Pre-Birthdays Birthday Bash

I have a soft spot in my heart for a great home-based children's birthday party with a few guests, maybe a creative theme, and some simple homemade touches.  (See:  last year's crayon party.)

And now I also know great love for the rent-the-location, buy the food, let someone else set it all up and clean it all up style of children's birthday party!  We went that route (and planned it a bit ahead of the girls' actual birthdays) this year just in case I ended up in the hospital having to hand off hosting duties.  Thankfully, that didn't happen, but given our recent home flooding, I've now filed this party under "greatest decisions I've ever made."

I wasn't going to blog about it but can't help myself from sharing some pictures, especially since it remains to be seen whether I'll have the time or energy to record whatever occurs in the way of celebration on Georgia and June's actual birthdays.   

First, a couple of semi-homemade touches:  the personalized canvas goody bags, and the cupcake topper printable templates, both found on Etsy.




{I'm a fan of favors that can be used up, so the kids got sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and a few stickers each.}


{Guitars for Georgia, Elmos for June, with a few kitties thrown in for good measure. Don't think June noticed that our kitty plans didn't quite work out.}


Anna playing dress-up.


Sam and Harry enjoying the awesome air tube that sucked big puff balls through and then spit them back out.


June, assuming her standard "I'm terrified" position in response to said air tube.




I absolutely adore these photos of Georgia in the bouncy house, though I wasn't nearby to witness the live scene. To me, they are just emblematic of how much she has changed in the last year.




June's the little builder of our family these days.




The mirror perhaps makes this party look twice as large as it was.






The birthday girls really had a great time, it's just virtually impossible to get a smiling picture of June these days unless you're actively tickling her.


Cousin Sam and Aunt Beth. (With strange twinkly-star lighting that does not necessarily photograph well.)


Balloon drop!  (Apparently I really screwed up last year, because it's just not a birthday to Georgia without balloons.  I hope this made up for it.)





Totally wiped out from their big bash, both birthday girls were thrilled with the new puppy sleeping bag that Georgia received from her cousins/aunt and uncle. And after being kept up by fireworks in our alley last night, June slept in until 9:15 this morning when I finally woke her. Sweet!