Sydney's 8th Birthday Party

Today is my baby girl's 8th birthday. I can't believe how fast time has flown by! Seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little 6-lb-baby with unruly hair and the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen! Well, her eyes are still huge, but her hair has calmed down quite a bit ;) This past weekend we celebrated with family and friends with the most colorful of parties I could dream up in this crazy head of mine.  Here are some highlights... (for info on the dress and the invitations, see my previous post)

The refreshments table:

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Let's take a closer look at everything on here. I made every single thing except for the cake (you'll see why in a bit). These are rainbow fruit skewers:

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Button (butter) cookies:

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Nutella-filled croissants (like this):

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Cheddar cheese-filled croissants:

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Coconut crémes (I used this recipe but replaced peppermint extract for coconut extract and added about 1/4 cup of coconut flakes) YUM:

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Fresh-squeezed lemonade and strawberry juice:

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And then there was the cake, oh the cake! Like I said, this was the only thing I didn't make myself. I had a local cake maker do this based on this recipe. I just  wasn't ambitions enough to tackle it on my own, but you'll see in a bit why I wish I had. ;)

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As far as activities go, I set up two stations for the girls. One was a coloring station. I designed my own Lalaloopsy coloring book, using downloadable pages from their Facebook page:

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I pretty much just printed the pages -- 10 pages/dolls for each book -- and designed a custom cover for it. Then, I purchased crayon boxes for each girl.

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Then there was a Sew-Your-Own-Button-Headband station. I used Scunci headbands and lots and lots of colorful buttons (like on this post). We used embroidery needles and topstitching thread.

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There were 14 girls total, so I divided them into 2 groups. Half of them went to the coloring station...

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And the other half went to the headband station:

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Then, about 45 minutes later or so, they switched stations so that they all got to do everything...

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But, by far, everyone's favorite activity at the party was the decorate-the-cake part! Oh, my, how much fun they all had with these edible ink markers!!!

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One of the girls wrote "Eat Me" on the cake, so of course all the adults were giggling in the back like little school girls... haha

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Then it was time to blow the candles...

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This is what the cake looked like on the inside. And this is why I wish, in hindsight, that I had made it myself... the layers were NOT in rainbow color order as I requested! :( I know it's not a big deal but I am just anal like that and I wanted everything perfect! Can you blame me?

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Well, the cake was delicious and no one mentioned the color issue (maybe they were just being polite) so I'd say the party was a success! Sydney opened her gifts...

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And we took some group pictures with the birthday girl...

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And of course, the obligatory "silly face pic" :)

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Ahhhh... I can finally breathe... and rest! (well, at least until the next party!)
Happy, happy birthday to my sweet baby girl! Please stop growing so fast.

12 comments:

  1. So excited to see this post! Everything turned out awesome Patty. I'm anal too so little mistakes like the cake which no one probably noticed (especially if I paid for it) would bother me too. :) My soon to be 6 yr old requested a Laloopsy Party. I'll have to figure out how to make a coloring page cover. Yours is too cute!! Is that fondant on the cake?

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    1. Thank you, Marie. Yes, that is a while fondant and we used Wilson's brand food coloring markers (found at Michael's but I also saw them at Walmart). Best of luck with your party planing!

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  2. Oh sew lovely!! We just had a Lalaloopsy Party for my 6 year old. All the awesome names of the dolls led to such great party stations for 22 6 year olds. We had Patch's Treasure Chest, Blossom's Flower Pots, Crumbs Sugar Cookies, Bea's Spelling on a giant chalk board, etc.... I want to do it again for another daughter just to do it again and add to the festivities. Looks like your party was fabulous ~ and the cake think would have bugged me, too!!

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    1. Thanks, Brandy! WOW... 22 6-year-olds! You are a brave woman. Your party sound fantastic! What a great idea to have stations based on the dolls' names.

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  3. Annie9:28 AM

    Fabulous, Ms. Patty. All of it!!! And, it's OK to be "anal" about stuff like that. That is how you achieve perfection in everything you do. What lucky daughters you have!

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    1. That's so sweet, Annie. Thank you!

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  4. So I had told hubby that maybe my girls wouldn't get a party this next year (birthdays 5 days apart means 1 party) but this just makes me twitch with wanting to do one.
    Such amazing stuff you do, I love all the details you always add. Lucky girls and wonderful mama :)

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    1. Tani, I will continue doing these until my girls tell me they don't want them anymore. My 10-year old is almost at that point, sadly, but after seeing this party she did tell me she wanted a Monster High party for her 11th b-day, so I guess I still have a few good ones left in me. ;)

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  5. Happy birthday sidney, that's a beautiful party

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  6. I can't seem to find the coloring pages on their facebook page. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks!

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    1. Jen, I just googled "Lalaloopsy coloring pages" and it brought me to this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.174651195925731.43509.174636129260571&type=3

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  7. What a cute party! I love it all. I am going to look at michael miller fabrics to see if I can get buttons like that for my daughter's party. I think that is a great activity idea.

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