys.  I had a great time making things for this party:  Mario and Luigi hats for the guests, a Bowser costume for Pete (complete with spiked turtle shell and a hat with horns and a red mohawk), and a colorful pennant garland.  We had our very own Princess Peach, who came with her own costume from a dance recital, and a Koopa Troopa that was perfect in a TMNT shell from a Halloween clearance a few years ago.

Games included two obstacle courses where the kids could earn gold coins and stars.  The coins were hidden in balloons, around the room, and given out randomly by the cast of characters.  I had no idea 1st graders would have such excellent hula-hooping skills!  Toward the end of the party we totalled up the coins and stars and the one with the most got to choose from the prize bin first.

The cupcakes looked like spotted mushrooms.  I don't think any of the hungry, sweaty kids looked at them long enough to notice.

Thanks much to all of my helpers:  Chrissy, Lauren, Nate, Christina, Pete, Luke.  We all had a wonderful time!

Joyful Pink Ballerinas

Emma's 5th Birthday was perfect!

The girls were in awe of the very lovely Lauren.

We kicked off the party by decorating tutus with flowers, feathers, and heart stickers. 

Lauren taught the girls some important ballerina moves and danced with them to a fabulous selection of Disney princess songs, Hannah Montana, HSM, and some Jason Mraz.  The looks of adoration and concentration were so precious!  The girls tried so hard to be just like Lauren.

 

After all that hard work the girls needed some cupcakes and ice cream and a little creating.  We colored angel ornaments and created snow-ballerinas.  And then some more dancing!

I hear that all of the little ballerinas slept very well that night.  Thank you Lauren for doing such a great job teaching ballet.  You are one of my very favorite people!

Happy 5th Birthday Emma!

Pete's Backyard Football Party

Pete celebrated his 8th birthday with a football party in the backyard.  He decided to mix it up a bit after two years of very fun baseball parties.  To prepare for the party, Pete, Dad, and Grandpa Roger built a 10 foot tall goal post out of PVC pipe.  We used it for a punting contest and quarterback contest.  Luke pointed out that a goal post is not actually used for punting or throwing (details!), but it made a great target!  The competition was very impressive.  I think Wayzata is going to have a fantastic football team in 2018!

The best thing about having a July birthday is that you can have a water balloon fight.
It always ends with kids vs. Dad

Lauren's Go Green Birthday

My wonderful friend Lauren was turning 11 and honored me with the job of planning her birthday party. For the invitation I used wordle.net. Check it out -- fun to play with.Lauren is a budding enviromentalist and chose "go green" as her theme. I found some very cute green (the color) decorations. Dinner was a pasta bar where the girls got to choose their pasta toppings.For dessert we had a strawberry cake and homemade ice cream (ice cream flavors added by Lauren).

We did several green (as in re-use) crafts. As the girls arrived we created button flowers with old buttons, floral wire, and floral tape.

Next was designing a "sculpture". We used empty plastic containers which once held rice and salsa, all the junk from the bottom of the toybox, and a glue gun. The girls were very creative. After dinner we made a tote bag out of an old t-shirt. After sewing the bag the girls used fabric paints to further decorate their bags.Party favors for the girls included pots that Lauren and I filled flowering plants, button flowers in their plants, t-shirt bags, and sculptures.

I had a wonderful time with my favorite 11-year-old and her lovely friends.