Girls' Birthday Party

Friday, March 9, 2012

Girls' Birthday Party

I suppose it's Pinterest's fault. I was perfectly content having a party without much hoopla...but then again, I have been going to some pretty neat baby and wedding showers lately, too. I'm no "Hostess with the Mostess" but I wanted to make some fun and pretty things for my daughter's 8th birthday party without breaking the bank or spending weeks on end planning. I did most of this party in just a week - the majority of it a couple days before.

I threw my daughter a party in our backyard and got ALL of my ideas from Pinterest, seriously! She and I would sit and look together and it was so fun to come up with ideas. She wanted an American Girl Doll party, but I didn't want to buy all the stuff for it.

Her party was held on a Friday night in January from 4:30-8 PM. It was really perfect. The girls showed up and I had three teenage girls {2 of them are my piano students} who came and painted all their fingernails and toe nails. I am not good at this and the teen girls were only there an hour {or less} and brought their own supplies. It was great because I could do stuff while they worked on that. We had about 8 little girls so most of them were occupied waiting for nails to dry or talking at the table.

After the nail painting, the pizza arrived. I kept it SUPER easy and ordered pizza to be delivered for everyone - a couple of the girls can't eat the sauce {acid reflux} so we ordered them a side of something else to have. They didn't seem to mind a bit. The girls had their American girl dolls {or they could bring any doll/stuffed toy} at their own little table.

They played for a little bit after dinner and then we had dessert! We found this idea from The Pioneer Woman and from eating at the real American Girl Cafe here in Los Angeles. They are flower pot desserts. I was not about to spend a fortune on real flower pots, so I found these at the 99 Cents Store - plus they are square and plastic, which was easier. I put brownies on the bottom {my daughter is not a fan of cake} then ice cream in the middle and crushed chocolate cookies on top {to look like dirt}. I stuck a straw in the middle and took fake flowers and stuck one in each straw {just before serving}. They loved the desserts - the boys who were there {her two cousins and brother} ate every last bite.

I moved our outdoor couch to the driveway, where we had a "theater" set up for the girls to watch a movie {American Girl, Samantha}. Yes, I realize that most of you could NOT imagine even having a birthday party outside at night in JANUARY!! I take full advantage of living in Southern California and do as much outdoors as possible. We had several heaters and blankets for all the girls, as well as a candy "bar" and popcorn machine going for even more fun - and doing it outside keeps ALL that mess outside! All in all, it was very fun and my daughter said she had the best time ever. To check out more party ideas, go to my "Party Stuff" Pinterest Board and you'll get some more inspiration!

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