Katelyn’s 4th Birthday Party Pictures
We celebrated Katelyn’s birthday here at home a little early this year since we’ll be in Texas next week for her actual birthday. I have to say that her party this past Saturday has been the best, most well planned, least-stressed-on-my-part party I’ve thrown at my house.*Pats self on back* I wasn’t running around like a chicken with my head cut off this time. I had signs posted around my house like ” Please don’t use basement bathroom” and a cooler labeled “Water”. Now, you may be wondering why this is even important. I’ll tell you why. Usually when I have parties like this at my house I get asked many times over “Which bathroom should I use? Upstairs or downstairs?” My basement is a huge mess right now and instead of stressing about getting it clean for the party I just decided I wouldn’t clean it therefore no one could use the bathroom down there. Plain and simple. Melissa logic. I put a “water” sign on my cooler in the mudroom so everyone would know where to look to get water. There would be no questions about where they should get water. Tap? Fridge? Aha…right here in this cooler.
This may not sound like a big deal but it lended to the smoother running of things. Mike ended up taking Katelyn to dance that morning while I finished up last minute details. It also helped that my inlaws watched the girls the Friday before while I cleaned and prepared my house.
Here is a run down of the party. You can check out the rest of the pictures on my “Pictures” page. Just go to my blog’s home page and you’ll see “Pictures” at the top. Click on the “Katelyn’s 4th Birthday” link.
The Cake
It was a Princess and Prince themed party. I ordered a princess cake and we had pizza,salad and punch. I allowed myself a tiny moment of guilt for not making Katelyn’s cake myself. And then I moved on. The store I ordered the cake from had just run out of Disney Princess figurines (naturally) so her cake had a crown and scepter on it.
The Birthday Girl
Katelyn was being difficult while I was trying to take these last two pictures. She didn’t want me to take anymore pictures of her at that point, hence the “party pooper” face. The little boy with her in the middle is Keith. He’s a friend from church.
The Party Activities
My mother in law’s kind neighbor was cleaning out her attic and found 13 plain wooden music boxes in plastic wrap that she had gotten for pennies a while back. She didn’t have any use for them so she gave them to me! They were perfect for painting and decorating. I cleared off our train table and set it up as a craft table (another self-congratulatory pat on the back!). I had paints, glitter and stickers for them to decorate with. They seemed to enjoy that. All in all we had nine children and various parents and family attend the party.
Madelyn’s box
It kind of blends in, but, inside the box there’s a wooden heart that pops up when you open the box and spins while the music is playing. Some of the kids painted the hearts or stuck stickers on it. I believe the tune that it plays is “Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies” from “The Nutcracker”.
Katelyn’s box
After painting and eating lunch we played two games. One was a game where I wrapped a Sweet Tarts box many times over and the kids had to pass the gift around while music was playing and whenever the music stopped the child who had the gift got to unwrap a layer. The child who ended up with the box at the last layer of wrapping paper got to keep the gift. The other game we played was “Slipper, Slipper Who’s God The Slipper”. One child sad in the middle of a circle and had to guess which friend had the princess slipper behind their backs.
The Gifts
Katelyn and her friend Lainey(Keith’s, the boy from above, sister)
The Party Favors
My friend, Trish (Lainey and Keith’s mom) is seen here modeling the princess crown and the silly glasses-nose-mustache mask the girls and boys got to wear at the party. Along with those and the music boxes the kids also took home goody bags I put together. The goody bags also had stuff that my mother in law’s neighbor gave me!
So, the party was a success! Now we’re headed to Texas next week to visit my family and while we’re there we’ll celebrate Katelyn’s birthday with my family as well. That girl is spoiled!
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the pictures in my “Pictures” section on my home page.
