Planning a Birthday Party!

For 10 years, Hannah has had "themed" Birthday parties.  TEN. LONG. YEARS.  The parties got bigger and bigger and bigger.  She will be celebrating her 11th birthday on September 14.  No more "themed" parties around here.  She knows this.  It was told to her last year at her "Diva Party"....I hinted around the year before at her "Tea Party", so it was nothing unexpected.  We're allowing her to chose 2 friends to either go to the Mall with or to go see a movie.  She's chosen the Mall.  I think the store Claire's will never be the same!

I'm going to share her last 2 birthdays with you and hopefully this might give you an idea for yourself or a friend that needs help in planning a really neat party!

Hannah chose to have a Tea Party for her 9th Birthday!  Perfect age!

I'd have to say I enjoyed the Tea Party and it was so much fun preparing for it.  There's just so many themes that you can go with and I had eight behind me.  She didn't want a Tea Party, but finally gave in.  I've always wanted to do a Tea Party for her.

This is what she chose to wear.  Can you tell she's just full of herself or what?!  This is a FULL BLOWN Southern Belle if I've ever seen one!

This is her group of friends that attended the party.  We asked that everyone dress up in their finest attire for a real Southern Belle Tea Party.  I can assure you their heels were kicked off at the beginning of the party!  See?

This is what each guest received.  One pair of white gloves and the small white box was filled with necklaces and rings for them to wear during the party.  We had real hot tea and it was served in the finest my china cups.  The girls were just beside themselves and to save face...they all had a cup of tea.  I actually had the idea of their parting gift to be a cup and saucer with a tea bag in it...headed to Goodwill...and the cost was going to wreck my budget for this party...so we sized down.  Isn't that a great idea though??!

Publix bakery did a great job for all the food and they were all very careful not to get to much chocolate on their white gloves.  They're manners were all "spot on" and it was just a joy to watch all of these girls enjoy playing grown up for a bit!   They also did a fabulous job on this cute doggy cake!  Can you just say 

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E?!

Along with Publix Bakery delicious sugar-free oh so good bakery items...I added a few touches of my own with the crackers and cheese.  I had Hannah help me make the peanut butter sandwiches and we had so much fun with the cookie cutters.  Lots of sprinkles on the bread and they were all ready for the party.

Is this the look of a happy camper or what?  She had so much fun!  This party was a delight to give for her. 

So...I had a year to plan the last themed party....

Hannah chose a Diva Party.  What 10 year old is not a Diva in their own mind??  We looked and looked for a cake.  What sort of cake would a "Diva" have?  We went to several different places around town and made our way back to Publix.  You know....Publix is rocking with their cakes!  Here's what she picked out...don't laugh!

A Red Hat cake!  I know she will be the President of The Red Hat Society as I whither away one day in a nursing home.  Too busy for me!!

We had a nail table set up.  They all enjoyed painting each others nails.  Hannah and I hit the Dollar Stores for these items.  Nail polish and stickers and on an on things for nails for $1 each.  Very inexpensive and they all seemed to enjoy the nail station I had set up.  I had bought silver trays from the Dollar Store and they came in handy to hold all the nail supplies.

We had a hair station with lots of bows and clips and clamps and well...you get the picture.  All of these items came from the Dollar Store as well.  Somehow they all ended up with pig tails?! There was some serious hair business going on at that table!

What Diva party would not have a CHOCOLATE fountain!  Thanks to a very good friend of mine, I was able to pull that off.  There was a lot of chocolate slinging going on at the table!  We had marshmallows, banana's, strawberries and graham crackers to dip.  The girls had so much fun making a mess taking turns enjoying their chocolate fix for the day.  There were goody bags to be had by all...filled with all types of Diva stuff!

This year....well...it's off to the Mall we go.  I sure did enjoy 10 years of Theme Parties and I'm certainly glad they are over.

I have to show you a pic from her Princess Party...Isn't the Princess just beautiful?!  They were all in awe of her presence at the party.

Look at her then...and look at my big girl now....

Time sure does fly.  There are lots of ideas to have in throwing a Theme Party and honestly...to me, that's the way to go.  If you have an actual "theme"...you won't tend to wander off with having too many different things that don't add up to anything.  Keep it Simple.  Our Princess Party had a treasure hunt with crystals and a Princess showed up to read Snow White...Hannah's favorite story...we had a game that involved a big red apple...the goody bag that year was a simple wand, crown and a sword for the boys!  I always take a picture of the guest with Hannah and enclose it in a thank-you card.  Those are mailed out after the party!  Once Hannah was old enough to write her own thank-you notes...she took over that job.  We would do just a few a day until she was all done.

You have to decide on the Theme and go from there.  Write it down.  I'm a list maker and that's the only way I survive stuff like this!!  Search parties on the internet...they are full of great ideas.  Keep the cost down by going to the Dollar Store!  You'll be surprised at what you find there.  The key is planning ahead!  She's had 10 great years of parties and I hope one day she can look back on all the pics that were taken and remember what fun we had.

We're hitting the Mall with 3 girls very soon.  We'll see how much giggling goes on that day.....

Linking to these parties!

Inspiration for Celebration