Birthdays

Well, it seems another year came and went.  Each time one of my girls has a birthday all I can think is, "man, another year gone by that fast."  Yes, it makes me feel old.  I'm realizing that that is probably the reason why kids parties have gotten out of hand.  These parties are a chance for us parents, who are feeling old & tired, a chance to whoop it up like a bunch, in my case, of 3 year olds!  So, yes, I am that parent. The one who has a theme based party and runs with the them from top to bottom.  It's a lot of work, but in the end when everyone is having a grand ole time, I am happy. 

First birthdays were easy; I stole it from Sesame Street.  Blaire's b-day was brought to us by the letter B and #1 and Sloane's the letter S and #1.  Blaire's 2nd:  turtle themed. And this past weekend b-day #3 was a painting party!  Although I am still exhausted, it was her best party yet! 

I thought I'd share her 3rd birthday party from invite to end.  Yes, I am a little crazy.  I am also happy to share anything that I did, because I think it's fun. 


I don't do Evite's or Paperless Post.  I'm not that eco friendly and honestly I think that invites in the mail is just a nicer gesture.  Doesn't mean I think you are bad if you use technology, I just prefer old school when it comes to these kinds of things.  A few minutes in Microsoft Word and VOILA:

Blaire loves to paint and do all things craft related.  I am often amazed at how long she will spend on her projects. Painting.  That's easy.  Gets a bunch of paint, brushes, paper, let the kids go to town.  Easy enough:  Staple cardboard to deck posts, paper to cardboard, put down a painters tarp to keep ground clean.  I also wanted to keep the kiddos as clean as possible (so parents wouldn't be bummed with me), thus aprons from amazon.com and a stencil from Michael's = individual art smocks, a useful favor!  I used a little cooking twine to create a clothesline.   While in Michael's I also found those old school window painting activities, $1 each.  Score! 

 

Next came the food!  Since Painting was the theme I decided that everything had to be colorful.  Blaire wanted pizza.  Seeing as I am crazy I spent time the day before making 20+ pizza dough's.  It's all about creating an assembly line.  I used a food network recipe, specifically Anne Burnell's.   I topped the pizzas a few different ways, all of which had a red sauce on top: bell peppers, spinach, and goat cheese, plain cheese, cheese and pepperoni (Apple gate uncured), sun dried tomato & artichoke with goat cheese.  I also served a tri-colored pasta salad with asparagus, tomato, feta, and an organic Italian dressing. Then came my favorite part, with a painters paint palette/tray in mind, I wanted to create a palette of colors on the table and went with the idea of making various colored dips and served them out of paint cans.  I made a red beet, white bean hummus (Weelicious recipe) which was PINK!  A tropical Guacamole (one of my new fav baby food recipes) with coconut meat and mango, our GREEN dip.  A Peanut Butter Carrot Dip, ORANGE!  My mother in law made her Marshmallow Fruit Dip (which I was going to dye yellow as its naturally tinted orange/yellow, but she was late so it stayed an orange yellow color).  Red strawberries on skewers, a layered fruit salad served in a giant green bucket.  The Piece de Resistance, home made Vanilla Tye Dye Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting or vanilla cream cheese frosting!  YUMMY! 

 

 

 

What did I forget?  Oh, water for the guests (and I had a few pregnant guests), extra beer, tortilla chips, and I am sure a few other things.  Did it mater?  NOPE!  In the end, and it was a long day, it was a blast!  Not one kiddo shed a tear or left clean.  In my book, that is a GREAT DAY.  I would like to send a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our family and friends who came and celebrated with us and Blaire!  We are so very blessed to have such amazing people to surround us.  That is truly what we celebrate on each birthday, our blessings.  XOXO