« advice from mary poppins | Main | valentines 2011 »
Saturday
Feb122011

bee turns five

Bee had several ideas for her birthday party this year, but we decided on a pink pajama party. Bee's birthday is a little before Valentine's day, so hearts were the perfect motif. Invites were simple cards with a sewn on heart slipped into envelopes we made following this tutorial. Bee personally delivered them to all her friends (these envelopes are awfully cute, but I wouldn't try to mail them!).

We blew up a ton of balloons to throw around the house, which is much easier if your husband takes over and blows them up with his air compressor. I usually get a dozen or so helium balloons for a party, but you can about 5 dozen unfilled balloons for the same price, and when it comes to balloons... I say the more, the merrier.

Our party started at 9 AM, and we asked the kids to come in their pajamas (and bring their pillows with them). The kids seemed to get a kick out of showing up in their pjs, and they looked awfully cute all together. Bee requested a number shirt like I always make C for his birthday, so I freezer paper stenciled a 5 in a heart. One benefit of an early party is that it forces you to have everything ready the night before, there's no time to rush around and finish things in the morning, which is great if you are a procrastinator like myself. 

When the kids first arrived we sat at the table and made valentine's... kind of like a kid version of Martha's crafternoon. We had punches and crayons and paper and stickers and the kids did a great job all on their own (I thought it was sweet that most of the kids chose to make cards for their moms).

We spread blankets out and had the kids lie down on their pillows while we read a few of Bee's favorite picture books... JR makes a very convincing pigeon.

During the stories, I took one girl at a time and painted their nails. Bee is a nail biter and I have NEVER let her paint her nails... I said that would be her reward if she could stop biting her nails. A few weeks before the party she showed me her hand so I could see that she had stopped, and much to Bee's delight, we got to paint fingernails at the party!

We used some old pillowcases for sack races in the backyard. We did several heats since the kids were much faster than I thought! We also played "musical pillows", which is just like musical chairs except you jump on a pillow when the music stops.

One game that we made up on the spot was the pillow long jump, seeing how far each child could jump in one jump.. and if they fall, they land on a bunch of pillows! We also played pin the heart on Bee (instead of pin the tail on the donkey).

We kept the food simple: little pink pancakes with strawberry jam and whipped cream, fruit skewers, and orange juice. (It gets busy trying to serve nine five year olds pancakes all at the same time, so forgive me for not having a photo!) I think pancakes are the perfect kid party food.. they all love pancakes and it's nice to be able to make one thing instead of sandwiches where I feel I need to make three varieties to make everyone happy.

We had blueberry muffins for "dessert" so Bee could blow her candles out, it just seemed a little early to be giving kids cake! All in all, a really fun party.. and one of the easier parties we've done in terms of planning. Happy birthday little Bee..

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

References (32)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.

Reader Comments (41)

This is so cute! What a fun idea for a party, I'm sure they all had a blast!

02.13.2011 | Unregistered Commenterdomestikate

Fantastic idea and well thought out. And then you still have the rest of the day to enjoy.

02.13.2011 | Unregistered Commenterlinen and tulle

I love this! It reminded me of birthday parties I had as a kid-and and totally gave me that "I want to have a kid so I can do this!" feeling. Thanks for sharing!

02.13.2011 | Unregistered CommenterSarah

What a wonderful party! Its always a major bonus when planning a party isn't so stressful... looks like everyone had a blast!

02.13.2011 | Unregistered CommenterCaroline C

absolutely darling - cannot believe she's five xoxo cannot believe all these littles are getting so big...

02.13.2011 | Unregistered CommenterWhitney

I am always in awe of your fabulous ideas for your children's birthdays and celebrations! I have no children of my own but I am sure when I do I will be referring back to this blog as inspiration, thank you for sharing with us :)

02.13.2011 | Unregistered CommenterSammi

i love this post . . . i've been silently visiting your site and adoring it for some time now! you're completely inspired and inspiring! a question for you - where in LA do you get your t-shirts made? i'd love to print one for my daughter, who's about to be two.

02.14.2011 | Unregistered CommenterAbby

Hi Abby,
I just paint them myself with freezer paper and fabric paint. It's super easy and washes well.. you just iron the paint after it dries and it sets it. My kids love wearing their birthday shirts all year round. There's a good tutorial here: http://panjokids.blogspot.com/2008/06/freezer-paper-stencils.html Good luck!

02.14.2011 | Unregistered CommenterBrooke

Hi Brooke,
This party is adorable!

I wanted to tell you that I love your grocery list so much that I decided to write about it on my blog. I gave you credit, of course! Here's the post if you'd like to check it out!

http://tulipandturnip.blogspot.com/2011/02/tuesdays-tips-for-busy-families.html

02.15.2011 | Unregistered CommenterTulip and Turnip

Thankd for ur valentine crafts. We made ur heart man in various shapes this year

02.15.2011 | Unregistered CommenterB

What a super duper fun birthday idea. I am definitely bookmarking this for the future. I'm thinking it's a bit too early for Wren and her 2-year old friends... but I love the idea of a breakfast/brunch party. Thanks!

02.16.2011 | Unregistered CommenterAshlea Walter

adorable! i especially love the closures on the invites. it looks like it was a magical day.

You are ADORABLE! These pictures and crafts are so cute I can barely stand it! I am definitely linking to your site this week with one of your articles, count on seeing it in our Link Drop tomorrow :)

Annie Maguire

02.17.2011 | Unregistered CommenterAnnie Maguire

i love this idea! thanks for sharing.

02.19.2011 | Unregistered Commenterelizabeth

I love the pigeon books, 5 is such a special age. I was a kindergarten teacher until I had my first little one last year. This birthday is so charming. I love the site! You have a wonderful style, thank you for sharing.

02.22.2011 | Unregistered CommenterAshLee Winterrose

Ohhh, the heart closures on the invitations are so great. I love them. I have been working on invitations, and just love this idea. How cute! Thanks for the inspiration.

So fun! At first I thought the party was a sleepover, but I guess it wasn't? Just for the day? Such a great idea!

02.26.2011 | Unregistered CommenterAlejandra

LOVE B's party ideas - you did a great job!
Isn't it fun to do parties that are simple and make everyone soooo hApPy?
xo

02.28.2011 | Unregistered Commenterjone

Really fun idea! I love simple and fun at-home parties.

03.1.2011 | Unregistered CommenterMary

This is such a great idea for a party for the younger set! Love it :)

03.1.2011 | Unregistered Commentersara

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>