Then on Saturday, we had her birthday party for her friends. She wanted a "fairy" party, which presented a small challenge since she also wanted to invite a couple of boys. I decided that wings were out, but otherwise I didn't quite know how to approach the party without demasculinating our male guests. So, I found these "fairy shoes" which I decided were just slightly less effeminate than wings, and then I picked a few less girly colors. Then I made flower wreaths for the girls to wear, but that was definitely not going to fly for the boys. So I made them these green felt hats with a kind of "woodland" feel. I even thought of giving them red cone hats and beards and having them be garden gnomes! Just kidding. Anyway, you can call them what you will; they were basically boy fairies. In a good way. Hopefully their dads don't come after me. But the main thing is, four-year-olds just don't really care. I know better than to try this with six-year-olds.
See? It works, right? Look how manly he looks! (If his parents are reading... please don't hate me. You know I love you. And he really does look cute!)
For games, we had a relay race where the kids had to carry each "fairy dandelion puff" (use your imagination) to a bowl across the living room. Hey, it's harder than it sounds. The first team to empty their bowl won! It took them a while to figure out what we were doing and why, but they were all pretty good at it! This was also a pretty hard one for me to catch on camera. Then we had a little round of "Flower, Flower, Mushroom" (no ducks or geese at this fairy party).
Kate blew out her candles on a tower of cupcakes. My favorite part was when we stood her up there and she looked down at the cupcakes and shouted in epiphany, "Hey, they're FLOWERS!" We all know my icing-piping skills are a little sub-par, but she watched me decorate all of those cupcakes... I wonder what she thought I was drawing? Um, just don't look at those cupcakes too closely.
We also painted flower pots and planted seeds in them. Apparently I didn't take any pictures of this. It was a pretty adventurous feat to undertake with a crowd of three- and four-year-olds!
Finally it was time for the big finale... THE PINATA!
Travis asked to be in charge of the pinata once I told him I wanted one, and honestly I was a little intimidated by the prospect of making one. Luckily Kate's friend Tess had a pinata at her party the previous week (actually, I wasn't there but it sounds like Kate's party was pretty much the same as Tess's. These little friends were probably like, "Didn't we just do this...?" Becky & I just have all the same fabulous ideas!) so Tess's dad was kind enough to give Travis all his tips and tricks for pinata-building. He started on it the night before the party and we stayed up late working with the tissue paper and glue. Then of course we turned it over to the kiddos to destroy our hard work. I was pretty proud of how it turned out! Can you recognize what it is? Think Nintendo.
Most importantly, Kate had a good time. She is just growing up so fast and has such a little personality of her own. I think if I had to sum up her personality in a word, it would be passionate. {This is not the same as dramatic, although they are close relatives.} Everything is just so important to her and she really throws herself wholeheartedly into everything she does. She loves her "big sister" role and really plays that one to the fullest. I can just see her being a teacher someday because she loves to model and direct everything and everyone around her. Good thing Brooklyn is such a willing little student! We have loved watching her over the last four years as she has blossomed into such a precocious little lady. Happy birthday, sweet Kate!
Travis asked to be in charge of the pinata once I told him I wanted one, and honestly I was a little intimidated by the prospect of making one. Luckily Kate's friend Tess had a pinata at her party the previous week (actually, I wasn't there but it sounds like Kate's party was pretty much the same as Tess's. These little friends were probably like, "Didn't we just do this...?" Becky & I just have all the same fabulous ideas!) so Tess's dad was kind enough to give Travis all his tips and tricks for pinata-building. He started on it the night before the party and we stayed up late working with the tissue paper and glue. Then of course we turned it over to the kiddos to destroy our hard work. I was pretty proud of how it turned out! Can you recognize what it is? Think Nintendo.
Most importantly, Kate had a good time. She is just growing up so fast and has such a little personality of her own. I think if I had to sum up her personality in a word, it would be passionate. {This is not the same as dramatic, although they are close relatives.} Everything is just so important to her and she really throws herself wholeheartedly into everything she does. She loves her "big sister" role and really plays that one to the fullest. I can just see her being a teacher someday because she loves to model and direct everything and everyone around her. Good thing Brooklyn is such a willing little student! We have loved watching her over the last four years as she has blossomed into such a precocious little lady. Happy birthday, sweet Kate!
1 sweet nothings:
Sounds like fun! I'm glad Cami is still too young to care because we didn't do anything exciting for her birthday. I'm not sure what I'll do if my kids ever ask for a pinata. The last time I did one of those I ended up hitting a guy in the face. Literally. Smack in the forehead. Bit of a story to that, but it was funny.
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