Pretty in Pink!

Ellie's birthday is actually in July, but I always feel a little guilty that she gets the shaft...


Usually in July, I'm up to my eyeballs in garden work/lawn mowing/etc. that I never feel motivated to throw a birthday party plus the fact that it's hard to coordinate having her friends from school over because many people are on vacations, etc.

This year, I decided to throw her a half birthday and let her invite the girls from her pre-school class. (I went with a "pink party" theme per Michelle O's inspiration!) and I loved every minute of planning the details...(it's my favorite part of any event!)

I packed the goody bags with lots of pink things. After the party ended, I immediately regretted putting the P.S. I Love You lotion in each bag. Oh my goodness...my whole house smelled like a brothel! No lie!

I was particularly thrilled with how these little flower hair clips turned out...


This was one of the perks that came with our recent HUGE snow storm...


This pink party snowman was the perfect way to welcome our guests...

I've been coveting these big tissue paper balls for the longest time, and finally used my half off coupon at Michael's to purchase them...

I love love love how they turned out! The whole room was transformed into a pink wonderland!

After the girls arrived, we (and by we, I mean my cute neighbor girls, Maria and Elise) helped the girls make pink bracelets...

After the craft, it was time for lunch...

cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, chips, carrots/celery, raspberries and pink lemonade...

I found this fancy way to present sandwiches in one of Martha's party books a few years ago and have been waiting for the day when I could use it...

I loved how it really carried the pink theme through...(are you wondering if this party was for Ellie or me?!)

I'm not a baker, so this was the best thing I could come up with in the way of cupcakes...

Why does it still shock me to see myself in pictures?

I bet you can't tell you how excited this girl was?!

After lunch, they came into the living room and played pass the purse, and freeze dance.

Who knew that everyone would be fighting over which one got to push the buttons on the dinky little keyboard that we have...(Girls!) (ugh!)

I'm still not sure why taking a final picture of all the girls together was so difficult! This was the best one of the bunch and they still weren't all looking at the camera! Gese!

Ellie loves these two! Maria and Elise are the girls we always get to babysit and they were my saving grace! I don't know how I would have handled 8 screaming, high energy girls all by myself!

One thing is for sure...Ellie will be talking about this day for years to come...