Growin' Up Anderson: A Big Weekend

We had Alice's 4th birthday party on Saturday. Her actual birthday is on Monday, but she claims that she has been 4 since she had an early birthday party at her Gigi's house in NC several weeks ago. What do we know? I had grand ideas of an indoor bike party or a sledding party, but Alice had other ideas. She wanted a princess party and there was no changing her mind. I started planning several months ago. I was going to do it all myself, but with our recent trip to the inaguration, it was too much. I gave up and decided to hire someone else to do it! I had been so against this, but now I'm glad I did. It was so easy and calm. It was a drop off party which cut down on the number of people in the house. Last year we had about 10 kids and their parents which was so chaotic.
Prior to the party Alice tried on several outfits (princess, ballerina, etc.) She finally decided on a play dress. I was so surprised that she didn't want to wear one of her princess outfits. Even when her friends arrived in costume, she didn't change her mind. She said that she was dressed like Kit from Kit Kitredge. She loves that movie and has been acting it out all weekend. I am proud of her for having her own ideas and sticking to them regardless of what her friends were doing.
I love this picture. When I announced that Sleeping Beauty was arriving, everyone ran to the door to watch. Alice was dissapointed that she did not have a pink car.

I bought wooden frames for $1.00 at Michaels and painted them pink for the girls and green for the boys. They used princess stickers to decorate them. I printed out pictures of the kids with the princess to put in them.

These are the favor bags that I made for the kids. Mom gave us chocolate lollipops shaped like crowns with "princess" written in pink on them that we put in the bags.

Sleeping Beauty and her maid did a great job of keeping the kids busy for an hour. At the beginning, they laid out a red carpet and the kids took turns walking up to Sleeping Beauty where she declared each child a "real" prince or princess. They played tons of games. Marti Gras necklaces were the prize for each game and they all ended up with tons of them.

One of Alice's favorite games was singing "Bippity Boppity Boo" while popping bubbles with "magic" wands.

At the end, they all had their pictures taken with the princess.

Even Will had a great time! He loves the piles and piles of necklaces.

This is the table prior to the kids trashing it. I made a crown for a centerpiece. It's kind of hard to see.

After the princess left, I lost control. Opening the presents was totally chaotic. Alice's favorite present was a huge bag of make-up that she got from her friend Sophie. She has already gotten out of the house with make-up on 2 times without me noticing this weekend.

I bought 2 pizzas from Costco for the party. They were so large that they did not fit in the fridge, and I had to put them on the back porch in a garbage bag in the snow. Thank goodness nothing got into them overnight. The pizza was not a hit with the kids. I think they were too excited to eat. Alice didn't eat because she was obsessed with getting into her make-up bag.

This is the cake that I ordered. I wish I could say that I made it, but she wanted a cake with a doll in it and I was too afraid of messing it up. It was so beautiful and I really did not want to cut it!

After the party I took Alice and her friend Phoebe to see Hotel for Dogs and when we got home it was warm enough to go for a family walk. It was a really special day.
I can't believe that my baby is four. She is growing up so fast, but no matter how old she gets, she will always be my baby. She is so funny, creative, loving, smart, and kind. I am very proud to be her mom.

This is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich shaped like a football that I made for Alice's lunch in honor of the Super Bowl.