Celebrate, Celebrate!

Claire's birthday party was this past Saturday. She was looking so forward to it. Everywhere we went, she would tell strangers she was having a party. It was the sweetest thing. At Christmas, she started calling presents "parties," so I'm not sure that she understood she was going to have a house full of 30 people! She's a little shy in crowds, and she was this day, but I think she had a blast nonetheless!



I'm not really a themed birthday type gal until the kid demands it. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, she said a "green" party. So, instead of going the environmentally friendly route, I just looked for a green invitation. Since the invitation had a flower on it, I just kind of went with that.


The blog world is such a great thing for birthday parties. You can get so many ideas from seeing what other people do. I saw this banner idea here. Although she was using the banner for something different, I thought the idea was cute. I actually took down the panels that are usually on these rods because they're red and I thought they'd clash with the pastel paper :).




A little closer look...



I saw these paper pom poms here and fell in love with them. I ended up making 7 of them and hung them from the crown moulding on the wall that holds the columns that separates our "areas." I could've left them hanging ALOT longer, but I had a showing on Wednesday, and didn't know if they'd get it.

Because I wanted something cheap, but similar in style for the tables, I made these. I found the tutorial here. I wasn't really happy with the way only 1 of these looked, so these are actually 6 of them taped together with floral tape.


It's hard to believe my baby girl looked this way 2 years ago.


Here she is as guests are arriving, etc. She stuck pretty close to someone throughout the entire party. I am in love with her pants. I ordered them here, and she did a great job & was super quick!! I actually ordered the coordinating fabric (Amy Butler) elsewhere & had my friend Kristen applique it for me. I plan to get a warm weather top done too so she can wear these in the spring / summer.

Claire warmed up and started checking everything out.



She chose to open presents prior to having cake & dove right in. She was all into the "parties!"

This was a little toy bin that she got, but all the little girls thought it was fun to sit in.



Finally, it was cake time. I chose to get petit fours this year, and they were SOOO good! I forgot to take a picture of all of them, but you get the jist....white cake / white icing = yummy!

She blew the candles out before we even got "Happy Birthday" out of our mouths. After the candles were relit, she attempted a few weak puffs & then decided to grab the flame with her hands. Thankfully, she didn't get burnt at all.


As the party was wrapping up, several kiddos played a game of Go Fishin'. Claire LOVES this game, even though it's Grant's from Christmas.



I think edible favors are the best kind, so instead of sugar cookie overkill, I tried something new this year. Inspired by bakerella and Mckmama, I made cake pops. They were pretty yummy if I do say so myself!

After the party, Claire insisted on trying on a new outfit, that she then wore to church the following day. This picture is super blurry, but it perfectly portrays how she felt about the party being over! When I asked her if she had a fun party, she said, "Yeah, I have another one."


I totally forgot to get a family picture at her party, so later in the night, we attempted a mom & kids.


It was a fun time for all of us, and I hope that our friends enjoyed it too!!