November 1: Party

Today we hosted a party for Aria's 11th birthday. It's not over yet. There are 5 little girlies crashed out in my living room. I'll make them a monster brunch before they head home tomorrow.

Birthday parties are sort of my thing! Let's recap Aria's parties thus far. 

Indulge me, will you? 

Birthday #1 

A quiet affair. We had a Chuck E. Cheese party with a few of Aria's cousins who also had October birthdays. First birthdays are far more about family than the birthday girl, who really doesn't "get" what is going on!

Birthday #2 

This one makes my heart smile. We did a Little Mermaid theme that year - and had lots of little ones over to run wild!

This is Aria tucked amongst her presents. She so got the concept that birthdays were a good thing!

My favorite memory of Aria's second birthday is her dinner. I asked Aria what she wanted for a special birthday dinner. Her response? And remember - she was turning 2.

Chicken and stuffed artichokes!

Birthday #3 

Now we are cooking with Crisco! 

Aria, like every other small girl, adored Dora! 

So we hosted a party with a Dora-esque theme. The kids had to go through three treasure-hunt activities to get their cake. And custom made party hats.

Birthday #4

Horses were a big love for Aria at 4. What do you do when your girl loves horses?

You rent out a barn with ponies.

And have BBQ catered in, along with a giant cake!

Throw in a pinata (which sort of makes you feel like the Godfather)!

Take one of your very best photos ever!

And feed all the horses bags and bags of carrots. It was such a wonderful party!!

Birthday #5

Mad science! This guy called himself Dr. Lightening. He was a science geek from Iowa State, and he did wonderful experiments with the kids!

Making ice cream was a favorite!

Aria requested chocolate cake with raspberries. Be still my heart.

Birthday #6

Quieter this year, but no less wonderful. We rented space at Glazed Expressions, our local pottery making store. Scooby Doo was the theme that year. It was perfect for Ms. A.

Birthday #7

One of my very favorite parties. Fairy. Tea. Party.

We staged the event so our fairies would earn their wings (and tutu skirts and and and). This was the pre-party spread!

To earn their wings, the kids had to do various activities. I got to be Fairy Godmother. This was ring around the rosie. 

The fairy party introduced an instant classic: The pinata cake! This was not on purpose. My little mushroom (it was a cupcake form but I ended up goofing it all up) caved in. I improvised rather than starting from scratch, filling in the center with M&Ms. The pinata cake was born and has been a birthday tradition since! I also lost a few eye lashes to that center flair candle.

One more from #7 - the fairy mosh pit. Total and complete success.

Birthday #8

Mad Scientists, unite! This was our invite:

We did a large variety of experiments, including the creation of glow in the dark slime, snow, a variety of exploding baggies and balloons, and mentos with soda.

It was a hit! And yes, we had a volcano (pinata) cake!

Birthday #9

The ultimate birthday party. Harry Potter. 

This party had a project plan spread over months of preparation, a budget spreadsheet, scripts for the professors the day of, and so many personal touches I cannot even recall them all.

It was epic.

All students lined up to shop Diagon Alley first. We had robes, wands, spell books, quills, owls, cats or toads, cauldrons, and Gringott's where they got their (chocolate) coins. 

Then students lined up to be sorted into their houses:

We made scarves for all the kids (but didn't put any into Slytherin). We also used a walkie talkie to have the sorting hat talk as it sorted!

Each house had varying class schedules. For Transfiguration, we had a balloon artist! Yes, that is Crookshanks!

Care of magical creatures was creating a castle to house sneazles (our chinchillas):

We also had potions:

Divination:

Quidditch tryouts to catch the snitch:

Defense against the dark arts:

And, of course, a feast complete with chocolate frogs!

Whew. I will never, ever, top this party. I won't even pretend to try.

Birthday #10

A hodgepodge. Kids came in costumes, which was super fun! 

We did mad science experiments (including making cotton candy, slime, etc). We also did traditional things like bobbing for apples, and ended the night with a treasure hunt around the neighborhood.

Our feast was pretty nifty, also! Mummy dogs, vampire pillows (pizza bites), (boneless) bat wings, caramel dip/apples, veggies, witches brooms dipped in the chocolate fountain, ghost nutter butters, Halloween oreos (just because) and an orange punch confection.

And yes, there was a pinata cake!

Whew! That catches us up to today.

Birthday #11

My easiest party ever. The kids are bigger. They are louder. They are...bigger. Aria loves to invite lots of friends over for her parties, and my home simply couldn't take another big party.

The solution?

We rented a swimming pool!

Aria invited many friends. They swam. They ate pizza. They ate a sheet cake I didn't even bake. Because I baked Aria's special birthday cake for tomorrow morning....

Bonus this year! Instead of gifts, Aria has asked for Animal Rescue League donations!

Success!

Thanks for sharing the birthday journey with me. It's been such a privilege to raise this little girl. How can we not celebrate her?

Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are