Grace's Birthday Extravaganza

Turning 5 is a big deal at our house- it's their first friend party! Grace has been excited about this birthday for months, talked about it constantly. When Audrey turned 5 a few years back we had a backyard carnival, which was so much fun but not really doable in sub-zero January, so we had to come up with another plan! True confession, I had no time to come up with a party scheduled for the first week of January on the heels of Christmas. Now a quick flashback- at the fair this past fall the girls all had their faces painted, while we were having their faces painted I was talking with the face painter who said she was also a party planner. After they were done (and their faces look so cool by the way) she handed me her card. I stuck it in my desk drawer- as Grace's birthday loomed closer and I came up with empty with ideas, I pulled the card out and gave Laura a call! Hands down best birthday decision I ever made! I hired me a party planner! The party was spectacular, the kids had a blast, the activities were beyond amazing and all I had to do was stand back and take photos of it all! It was so easy for me and I loved watching the party unfold before Grace's eyes, she only told me a zillion times it was the "Best day EVER!" Laura, the party planner, Grace and I settled on a Magical Princess Party involving a tale of an Enchanted Forest! It was the perfect combination for inviting both boys and girls, everyone had a great time!

Good morning Princess Grace, rise and shine to breakfast in bed! She is NOT an early riser as evidenced by those bleary little eyes.

There she is awake and happier with her sprinkle covered donut! She loved the balloons and once she got a little more awake she bounded out of bed so excited and ready to take on her birthday!

We met daddy at Red Robin for a birthday lunch! She loved the ice cream sundae for dessert.

Her invitation turned out so cute! She loved it- she was so adorable taking them around the neighborhood dropping them off to all her friends!

Here is the "Enchanted Forest" all decorated! The tissue paper flowers and streamers were so cute, especially once it was dark outside, the living room really took on a magical effect- the flowers and the ribbons were all hung at varying heights. It was so beautiful!

Another vantage point! The decorations were so much fun!

Laura came to the party dressed in a princess costume, she handed out flower hair clips with streaming ribbons for the girls and slide whistles for the boys, that looked like a medieval musical instrument. The girls all loved putting the hair clips in their hair and much to my dismay, the whistles weren't shrill, yeah! A headache free party!!

The first project was to decorate their treasure box, that became their "goodie bag." Laura had these cute wood boxes and markers and jewels to decorate them. After they finished decorating their boxes, they lined them all up on my entry table then as they collected little goodies throughout the party they put them right into their treasure boxes.

Next was story time, the party planner, Laura told an elaborate tale of visiting an Enchanted forest and some interesting creatures she met along the way. The first was a giant who had a birthday gift for Grace. The kids hung on every word of the story. I loved watching their little faces as she wove her tale, they ate it up!

She passed around the giant's present for the kids to feel and try and guess what it could be. The consensus was rocks - but it was not. . .

The big reveal! The kids gathered in close to see what it could be, I just love Grace's face in this photo! She was in awe of this whole thing!

See I told you! No rocks here!! What would a giant give?!? A giant M&M of course! The kids loved it and ran over and put their giant M&M filled with little M&M's in their treasure box!

Then back to the story and the exciting conclusion! Next she met a fairy who had a present for Grace for her birthday, but then a troll came along and turned the fairy's gift into dragon eggs! The kids faces were in total shock! DRAGON EGGS!! Are you serious!! Then Laura told them the dragon eggs were hidden throughout the basement, so they had to go on a search for them! Off they went giggling and shrieking all the way!

Here is one of the elusive dragon eggs! Looks pretty authentic to me!!

Here are all the kiddos with their dragon eggs! They were so excited and off they went back upstairs to find out how to turn the dragon eggs back into a present.

Come to find out you have to use unicorn magic to transform dragon eggs back into a present! So the kids got straight to work! The little vase next to each bowl was filled with unicorn magic so the first step was pouring the unicorn magic into our bowl.

Then they had to stir it and stir it! It turned the water (it was actually vinegar) blue and sparkly!

More stirring!

In goes the dragon egg . . .

And now starts the magic!!

Whoa!! Look at all that magic happenin'! Alexa didn't know what to make of it all!! YIKES!! The kids were totally caught up in the unicorn magic, they couldn't believe all the bubbles and foam everywhere! It was true magic to them! I loved it!! The kids loved every minute of it and were so fascinated! It was truly magical! Love that unicorn magic!!

Thanks to a strong dose of unicorn magic, the dragon egg is almost gone, what will the treasure be??

McKade showing it off to me, even though it was a jeweled bracelet, none of the boys seemed to mind, they were so excited by all the magic! Each child got a different colored bracelet, so neat!

While Grace opened presents, the kids got their faces painted! So cute- just wait and see. . .

Make-up! She was pretty excited about that! What a big girl!

She loved this Toy Story Barbie from her friend Alexa, do you recall her Christmas Wish List? She has an obsession with Toy Story! In her excitement she held up the Barbie right in front of Alexa, she is back there - thanks Alexa!!

She hit the big time with this present- a Nintendo DS!! This was the year of the Nintendo DS birthday gifts, beginning with Audrey in August, then Savannah in December and now Grace has one too! She was thrilled and the older girls will be happy to have theirs all to themselves!

Laura let each child choose how they wanted their face painted. Grace requested a rainbow butterfly!

Grace seeing it for the first time!! She loved it! She is pretty rainbow butterflied alright!

The birthday girl with her rainbow butterfly! I am so glad her day was so special and all she could have hoped for and way more than she imagined! I love seeing wonder and excitement on my kids faces, a huge thrill for me as a mom, I love that her birthday was so magical!! Happy birthday sweet girl of mine!

My niece Kaylee, she also wanted to be a butterfly!!

Andrew wanted to be a king! I love his crown and he had sideburns too - super cute!

Zaidee wanted a butterfly and a flower (see below).

The flower part! Zaidee had just recently had major surgery and we were so glad she was able to come, Grace most of all as Zaidee is one of her bestest friends!!

Here's Alexa out from behind the Barbie!! She also wanted a butterfly! She is in Grace's pre-school and dance class- double the fun!!

Ryan wanted to be a dragon! Was this inspried by the dragon eggs?? He looked so dang cute!

Nikki is the cutest little puppy dog ever!!

Taylor is adorable, alothough there has been some debate as to what exactly she is around our house. I think a cat, Grace says a wolf, maybe a mountain lion - you decide!?!

There is debate about Adrienne's design too - so I'll leave it up to you to decide, but it is cute whatever it is!!

Audrey wanted flowers along her forehead with sparklies on her face. She looked cute and she even persuaded Laura to let her borrow head piece for the photo - it actually didn't take any persuasion at all, she was so sweet to all the guests that way! Thanks Laura!!

Savannah got a butterfly on her face!

So sad to report I missed photophraphing one party guest's cute face and it was my own handsome nephew McKade!! What the heck!?! How'd I miss him!?! He had a red and black football helmet painted on his face because those were the team colors of his older brother Kendrik's football team. He looked really cute and you can see a picture of him in the cake shot below!! Sorry I missed you McKade! Love you so much though!!

Grace's birthday cake! She picked it out at the bakery because it looked like an enchanted forest cake. I think I'd have to agree with her.

Grace with her cake.

Let's have some cake!! Oh and some ice cream too!! Why not it's a party!!

Paarty's over! I woke up the day after to this- a sure sign of a good time was had by all!! I love you my sweet Grace, so glad you had a wonderful time at your party! So glad I had a wonderful time at your party, best idea I ever had, best money I ever spent- such a fun night!