Ze Bierthday

So for Izzie's birthday this year she wanted a snowman theme. Naturally, we decorated with snowflakes!

When the girls arrived we gave each a paper bag and a plastic snowflake to make a rubbing on the bag, then let them decorate with glitter glue. We did this first obviously so the glue would have time to set before we filled the bags to take home their party loot! I have to admit, girl parties are rather fun because they're SO excited about crafts!

We moved from there into a rousing game of pin the nose on the snowman. I didn't get any pictures of this one because it took Justin and I both busy keeping the blindfold moving and the troops in order behind the line. The girls were super silly and vacillated between really trying for the snowman and trying for their neighbors' faces, but in the end there were a few clear winners.

After that it was the snowman wrap! We divided the kids into four teams and gave them each a roll of toilet paper and some construction paper to make details, then judged the finished snowmen for style, creativity, speed and the ability of the snowman to hold perfectly still while being mummified. Again, it was LOUD but I think they had a good time.

After the snowman wrap we played a quick hula hoop relay that had NOTHING to do with snowmen but got everyone involved anyway. The kids formed two teams (with EIGHT people on each team!), held hands in two parallel lines, then each team had to pass a hula hoop down the line by wiggling their arms and stepping through the hoop without breaking hands. It was fortunate that each team won once and made divvying up the prizes quite simple.

And then the presents... as fun as it was for the girls, someone remind me to skip that part altogether on the next party. I think Izzie's still opening things she hasn't played with yet, two days later. I think that's WAY too much stuff. But again, it was part of the experience and was fun, and some of the things I'm quietly slipping into closets and hoping she'll forget about. It was a little hard for Audrey, I think, to see all the STUFF Izzie got. Thank heavens for the package from Grandma S. with both girls' names on it, they play with those dolls constantly!

Finally, the cake. Isn't he cute? the hat is a cupcake and the bottom rounds were baked in regular old pyrex bowls. I think he turned out pretty cute for using just what we had on hand. And I have low expectations of my own cake decorating abilities, it's just not in me to be that patient with desserts. But it's two cake mixes and a LOT of buttercream frosting, held up with a rotisserie skewer down the middle. I know, cool right?

And with that the kids parents began arriving at the door. A few of the girls insisted on hiding behind my couch, necessitating more firm parental removal than a mere "let's go home, sweetie", but I guess that's a good thing. It was a party, and it was wild, so all in all it was a raging success. Would I do it again with that many kids? Probably not. But only because there were a few kids who seemed to be more flustered with the huge number and just didn't compete as well, if that makes sense. I think the rule of thumb I've heard before is to invite a number of people equivalent to the child's age, and we might go back to that. But this was really fun once anyway, and gave Justin and I a great opportunity to meet all of Izzie's friends and to see them interact. That's always my favorite part about parties as a parent, interestingly enough, so it was all good. And NOW, folks, our "Holidays" are officially ended. Maybe I can get those christmas cards out now...