Claire's Birthday Party

A week before Claire's third birthday, seven of her closest friends and cousins joined together with an art themed party.

Claire absolutely loves to do art projects so this was the perfect theme for our little bear.

She was so excited for her birthday party and told me many times that she had to have purple cake. Too cute!

I had a small lapse in judgment when I decided that the parents could drop their kids off at the party and we would basically do it on our own. With the help of Erik's parents, I figured that two kids per adult would totally be doable and this way, I didn't have to feed the adults or make the party look amazing.  I have no idea what I was thinking.

By the time it was over, the four of us were exhausted! Thank goodness, the kids successfully made a few crafts, played games, and seemed to have a lot of fun.

As the children arrived, they were instructed to find the coloring page with their face on it. I think they thought it was pretty cool that it was their face on the paper. I know Claire enjoyed it!

 
Once everyone arrived, we broke them into pairs and sent them "crafting". First, was splatter art. It was very cool, quick, and extremely easy.

 

Next, was a paint drip pot. The kids drizzled paint over a small pot and watched as it covered the entire thing. I just realized I never took photos of the finished products; oops. For a look at the pot, see the photo above with Claire's face coloring. The pot turned out pretty neat.

 

 
Third, were shrinky-dink necklaces. Each child was given a small, clear square to color. Then, we baked them for a couple of minutes and watched as they shrank to a third of the original size. The kids were amazed at the transformation.

 
Somehow, I forgot to photograph the darling tote bags the kids colored. Each child was given a canvas bag with their name ironed on to it. Each letter of their name was also the first letter of a goal oriented/artistic word. For instance, on Claire's bag it read:

  CREATE

LEARN

   ACHIEVE

   IMAGINE

REACH

   EXPLORE

 

In order to clean up some of the crafts and put together their gift bags, we sent the kids outside and had them play "Claire's Rainbow Scavenger Hunt". On Claire's favorite television show, Max & Ruby, Ruby has a scavenger hunt and Claire insisted on having one at her party. Six shapes were placed around our front yard with color coordinating ribbons placed at each location. The kids ran around and gathered a ribbon for each color of the rainbow. Once they had all six colors, we tied them on a dowel with a bell. Then we sang a few songs as they waved their "rainbow wands".

 

 

While we were outside, each child was given a small lunch, which included a blueberry muffin, grapes, string cheese, fish crackers, and chocolate milk. It was a very hot day and after all of the crafts and games, it was nice to have a ten minute break.

 

 
Next, came presents. Claire loved opening up the gifts. She got some great toys and of course, a few adorable outfits. She was definitely spoiled.

 
To cap off the afternoon, we sang "Happy Birthday" and Claire blew out her candle. We actually sang twice, because she blew out the candle before I could get a picture of it. :) She was given a personal-size purple cake (it looks brown in the photo) and then everyone enjoyed a multi-colored cake pop (photo near the beginning). The cake pops were perfect for the little kids and were almost entirely mess-free. Yay!

 
It was quite an afternoon! We literally fell to the floor once all of the kids were gone. I thought I was going to have way too many crafts, but with their short attention spans, the kids completed everything. Claire loved having all of her friends over and really enjoyed each of the art projects. It was the perfect day for our little Claire Bear.

The next day, Erik and I presented Claire with our gift to her. She was very excited to open it and was thrilled to find her own set of golf clubs. It took Erik and I a while to locate the perfect set for her (which needed to be left handed), but I think it was a success. She loves putting with Erik on our deck and hitting the golf balls outside on our lawn. 

All in all, the birthday party went great and I was very glad it was over. I was so enthusiastic about planning her first party, but each subsequent year, the excitement has dwindled dramatically. Oh well. :) She had fun and that's all that matters.

*Children in attendance: Soren Moffat, Vivian Moffat, Emma Lane, Amelia Rich,

Liam Turcanski, Owen Turcanski, Sienna Hertz