With the house freshly painted I felt like throwing a party! Finally we look like civilized folk and I wanted to show it off. P turned 6 in November. It was the perfect occasion.
Seventeen kids and their parents came. I've found something very interesting about the kid's parties we throw. Almost always both parents come. I really like that. I've also found that everyone stays longer than normal. I also really like that. The Latin side of me loves this and so I plan the food accordingly. We had Italian Wedding Soup, Black Beans and rice bowls with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa and cilantro. We also had sandwiches, lots of cheese and dips and beer and wine. I feel it is often more important to care for the parents than the kids. If parents are happy, kids are happy. I did make mac and cheese. All but the sandwich platter was homemade. The party was from 2-4pm. The last person left at 7pm. No one left hungry!
Peanut and I have a great time planning these things. We thought about what kind of theme and activities to do. The big guest list…and I mean big for the size of our house, curtailed some of the activities we wanted. A petting zoo required too much space. After much thought we decided on a garden party theme with a photo booth and boats for activities. I also decided to build our own photo booth. I had a vision and calling someone in would have cost us too much money. This is how the party turned out on such a beautiful November day! Couldn't have asked for anything more!
Dave is taking a time out before the party to have lunch in one of our many little seating areas throughout the backyard. There's the table we got off Craig's list. Loving it!
I got many ideas off of Pinterest. I'm not a good originator of ideas but I can mimick and even improve on many original creations. Here we used golf tees to stake balloons into the backyard.
The vision of Peanut dancing through her maze of balloons will remain my mind for a long time.
The backyard and fencing look pretty fantastic after all the staining and painting. That is until Penny, one of our dogs, decided to go to town on the fence. $1500 in fence stain work down the drain in 30minutes. We had to replace that entire section of the fence. A topic for a future post. I did manage to repot, plant and spruce most of our plants in the backyard. Loving our new succulents. This is a great time of the year for them.
It looked like everyone was having a great time and the weather was so ideal!
One of our food spreads. In the background a talented friend is creating a great work of art on the chalk wall. I love how artistic most of our friends are.
The tent continues to be a big hit with the kids. However, the Santa Anna winds have taken a toll on it. It's time to build something bigger and more permanent.
We had a" build your own boat" station and then the kids set them afloat in the pool. This was an activity that incorporated and captivated both kids and parents! I ordered two packages of these and it was perfect!
Dave is capturing a funny moment in the photo booth!
Then it was time for cake. I made P's cake. It's a creation of love that I can't wait to do every year. Chocolate cake with an amazing butter cream frosting.
The cake followed the garden theme with fairies and all. I created the banner as well. In the background are the green utensils wrapped up in an orange napkins with green pipe cleaners to make them look like carrots. Doing all this is like breathing life back into me.
To keep with the garden theme we had the cake on a "tree pedestal". Again, another Pinterest idea.
The four of us on a very special day. Surrounded by great friends, celebrating the life of one of my own and getting to be creative! This is all a life I dreamt about. Feeling very blessed to now be living it!
Labels: craigslist, etc, kid space, outdoor living, Pinterest
