Brooke’s 8th Birthday Bash (Part 1)

This poor kid…..she gets so little attention for her birthday.

Sure, she had a big birthday bash when she turned one, but compared to other kids, we’ve really slacked off!

For her 2nd birthday we took her to Silver Dollar pizza with just a few family and friends. No party.

For her 3rd birthday the rest of us had spent a week in Disneyland and we came home ON her birthday (she was staying with Grandma and Grandpa). We had chocolate cake and called it good. No party.

For her 4th birthday we didn’t plan anything (we had just gotten back from a cruise) so we just had a BBQ in our backyard, just the 5 of us, and I made her a chocolate cake. No party.

For her 5th birthday we had just gotten back from Disneyland again- this time she got to go with us! We told her that the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique event at Disneyland was part of her birthday. When we got back we had an impromptu dinner at Chuck E Cheese with just 2 of her friends.

For her 6th birthday I was feeling guilty that we have never really given her a proper party, so we went all out with a Pump It Up birthday party with lots of kids, and lots of fun.

For her 7th birthday I once again dropped the ball. We were so preoccupied with all the events of 2012 (Bob’s passing, a daycare incident, some home improvements, etc.) that we didn’t plan anything for her birthday. When she got home from school that day I asked her if she would like to grab 2 friends and go get a pedicure- so that’s what we did!

And here we are….her 8th birthday.

Remember Riley’s 8th birthday and all of her decorations? Here’s a refresher:

Um, I felt like I had a lot to live up to.

First of all, I haven’t gone all out like that since.

Secondly, this is Brooke’s 8th birthday and she’s really into what her other siblings did at certain ages, so I kind of felt the pressure.

But once again, I dropped the ball and hadn’t done any party planning.

I hate it when the kids bring home a party invitation for a party that’s just 2-3 days away. I don’t have time to go to the store in that amount of time. So I wanted to give people ample notice. Um, yeah, two weeks before her party we started talking plans. She decided she wanted to invite six friends to come over and play (and do make-up and watch movies and stuff- her words). Finally on a Thursday night I knew I had to get the invitations out, otherwise I’d be “one of those parents” that I despise. I quickly asked her what her theme would be- colors, characters, design, etc. and she responded with dark greenish blue and……

….gold.

Ohhhhhhkaaaaaayyyyyyyy. Not sure how I’m going to work THAT one out. But I whipped up a quick invitation on my Storybook Creator program and printed six copies out, glued them onto tan colored heavy cardstock paper and we called it good.

(image only, cardstock not shown)

She handed them out at school on Friday giving her guests 7 days notice. Not ideal, but better than 5, or 3 days notice.

Time goes by, rapidly for me, and it’s Thursday afternoon of the following week and I realize the party is in just 2 days, and tomorrow is Brooke’s birthday! Holy cow! I’d better start doing something!

I know she wants to decorate cupcakes for her birthday (as a party activity) and she wants to do makeup and nails, and watch movies or do art projects….so I didn’t really need to work on the party activities (except to make the cupcakes and frosting), but I was at a complete loss as to how I would decorate for the party.

Sure, I did the Pinterest thing, but I didn’t have time for the types of displays that were provided in my “girls party” search results. It was 6:30 at night when I decided I’d head out to gather ideas. I figured a quick run into the Dollar Tree and Michael’s and I’d have a solid start.

Dollar Tree: 3 helium balloons, 3 packs of turquoise fabric butterflies, 4 giant teal green flowers (actually they are hair clips!) and I figured I had a decent start on a theme. Oh, and I picked up a bunch of fake flowers (for a daycare activity) and grabbed two extra batches of white carnations thinking I could do something cute with that. I also grabbed chapsticks and gum, and suckers. And eyeshadow. And Minnie Mouse canvas coloring boards.

Michael’s: whaddya know….. I found the perfect dark teal green paper and “gold” colored papers that coordinate perfectly together! I even found teal and gold ribbon, and teal and gold cake/cookie sprinkles! All in the exact same shades! Yippee! OH, and zebra black and white striped cupcake liners. Just in case.

Target: ok, so I was next door to Target, I had to go in. I bought packs of tissue paper- dark teal green and gold! I’m gonna make some pompoms with them. I also grabbed some bracelet party gifts.

So now I have an idea….I’m going to do it like Riley’s party!

Friday morning. I have a sub coming at 8:30 and after she arrives I get out my Cricut cutting machine and set up a shop in my family room where I can work kid-free and uninterrupted. I start whipping up die cut circles in various sizes, and flowers, and start assembling these like mad.

I get the idea to make goodie bags using the old Creative Memories ‘boxes’ that I stocked up on as a consultant (for party giveaways). They need to have the logo covered, so I start sticking my creations onto those.

At this point the goodie bags have a pack of gum, a chapstick/lipgloss, a bracelet, a sucker and a pencil inside.

Satisfied, I decided to make the pompoms (OMG what a hassle those are- I had forgotten). I made three. Ugh.

I needed a break. It was lunchtime anyway. I ran to the new party store in Aloha (The Party Spot– I highly recommend them for your party needs) and bought a teal green tablecloth, a spool of teal green curling ribbon, two packages of streamers in yellow and turquoise (close enough), balloons to match, and they had a wedding decoration kit that consisted of garland and tissue paper globes and fans- in turquoise (close enough) so I bought that, too!

Then I stopped and got pizza for the daycare kiddos lunch. Then came home and assembled things like a madwoman.

I had the whole house decorated before Brooke got home from school- she was so surprised!

I was surprised, too!

I ran out of time to write “Happy Birthday Brooke” on the three coordinating frames:

But they were still cute.

The only thing lacking…..diamonds. Ok, not real diamonds, but little turquoise or gold gems that I could put in the center of each handcrafted decoration. The party store didn’t have them, but I know I saw them at Michaels the night before.

As luck would have it, the Michael’s store is on the way home from Brooke’s doctor office, so she and I stopped in there and I grabbed the diamonds, and we saw some cute necklaces and initial charms that we picked up for each of the girls as a party gift.