Saturday was Pinkerbelle’s 7th birthday. In the past, I have always done home parties. They were nothing fancy. Cupcakes, balloons, goodie bags, and an inflatable pool in the backyard is the norm.
I am not a “party girl”. I want and like to celebrate my kids’ birthdays, but going all-out is exhausting to me. I always thought I was saving money by not doing a party at Build-a-Bear or similar, but increasingly every year I realized that I spend more than I thought and put in way more effort than it appeared on these home parties.
This year, I booked her party at our community recreation center. For $90, we got a party room, cake and beverage, all paper goods, goodie bags, a t-shirt for the birthday girl, and swimming, for up to 10 people (including adults). All we did was show up.
First, we went to the party room. This was about as exciting as it got. (Out of 6 invited guests, 4 attended. Including family and 2 parents, we had exactly 10.)
This was Bree, our party coordinator. This is about as excited as she got.
Here’s P. with one of her gifts. This is about as excited as she got. Does anybody else have this problem with their children? Gosh, I thought I taught you to smile, say “thank you!” and “wow! that looks cool!”.
Okay, so the party room was kind of lame, but they had a lot of fun in the pool. I’m still glad I did it—it was much easier for me, and she was happy with it. Will I do it again? Dunno.
Craig and Skippy went to Boyscout Camp right from the party, so we had our family celebration last night. 
Here’s the cake. I told you I don’t do fancy. I bought strawberry marshmallows and snipped them to make flowers.
But you know what? I think my daughter will have good memories of her 7th birthday, and that’s what counts.
11 comments:
That cake is super cute! I think Pinkerbelle looks like Lauren in the picture of her holding her present and not smiling. It must be a Miller look because a lot of people thought that Lauren and I looked alike when we were younger.
I can't believe she's 7!!!
I think that's awesome! Your cake is adorable, and she looks genuinely pleased with her gifts. :)
We always do home parties. My oldest will be 4 in December (the little one turns 2 in January--we are always broke until February) and I keep telling myself to not go crazy. ;) I buy little things in the Target Dollar Spot when I see them. Goody bags will be very small this year--most of that stuff just gets thrown away.
Well, Chloe had a fun time! The pool was a huge hit for her.
Happy Birthday Pinkerbelle!!!!
Those looks from her at her party look all so familiar. But she did look happier at home with her other gifts! I loved her cake that you made. She will have some good memories from all of this. Most of the time, I did home parties, but after my Fibromyalgia got so bad, I sometimes have their parties at other places. This past May, we had my little boy's 8th B/D party at Chuckee Cheese. He loved it. It was less stressful for me too.
I think it looks like a great birthday. You know, I think WE (the parents) are the ones that think the parties need to be PERFECT. :) Your girl will definitely have good memories of this.
What a pretty birthday girl!
Your chair makeover looks fantastic. I love the fabric!
I have a daughter that doesn't smile much for pictures either. In fact, I have a picture frame that I have been saving for a year (yes, a year) because I can't get enough pictures of her smiling to fill it up.
The party looks fun despite the overly exuberant party host. ;)
That cake is adorable, I think you did and incredible job with it! Yeah I went to a 4 year old's party on Saturday (posted pictures on my blog) and he barely took a breath between opening each gift let alone took the time to be gracious and say thank you. Whatever, after everyone left, he played with everything and enjoyed all the gifts.
Pinkerbelle looks like she loved the pony! You clearly got rock star points then. :) I think you did a great job, and like you said, you two will have wonderful memories from her 7th birthday. :)
My girls think the cake is fancy. The snipping marshmellows to make flowers part- better than my sprinkles I guess. Although I did put magic re-lite candles on Brielle's cake Sat. which was good for some belly laughs. ;)
You really can't go wrong with the giant thrift store pony, can you? My eight year old has a big pink monstrosity that she adores. I know that she would also be very impressed by your marshmallow cake flowers, so I'm going to store that clever idea away for future use.
Happy Birthday Pinkerbelle! Looks like the parties were a hit and she enjoyed the celebrating! That cake is so lovely!
Blessings,
Marie
http://emmacallsmemama.com
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