A Preschool Birthday

Last year we had no parties at our house for Sylvia's fourth birthday because...you know...we were in France so we took her to a castle.  It was, in my opinion, a big deal.  We told her we'd have a party when we got home, but our trip was long enough and exciting enough that by the time we got home she completely forgot about our promise so we carried on with our lives.  But this year, the girl wanted a party.

Her theme changed from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Frozen Mutant Ninja Turtles to just plain old Frozen.  I was happy with that because it was easy!  She has 17 kids in her preschool class and we initially thought about just inviting the six kids she most often talks about.  No disrespect to any parents who choose to do that - I totally get it! - but as a teacher I've seen too many heartbroken nine-year olds who come to find on Monday morning that they weren't invited to a birthday party.  The thought of 17 kids in my house was enough to make me break out into hives, so we strategically scheduled her party for the day before Easter, which was also during Spring Break, in the hopes that some families might be busy already.  Is that terrible?  Or is it brilliant?  I'll let you decide.

We ended up with 12 kids, including Sylvia, Margot, and Addie's little sister Norah.  I'll let the pictures do the talking in a minute, but before I do, let me say this: those kids were awesome.  Every one of them was polite and friendly and they all played so well together!  A few parents chose to stay for the party while most just dropped off their kids and hit the road, and the ones who stayed were so nice and I was thrilled to get the chance to chat with them.  It was a really nice afternoon!

Before her guests arrived, we gave her our present: a new Elsa dress!  It has a sparkly cape.

Those Frozen banners are shopping bags from the dollar section at Target!  I hung them all over the house and then made the kids take them home at the end of the party.  I used 432 rolls of tape to make them and attach them to the doors, bannister and tv stand. 

Grammy made the North Mountain cake.  It was a hit!

Brody and Robin designed a killer train track while waiting for more guests to arrive.

Pin the nose on the Olaf was a hit.  As you can see, we spared no expense in our game supplies.  Yes, those are Margot's Christmas tights used as a blind fold!

Snacks in the sunshine!

Pre-present photo op.  These kids are so sweet!

Morgan was DYING to show Sylvia how her card had it's own little pouch on the front of her gift bag.

Sylvia's BFF, Addie helped control the gift flow.  Robin gave her Lois Ehlert's books!

Lighting the candles.

Margot and Norah, the little sisters, share a chair.  How cute are they?  They get to start preschool together next year!

Jason photo bombed the candle blowing photo.  Good job, buddy!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Ann and Albert.  I guess we had 14 kids, since I forgot to count the baby brothers!

The Dads thought it was a beer drinking party.

Sylvia let her friends help her color her new bag, which made it look really cool in the end!

I couldn't find Sylvia, then I caught her and Robin downstairs digging into her new Lego set!

They were working so hard, so I just sat down and took some pictures.

Frozen paper dolls!

A selfie with Norah, Margot's partner in crime.

Addie and Norah entertain Albert.

The Cooneys and the Reynolds hung out for the after party: pizza and beer/juice boxes.

My Nugget.

It was an awesome party.  I have another post coming before her actual birthday hits on Wednesday.  That's the day I have no choice but to call her a 5 year old.  My heart is soaring and breaking at the same time.  I'm so over-the-moon in love with this little girl.  She's turning out to be such a cool person.