This year, we decided to have two different birthday parties for Amelia--one for the family and one for friends. In the past, mixing both groups of people is really, really fun, but it is also SO much work and expense.
The family party was supposed to be low-key. Amelia had made it perfectly clear that she wanted a Wendy Party (as in Wendy Darling from Peter Pan). I vowed not to buy any new decorations or paper goods for this party. I didn't even send out a "real" invite, I used evite instead. I hadn't actually planned on doing much decorating until Amelia started asking questions about the plans....
So, as you can imagine, I decided to appease her and we spent almost two solid days decorating (thought I took virtually NO pictures of the decorations). I stuck to my guns, though, and didn't really buy anything new. Luckily, Henry's first birthday color scheme was similar to the one I had in mind for Amelia's Wendy Party.
One of my favorite decorations ended up being Peter Pan's shadow. If you are at all familiar with the story, you know that Peter loses his shadow at the Darling house and Wendy eventually sews it back on for him. I created this with about 6 extra large pieces of black paper taped together. I drew the outline by hand and the whole thing took me about 30 minutes. Time consuming? Maybe, but free since I already had the black paper and the perfect way to welcome our party guests.
It wouldn't be a birthday party for Amelia without a costume of some sort! She had planned on wearing a very long Cinderella nightgown that she claims is her "Wendy dress" despite the fact that Cinderella's face adorns the front. She has pretended to be Wendy so many times in that dress, that there were several holes wearing through the fabric. (It was a hand me down to start with).
Luckily, my mom and I had come up with a plan to replace her Cinderella, Wendy dress with one more appropriate. She was THRILLED, despite the fact that I must have mis-measured the needed length by about 5 inches! Oops! We had to pry it off of her little body so that my mom could hem it by hand pre-party (good thing they came early!).
Henry's Peter Pan costume was much simpler. I found a very good (read: easy and quick) tutorial on how to turn a t-shirt into a Peter Pan tunic. The video also shows how to whip up a Peter Pan hat (which was so fun to make, I unnecessarily made several more).
Originally, I wanted to make a pirate ship cake, but ultimately, I settled for cupcakes from Costco. We decided that with flowers and butterflies on top, they were fairy-ish.
I found someone through Facebook that made the perfect little Wendy bow for Amelia. I think she charged me a whopping $2.75 (free shipping). It was so cute in Amelia's hair and she LOVED it.
Our family doesn't have a lot of little kids in it right now for Amelia to play with since she is the oldest grandchild and great-grandchild on Jason's side. But there was little Olivia who is nearly 2, Henry, and Olivia's new brother, Evan. Amelia and Olivia had a great time playing together and dining on the picnic blanket in the backyard.
I will most likely do a separate post on Amelia's dollhouse. It was a labor of love from my parents and it is perfect.
Despite clearly stating, "No Gifts Please", Amelia racked up! Here she is searching her new "I Spy" book with Julia and her great Aunt Therese.
Happy Birthday time!
She was all smiles during "Happy Birthday" as usual! Then, we sang to Jason's grandfather because he and Amelia share the same birthday!
Baby Evan and Amelia!
Papa John and Henry
Baby Evan's mom, Sharla, asked if I would take some pictures of Evan since she hasn't had lots of opportunity to do so. Being a second child myself, I was happy to oblige!
Henry and Papa Keith
Near the end of the party, Amelia's hem could no longer do it's job. She really tried to talk us into letting her stay in her Wendy dress, but luckily she is a girly girl and was excited to have the opportunity to slip into one of her new dresses she had just opened up. It was an added bonus that the Wendy bow matched perfectly!
Yes, I realize this picture is turned, but blogger WILL NOT cooperate right now, so could you please just turn your head instead?
It was a great party day. I am so glad we decided to split up the parties this year. I felt like I actually got to breath a little bit and enjoy it. Stay tuned for the "friend" party!
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