I once had a fleeting thought that I would like to start my own business doing children’s birthday parties. After I had planned and thrown a few I thought they were the cutest things in the world! Fast forward to present day; I still absolutely love planning them and hosting them but I am completely over the notion that I would love doing this as a career. With 3 children of my own, I will have plenty of parties to keep me fulfilled!
The thing I think other parents will appreciate about the parties I throw is the fact that I keep things simple and affordable. Last year, the party I threw my daughter cost a total of $18.00 and that included lunch for 13 children. I didn’t keep track this year but I am sure it was right around the same amount.
Today I present to you my daughter Iris’s 8th birthday party:
Iris all ready for the party to begin!
The Theme Requested: Rainbows
The Cake: Rainbow
Rainbow Birthday Cake
This is a 4 layer cake made out of 2 box mixes. One was lemon cake and the other was strawberry. I made lemon curd for in between the layers. This is not necessary. Frosting or jam works just as easy. I knew I would be eating the cake as well and I thought lemon curd would taste heavenly….it did!
Decorations: I save my decorations from year after year so we have quite an assortment. I also usually make one new decoration each year.
This is pictures of Iris birth to present day except I somehow managed to forget age 4!!!
Tableware:
I made new labels for the soda bottles that said “Freshly Squeezed Rainbow Juice.” I thought I was so clever. Unfortunately, 8 year olds are so sophisticated nowadays and didn’t believe it for a minute!
Loot Bags: This is always a great topic of conversation between my friends and I. To loot bag or not to loot bag? This can be very costly even if you are shopping at the Dollar Store. However, I have chosen to go non-traditional routes. I stockpile little things whenever I see them on clearance. Think after holiday super blowouts! This year after Valentine’s Day I found huge packs of little heart boxes that had cute sayings on them like “Forever Friends.”
Games:
Pictionary: I wrote different objects on pieces of paper and each girl had to pick one and let the other girls guess what they were drawing.
playing Pictionary
All About You Memory Game: Girls this age love to talk about themselves (okay, no matter the age, girls love to talk). I asked the girls 6 different questions and they each got to answer the question. After we were done each girl got a piece of paper and had to write down how much they remembered about each person.
The questions I asked were:
Favorite food, Favorite tv show, Favorite color, Favorite place to go, Favorite hobby, Favorite school subject
playing the All About You Memory Game
Telephone: I came up with sentences and would whisper them in one of the girl’s ears. They would then have to pass it down the line and would we see how different it ended up being compared to the original sentence!
playing Telephone
Snatch: I gathered several objects from around the house (spoon, box of jello, pencil, plastic ring etc.). I spilled the contents onto the floor. Each girl took turns taking one object away while the other girls closed their eyes. They then had to guess which item was missing.
playing Snatch
Ha! Ha!: Form a circle. One girl has to say, “Ha!” the next girl has to say, “Ha-Ha.” Repeat this around the circle. The catch is that no one can laugh. If someone laughs that have to get out of the circle and make silly faces or dance around trying to get the other girls still in the circle to laugh!
playing Ha-Ha
After all of the games we had cake:
Singing Happy Birthday!
eating cake
After cake we opened presents:
opening presents
It was a wonderful party and I think all of the girls had fun! Iris said she had an excellent time!
Iris and her brother Bency!
I look like I’m ready for a nap!
Iris trying to steal a Skittle off of her cake!
Motherhood Is An Art 