Little lady's request this year was to have a Beanie Baby themed party for her birthday celebration with a small gathering of her close friends. It was as long ago as June when she decided that this was what she wanted (when it was little man's birthday party). With lots of other options available, she remained absolutely convinced that she wanted a few friends to come to our house and that Beanie Babies would be the theme.
I
love to organise parties for my kids - I find it so rewarding to tailor activities and games to their preference. I did a bit of research and started collating ideas on a
Pinterest Board. I had planned to make another beanie baby cake but I ran out of time - in fact I was melting chocolate just an hour before the party started!
The plan for the party comprised a little free play, dancing and some creativity thrown in!!
I decided that instead of party bags I would purchase some beanie babies (they were under £4 each in Sainsbury) for each of the five party girls to take home. Each Beanie Baby had to be won by the recipient (tactical stopping of music was required to ensure each child won a round of musical chairs, bumps, statues!) With Beanie Babies won we could use them as a foundation for crafty activities during the remainder of the party!
Inspired by
Monogram's n Mud blog which I found via Pinterest, party hats were constructed, decorated and tied with ribbon on the Beanie Babies that they had just won.
Then the Beanie Babies were suitably dressed for the celebration!!
We then did some games in the garden to burn off some energy (although the sky was grey, it was warm and dry) so we were able to use some outside space while I set up the next activity.
So, the next creative element was some cupcake decoration. I had mixed some regal icing colours that morning with Little Lady while Little Man was at football practise. I also made up a batch of cupcakes and the girls set to it - with the aim of using the icing to decorate the cake and recreating their favourite Beanie Boo faces. They rolled out icing and used cutters or shaped icing with their hands - and the cakes came together with relative ease.
All the girls were really engrossed in this activity - I'd definitely recommend it for a party or play date. They all learnt a few sugar craft tips too - whilst having fun they were learning too! A lovely and calm activity with the added bonus of the children being able to take their cakes home afterwards!
Free play followed - Little Lady showed her friends her bedroom and they all played with their Beanie Babies together whilst I laid up the party tea.
The usual party food ensued - in our house 'party tea' means triangle sandwiches, Cadbury fingers, party rings, grapes, strawberries, cucumber sticks, quavers and CAKE! It's the law and I can't see it changing!
The larger cupcakes were topped with white chocolate and those lovely beanie baby rice paper toppers which I bought
online. The main cake was a very simple chocolate sponge covered in chocolate, sprinkles and smarties. I had planned for a more creative party cake but time just ran away from me. I was glad I had made a big effort for her cake on her birthday. Building work started two weeks ago on our much needed
extension. More on that in another post but needless to say there was lots of cleaning of grit and sand from the floors and hiding of kitchenalia that needed rehoming in the week leading up to the party. In hindsight it was probably a mistake to agree to a party at home once building work had started but hey, who doesn't like a challenge?! I bought three cheap carpet runners from Dunelm to line the muddy side entrance way we are forced to use at present - and the girlies carefully entered via the rear of the house - not ideal!!
Despite this, the party girl had fun and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. The years seem to be going by so quickly (I'm turning into my mum by saying that - but it is so true). I enjoyed what may have been the last 'little girl' birthday party in this house - I'm told that at age 9 sleepovers become all the rage - we'll wait and see...
Billy had his best friend over for the party too - they enjoyed the balloons - perhaps a little too much!
Beanie babies were a great 8th Birthday bash. So cute.
The following day we had a go at sculpting more Beanie Baby characters using the left over icing - super sweet!
- here are close ups of Magic and Muffin!
Thanks for reading - and more on that extension progress next time!
J9 x
P.S Do you like my new oilcloth for the table? I got it at Dunelm last week when I bought the runners and was going to keep it for December due to the snowflakes - but I think it'll stay on the table now!!
This week I'm joining in with these fab parties:
Today I'm joining in with these lovely blog parties!
