Five Year Old Birthday Party!

Ok ... let's be totally honest here ... I have stunk at this whole craft blog thing ... not because my crafts stink ... I know I can rock a glue gun ... ha ... but because when I am doing a craft I get so wrapped up in it that I totally forget to take pictures!

Before you get too excited ... I didn't take pictures while doing these crafts either ... whoops ... but seriously I think that I killed it on the party planning front when it came to Es fifth birthday party! Every decoration was handmade by me ... and if you really want a tutorial I will completely go back and do a tutorial for everything ... Seriously ... I have no problem with that ... just comment with the one you want to see and I will do it for you!

Anyway, as most of you know our dear precious E turned five on Sunday. Since we believe in only doing things that help us think about the Lord on Sunday we had a party for her on Saturday afternoon! Before the whole money sitch happened we and E talked about her party like it was 1999. We couldn't just back out on that now could we? And so invitations went out to all aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, classmates, and schoolmates E has ... enter household of people!

For the kiddos I planned bracelet making, balloon animals (thank you so much grandpa Kirk!), pin the crown on the princess, and some other party games ... when the kiddos got here all they wanted to do was play in Es room ... well ... when grandpa pulled out those balloons they were pretty entranced ... but aside from that tearing the kiddos away from their imagination proved darn near impossible ... I think that is what made this party so easy ... the kids entertained themselves! A few made bracelets ... everyone played pin the crown on the princess ... and they went crazy for the balloons ... other than that there was little interest in anything else! They didn't even feast on the popcorn bar! Hello ... four different kinds of popcorn ... candies to put into them ... and all you want to do use your imagination ... alright then! Just kidding ... if any of you know me and my parenting style I am one of the biggest advocates for using the imagination ... hence why E doesn't watch more than one movie a day ... if she even watches one. I guess all I have to say about it was that the party really was so ridiculously fun! Thank you to all of the friends and family who came and celebrated in our little Es big day ... we love you all ... her birthday would not have been the same without you!

And so ... without further ado ... here are pictures (I am sorry that they are fuzzy ... but you get the idea right)!

The main party room (or so I had hoped), game table on the right, what would become the gift table on the left , and food table in the middle. Tissue paper puffs, hanging balloons, plastic tablecloths ... these are the things that really made this room what it was.

I thought by posting this picture you could get a better view of the food table and how I decorated it ...  Es princess bed mesh hangy thing with tissue paper puff balls hanging in the middle of it. 

Since the party was between lunch and diner we decided to do a popcorn bar ... which also became the take home bag (popcorn ... I didn't get a picture of the gift bags ... but they were just brown paper bags with a flower I made that said thank you on it.) ... types of popcorn movie theater style, kettlecorn, carmel (which I have never made before but it was totally delicious! thanks pinterest) and snickerdoodle (recipe here). Cake will be explained later ... we had ice water for the drink ... I don't think these kids needed any more sugar ... the water happened to be the fastest thing that went!

Last thing I made ... used scrap paper from when I threw my friend a bridal shower ... ended up looking quite good ... it hung over the door that hide our washer and dryer (which just happens to be in the kitchen)! Every birthday party needs a banner ... since I used triangles with the next one you will see ... and since polka dots was an underlying theme ... it only made sense to make this banner round.d

What is a party without a flag banner? Not as good that's what! This one is made of three different colors of canvas glued onto twine ... the canvas was left over from a wreath I made from my sister in law ... I wanted it to be durable because the colors E wanted work perfectly for every valentines day to come ... free valentines decorations anyone? yay! two birds with one stone!

I was super excited that hanging balloons were big this year ... they are so cheap and they are so good at filling a space, pulling a room together, and making it look complete. As you saw I not only did them in the front room but over top of the game and gift tables as well.

E punched out all of these dots ... I thought they would be a cute transition from  the  front room to the back ... only one got knocked down the whole party! These dots are made of those paint sampling cards ... ergo free ... nice right!

Just a random picture to show room transition.

what the kids were doing practically the whole time.

What the adults were doing ... I should have got a picture of the kitchen where the rest of the adults were hiding!

Balloon animals! HUGE success!

Like I said ... HUGE success!

Pin the crown on the princess ... I drew this at maybe midnight the night before ... hence the not so great job ... but it totally worked!

All the party animals!

Singing happy birthday! (cake explained next)

E wanted a unicorn cake ... unfortunately I do not possess that type of skill ... no matter how hard I tried to harness baking over the years ... and so I found this cake on pinterest ... everyone loved it! I loved it too ... but I mean ... it was lopsided ... and I am a perfectionist ... it was on a cookie tray because I don't have a cake stand ... and I am a perfectionist ... the purple care crumbled on the bottom ... and I am a perfectionist. So, in my opinion it could have been better ... but it looked cool ... and I'm over it!

Special thanks go to my father in law who used all of his lung capacity to make more than one balloon animal for each kid; also to my sister who took E earlier in the day shopping which made it easier to finish up the decorations; finally to my dear friend Amanda who I could just look at without saying anything and she automatically knew what she could do to help and jumped up and did it! You are all simply amazing!

I hope you liked seeing this stuff ... remember ... if you want a tutorial let me know!

have a great night my friends ... I love you all!