Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Emma's birthday on the 22nd as you know, then had her party with her friends on the 24th.
I've been planning for months for this birthday, initially I wanted to plan a Candyland or Candy Shop party (imagine glass canisters of candy canes, gum balls, popcorn, a candy floss machines, lots of balloons and colors).  I tried to get Emma on board with this idea, but she told me no, she wanted a Mermaid and Pirate Party.  I  guess it was the better decision, because I could just imagine all of the moms raising their eyebrows at me on feeding their 4 year old's with so much candy!  Probably a better idea for a 14th birthday...although one mom did say as long as it involves a sleep over at our house!

Anyways, months of planning, browsing the internet and getting idea after idea...it gets a little crazy!
I may have gone a little over board this year (it could have been worse), but it was so much fun, each year gets more and more fun as the kids appreciate the parties more.
We wanted to get an outside venue but couldn't find anything suitable for a mermaid party.  And as much as it is easier to have a party at a venue I really like the idea of birthday parties at home.

I also wasn't sure how parents felt about having a pool party with kids that can't all swim, and if parents would really want to jump in the pool too, instead we found this great inflatable pool with mini slide and thought it would be a great fit for the party, we test drove it with our neighbor friends and it was a hit with the girls....so activity, décor, favors, cake ideas all settled, just the weather to worry about...  Boy did I pray for good weather, to a point that I actually felt bad I was praying so hard for good weather.  Looking at the weather a week before predicted rain the entire week and sunny on Saturday and as each day passed it didn't rain, and the chance of rain slowly increased for Saturday.  I thought typical!!  And planned for the party to happen in our house, keeping kids busy with pass the parcel and have them laps in the house, all 15 of them!!!!!

The end result... we had the most perfect weather we could have asked for.  Hot but not too hot, no humidity and no rain, just beautiful!  We battled few flies at lunch time, but that was minor.
It seemed everyone had a great time and most of all Emma had a good time too!

She woke up disappointed on Thursday when she thought all her friends were coming to her party that day...but Saturday she jumped out of bed, all excited to see the decorations and birthday cake!
Even though happy with everything she saw, she was quick to point out where I failed with planning...like not sticking or hanging up anything "pirate", her comment was, "oh no mom, the pirates weren't invited!"  She looked at the banner and said, you should have put mermaid, pirate, mermaid, pirate! I only put mermaids....

So for the party I had invitations made which were super cute, I had Emma choose the wording, I tried to involve her as much as I could with the planning....

I didn't know how far to take it with the mermaid and pirate theme, came up with a crazy idea to make mermaid skirts for the girls and pirate hats and eye patches for the boys, then I thought the girls might want to dress up as pirates too, and when my sewing machine didn't want to sew the material I bought to make a mermaid skirt, I took that as a sign not to go that route.

Instead we just hoped the inflatable would keep the kids entertained enough for the party.  I had a sand craft for the kids to do, filling up bottles with colored sand to make different layers.  This turned out much better than expected.  Again my initial thought was to have a sandpit and have the kids dig for treasure but Emma being who she (instead of digging will just poke the sand with her index finger, and not step foot in the sand without her shoes) probably would not take part in this activity. She really enjoyed the sand art activity..... we bought some pirate swords to give to the kids when they left, made some starfish shaped cookies, hung fish made out of lanterns and some pom poms to make up an under the water type feel, a home made birthday banner, crab croissant sandwiches and the most exciting, the mermaid birthday cake.

 

After the princess cake last year I decided to go a little more simple....fondant is fun, but hard to work with esp when there is not a whole lot of time or you want to go to bed at a decent time and have 2 girls to look after during the day.  I also want my cake to be as fresh as possible, so will only bake it the day before the party, not 2 days, if I did 2 days I'd prob manage covering the entire cake with fondant.  The regular butter icing actually worked out best giving the cake that water/wavy look.....
Initially I was trying to figure out the best way to make a mermaid topper out of fondant then one day browsing the toys at Target I found Ariel with a mermaid tail - PERFECT!  I was so excited when I found it, the perfect color and everything... it was as though I was a kid all over again finally getting the toy I always wanted.
So a small 2 layer 6 inch cake and a few cupcakes decorated with mermaid tails made for a very pretty birthday cake, I was quite pleased with the result.

 

Our crab sandwiches were a bit of a last minute idea, last minute being a week before.  I was looking online for cake décor ideas and Rod saw these crabs and said he wants to make them, I rolled my eyes thinking he's adding another to do to our list...but in the end it was a good idea, as it had everything on it, meat, veg, fruit, so a mini meal in one type thing.  The prep for these was biggest task.  Morning of the party we're assembling these sandwiches and we run out of toothpicks.  I tell Rod he can go out and buy some, aswell as some ice and I'll take over the crabs.  He failed to mentioned that he had 6 more crabs to put meat in, so we ended up serving 6 croissants without chicken which we only discovered after the party when Rod grabbed one to eat and there was nothing inside.
Poor person/s that didn't get any meat.  Hopefully they stuck a meatball in it or were vegetarian!

So spoilt with friendship and gifts, it sure was a fun day!

The decorations still remain hung until Emma allows us to take it down,  the pool is folded away for next summer or another outdoor party (maybe we can celebrate Addi's birthday 2 months before her actual birthday) and we still have cake leftover.  Such fun memories....I love birthdays and I can't wait to plan the next one....

Here are more pics from the party.....



Happy 4th Birthday Emma!

Emma, we can't believe you're turning 4 already!  Time sure has flown, but the last 4 years have been filled with so much silliness, laughs and wonderful memories!

So much happens and I try journal it all and capture it all, but between you and your sister I can't keep up!

Thank You for being our joy and light, we love you Baby Polar Bear!

Happy Happy Birthday!!  We cannot wait to celebrate this special day with you!

!