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.

Harley Belle's 5th Birthday "PAW"ty!

Belle turned 5 today.  (Tear, Tear)  She requested a puppy themed birthday party and her wish is almost always our command. Yes, we have indeed created a monster. It was lots of work but tons of fun for the whole family. 

I'm a firm believer that the key to any successful kid party is keeping them occupied at all times or else you will lose them forever.  We set up a table with puppy coloring sheets and crayons for the kids to work on while all the party guests arrived.  Every child was given a pair of puppy ears and took turns getting their face painted, along with temporary tattoos while they were coloring. Of course, they all had to take a turn on the trampoline as well.

After everyone finally arrived and all of those who wanted their face painted were painted-up, we gathered around for a story all about puppies.  We pretended to be puppies by digging in the sand where there were lots of doggie treasures buried.

Once the kids knew all about what it meant to take care of a puppy it was time to adopt one of their own. 

After the adoption paper work was completed and their dogs were given a proper name, each puppy had to be checked out by our local vet, Dr. Atley.  He was very thorough in his examination and equipped each new owner with a free sample of puppy vitamins.

When the puppy was given a clean bill of health their owner could visit Nash's Tee-Pee Pet Shop where each child purchased a collar, puppy chow, a blanket, and a ball for their new pet.

Next the kids decorated puppy houses.

By this point our new pet owners were famished.  We plopped them in front of the TV with a carton of "PUP"corn for an episode of Paw Patrol while we got their Hot "DOGS" ready.

I used a bone-shaped cookie cutter for the water melon and each child had their own doggie dish to eat from.

Harley's cake looked like a giant bowl of dog food.  It was obviously Nash's favorite part of the whole evening. 

Last, but not least, the little kids whacked the puppy piñata with all their might but it took the brute strength of Nash to fully decapitate the poor fellow.

By the end of the evening the party got completely out of hand when the party-goers stripped to their underwear and jumped into the hot tub.

Happy Birthday Princess! You are a precious gift to us and we love you more than you could possibly imagine.