Harley's Frogtastic 6th Birthday

Harley almost always has big plans. She also has very unique ideas about how she wants those plans followed.  A couple of months ago I tried to sell her on the idea of  a unicorn birthday party. I found this guy who owned miniature ponies, just the right size for a bunch of 6 year old girls to ride. He was willing to paint them rainbow colored and attach unicorn horns onto their fat little heads.  Be still, my heart. Can you just imagine all these pretty little girls dressed like princesses riding unicorns around our property?  No. Well, apparently Harley couldn't catch the vision either because she insisted on a FROG themed birthday.  I learned a long time ago just to roll with it, because when she gets an idea in her head, there is no convincing her otherwise.  

It turned out to be lots of fun, lots of work, but lots of fun. We hosted about ten kindergartner's and their parents. As luck would have it, it was also the first day it hadn't rained in two weeks.  

Here is a step by step guide for the one other person in the universe, whose daughter wants to throw a FROG birthday party!

Step 1:  Invitations

I made these on Picmonkey and had them printed at Target.

  

Step 2: Plan an activity for the children until all the guests arrive

  

No one shows up at the same time for a birthday party, so, I always plan some sort of quiet activity until all the guests arrive.  I printed out some frog coloring sheets for the kids to color while they waited for the other guests. Plus, they also used this time to decorate their own party bags.

Step 3:  Introduce the theme of the party. 

 Of course, we read a Froggy story. I also used this time to let the kids know what they would be doing for the next hour and a half and what our expectations were for their behavior. I know, always a teacher.

Step 4:  Game Stations.  

Thank goodness the boys were super willing to be in charge of games.  When planning party games, remember Oriental Trading is a birthday parties best friend.  

Nash ran two game stations:  

Hop Frog:  The kids tried to get their plastic hopping frogs to land on a lilly pad.  

Fly Catcher: For this game I laminated a bunch of clipart flies and the kids used sticker finger toys to capture as many flies as they could.

Atley was in charge of Bouncy House Safety and he ran the...

Frog Spit Station:  Using two tables about 20 feet apart the kids sucked up water with their squirting frogs from one cup and transferred it to another cup.

Step 4:  Decorations and Food

I used a lot of tissue paper to create flowers and buntings.  We also had fresh flowers, mostly from the azaleas still blooming in the yard. We drank SWAMP WATER and ate FROG EGGS, along with pizza and cupcakes.   

Step 5:  One last HURRAH! 

Finally we went on a FROG EGG hunt.  The boys hid 144 eggs all over the property and the kids  went berserk trying to gather them all. They were all running so fast I failed to even capture a picture. 

 It was a happy and memorable day.  Nothing brings me more joy than granting the outlandish wishes of my children, even if they don't include unicorns and princess dresses.

When all the guest left we opened presents, everyone was so generous.  Harley exclaimed, "Wow, I must be pretty popular!"  

We love you Harley Belle and we cannot wait to see what you come up with next year! Also, thanks brothers for being so helpful and accommodating to your baby sister.