Everyday Balance :: Rainbow Birthday Party Edition

Yes, I know it’s Friday. And no, this is not a Fitness Friday post. Call it lack of enthusiasm or writer’s block or whatever…No matter what I considered writing, I just couldn’t muster up the creativity to craft a blog post about fitness.

But I do have these adorable pictures of my daughter’s 6th birthday party!!!

(This is where you are very polite and act like you care)

Back in the day, I threw some pretty incredible kid-birthday parties in my home.  The kind where you invite the kids AND their parents, and you cook amazing food and everyone stands around for hours and hours talking and eating, because everyone is having so much fun.

One year, I had an entire petting zoo AND pony rides in my front yard!!! (Picture Jon standing with his arms folded, intently watching baby goats devour his perfectly manicured lawn.)  The kids were all decked out in cowboy hats and bandannas, riding up and down our sub-division street on horseback. The neighbors all came out along the curb to watch.

Really, there’s nowhere to go from there party-wise, except down.

After that, I discovered that for the same money and half the headache and no clean-up, I could hold the party at some local kid-friendly place and serve store-bought sheet cake and disgusting pizza. The parents dropped off the kids.  The kids still had a great time. And it was done and over in two hours.

And that’s where we’ve been for the last seven years and twenty kid-birthdays.

Enter “Last Kid Syndrome”.

You know where you look at your youngest child and go, “This is the last time I will ever (fill in the blank.)”  And then you cry because your kids are growing up and you really would love to have ten more babies but you’re 44 years old and don’t want to be giving birth in a nursing home.

I’m there.

This is the LAST TIME I will ever have a 6-year-old, which–in case you didn’t know–is the absolute height of loving all-things-birthday-party. And so, despite the fact that Elliana asked for a Chuck-E-Cheese party, I went all out and threw one in our home.

And it was so fun and so worth every minute of planning and prep.

Um, yeah…this was way back in November. before Thanksgiving. But I was so happy with how this party turned out, I just wanted to share it with you–three months later.

 Party Theme: Rainbows and Art:  These are Elliana’s favorite things, which also fall in the “gender-neutral” category.  Her life is rainbows and crayons, and occasionally markers.

The decorations:

The entryway to the kitchen.  Those are plastic table cloths! We practically had to bolt them to the ceiling because they were so heavy.  But I loved the way it looked when it was finally up.

Plates, napkins and utensils, all in the colors of the rainbow.  (In the background, you see a crock-pot filled with homemade macaroni and cheese–Elliana’s favorite food. I also made a whole platter of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, her other favorite food.)

 

Rainbow colored gift bags filled with art supplies…

 

Rainbow-colored balloons and streamers up the staircase.

The Food:

These are regular water bottles, re-labeled with decorative duct tape.  Yes, I actually ripped the real labels off each and every one.  I had a family assembly line going, which cut the taping-time in half.

Homemade cupcakes with cream cheese frosting made to look like a little artists’ palettes with a paintbrush (pretzel) stuck in it.

Paintbrush rice crispy treats!

This was my favorite part:  Rainbow-colored fruits and veggies!  Yes, I’m a total health-nut nerd.  I may have more pictures of this than I do the children.

 

The Birthday Girl, waiting for the first guest to arrive. (If you ever tell yourself “it doesn’t matter if I’m late to a kid party,” remember this picture)

The Activities:  The guests working on a little arts and crafts project.

Blowing out all 6 candles.

 

Elliana stopped to pose with every one of her guests after she opened her gifts.  This is sweet Macy.

 

November in Kentucky is unpredictable, so we didn’t want to count on access to the outdoors.  Turned out to be a beautiful day, so we made a little fire for the parents and let the kiddos run wild.  I’m sure my neighbors loved me for that.

 

The Young and Pretty Mom Club.  I’ve submitted my application for membership, but they are still “considering” it.

 

Relay Races!!!!  This was so hilarious, watching them trying to carry a grape in a spoon in their mouths.  And then run with a balloon between their legs.  They were so confused.

 

No one wanted to leave…which was nice.  Because this is the last time I will ever have a 6-year-old birthday party.