We would have loved to have our cousins on the guest list!
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Celebrating Maria turning FIVE with a Tea party!
In spite of the many little-girl birthdays we've enjoyed in our home over the years, none of my girls has ever requested a princess castle cake, or a tea party-themed birthday party. With my little girls only getting older and older, it was my idea to do both for Maria this year. I laughed when I overheard Maria telling her friend that she was letting her mom make her a princess castle cake this year because her mom really wanted it. But even though I might have had the original idea, Maria loved both the cake and the party. It was exciting to watch her soak up the birthday fun all day long. She got to be a "special star" at preschool, and shared a birthday snack, too. She came home with a birthday crown and a big smile. She really felt special!
Her new skateboard and outfit.
With the extra fabric I had at home I made the decorations and placemats. Fun that we can reuse these decorations, too!
I don't know which was my favorite thing for the party: the real china tea cups that we found at a local thrift shop (the sets above were my favorites), or adding a fancy touch by decorating the platters and plates with doilies.
Above is Maria with her party guests and servers (Sarah, Claire and friend Taylor) - they were all so cute to watch. Everyone involved had such a fun time putting on and enjoying the fancy party. The girls ate chocolate-dipped strawberries, mini muffins, mini sandwiches, tiny pizza's and fruit, and had a special "fancy drink" in their individual tea cups that each of the girls took home as a party favor.
We also made shrinky-dink jewelry, played games like "don't eat treats" and guess the cookies blindfolded. I was surprised at the enthusiasm of the girls as they watched the shrinky-dinks shrink and then turned them into jewelry. They turned out quite cute.
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For Anna's 11th birthday, we celebrated with a Tiny Treats party.
We created a cake to illustrate Anna's love for the beach.
Inside, the cake was checkerboard.
Anna was excited for her new Penny board.
For Anna's party, I made them each their own apron to go with the tiny treats/baking theme- there were 10 girls total. We made individual "tiny" pizzas, and tiny treats: a "tiny" cake made from two stacked oreos, that the girls then frosted with piped icing and sprinkles. And they made "tiny" bunny slippers out of marshmallows, frosting and sprinkles.
We also played several games, including the balloon relay, guess the number of M&M's in the jar, and some baking-themed games. To hear the girls' comments about the fun they were having was priceless. These girls were in heaven!
One of our favorite things for her her party was the drink. We filled the glasses with ice, berry hawaiian punch and sprite. Gave them a long straw with a facy lemon wedge and drink umbrellas. The girls loved the fancy drinks!
We love Maria and Anna and sure loved celebrating them!
