One Sweet Birthday!

*Turns down Stevie Wonder birthday music* 

O hey! YES, I am still celebrating my birthday! 

WELCOME TO THE PARTY!

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to finally post some of Munch's OLD birthday parties.  A little blogger catch-up, if you will.  After Munchface's feature over at The Birthday Blog, I figured I might as well build this little personal repository of my little events (and some of my not-so-little and kinda over-the-top events too, lol).  Just be ready for girly cuteness; this party had a LOT of details (and pricey professional photos)! First, however, we had our 4 yr 'big girl' photoshoot:

BACKGROUND: I don't know if I've told you this whole birthday-party-every-year-thing came from Hubbs.  Because he never had a childhood birthday party, he made me promise to host something every year for Munch... I guess he didn't realize that was all I needed to justify flexing my mama-made party plann-ah skillZ every year.  Sorry dude but when I do it, I do it RIGHT!! 

ANYHOO...For her 4th birthday, I knew Munch would LOVE a Candy Land theme (it was her favorite family game at the time). I also knew, I wanted it to be over the top so we started planning (and purchasing and hoarding and hiding and crafting) like 10 months beforehand.  It was (as usual) all worth it.  Here are the deets (that's cool talk for details, lol):

Invitations

"Gumdrops, lollipops and candy galore,
Zion Keese is turning 4!" 

We modeled our invite after the one below and I delivered them to her school standing in a cute little lime green basket with hot pink paper shred (no pics!).  They were the talk of the school amongst parents and kids alike.

Source

Decor

As guests arrived, I created a candy walkway with lollipops (colored paper plates on wooden dowels) and candies (cellophane-wrapped lanterns).  Of course, again, no pics of the walkway:(

I set-up a Sweet Spa where each guest had their nails done by the Shop Manager, Hubby, and candy tattoos applied by other shop attendees.

There were Sweet Spa goodies (most from the Target  Dollar Bin) for each girl to take in a little bag (3/$1 at Michael's).

Sheena made an adorable bubble gum topiary for each place setting!  Small pots, small Styrofoam balls, party streamers, bubble gum and tooth picks.  They were a hit!

OF COURSE, it wouldn't be a Candy Land party without... CANDY! I set it up the buffet weeks before in our basement (O honey, HUSH, who plays pool anyway?).  I purchased bulk candy from Oriental Trading and the Dollar Tree.  Check out the buffet:

Guests, big and small, signed our annual party guest book. This year's book of choice? Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday to You. 

Activities

In addition to the Sweet Spa, girls competed in the Gingerbread Girl decorating competition.  I found the brown craft girls at Michael's for $2.  The centerpiece was gingerbread lollipops (a post-Christmas sale item online). 

The moon bounce and swing set provided hours of continuous fun!

B-day girl was a BLUR most of the party... A barefoot blur. SMH.

The biggest hit, however, was Munch's annual dance contest.  Afterwards, we just let the KidzBop play and, BOY, did they have a blast!

 The cake was simple.  I paid $40 for the tiered colorful cake at Shoppers.  With a buffet of sweets, cake was not the priority... ALTHOUGH, it was adorable and delish!

Pre-cake arrival.I wrapped cutlery in pink napkins with candy jewelry "rings."

Daddy held the Munch up while guests sang the birthday song.

Everyone had a blast... To document the smiles, I took a $5 Walmart frame and covered it in candies.  It made for a great photo prop (some of the candies disappeared which is why I didn't coat them with anything, just hot glue and move on): 

Munchface still talks about her party (and so do many of our guests).  I was too pooped to do much else so our anniversary date (to the comedy club, wine/painting class and sushi) was re-scheduled... INDEFINITELY, lol.

Linking up:





*Turns back on my b-day party music. Spins and re-joins my FABULOUS birthday celebration*

Cheers to celebrating!