This morning I am waking up so much more relaxed (and 45lbs lighter) than I did 9 years ago. Hurricane Rita was threatening the Texas coast, my mom and grandmother were making their way to College Station and I had been having contractions for hours. Today is all about this spunky little girl, Carly Jo, who snuck right in and stole my heart on a Thursday night right in the middle of an Aggie football game.
Carly is a kind, loving and friendly girl who also likes to be in charge at home. She loves her family and her friends fiercely and is always busy. I can hardly believe my baby girl is 9!
When Carly told me she wanted to have a slumber party I was reaching for the brown paper bag overjoyed. It has been 12 years, to be exact, since I have hosted a slumber party. In those days there was no Pinterest to give you great ideas nor was there all the social media for you to share the play by play of the party……much less pressure! The invitations were usually hand written on a store bought invite and the girls played games and ate a cake possibly made by me. I was a single mom with much fewer resources in a 1300 square foot duplex but the girls all stayed up all night giggling and playing “stiff as a board, light as a feather” (I think once they even made me participate). Good times, good times…..
So…back to the present and Carly Jo’s slumber party. When I’m planning her party, the first thing I have to have is a theme to work with. I began searching Pinterest and pinning slumber party ideas that were all super cute but just not exactly what I was looking for. Something made me think about a Night Owl…and our theme was born (after I cleared with Carly first of course).
I would love to first show you the adorable Night Owl invitation I created….sadly after slaving over a design waiting so late there was no way to mail an invitation, I seriously did this. Yep…I’m THAT mom and I’m okay with it.
I forwarded ideas for the cake to the “cake lady” and she came up with this adorable cake!
I looked around Pinterest as well for “Owl Parties” and found some cute wording to use on my memo board. I added some flowers from HEB and a tablecloth from Hobby Lobby and that was pretty much the extent of the decorations.
I knew the girls would mostly want to play with their American Girls and run around but I thought having a craft would be fun. I found
this cute owl made from scrapbook paper that even included a downloadable template and our craft was born.
I painted the canvases blue ahead of time and had the scraps available. Thankfully Aunt Amy and Mimi, aka the Modge Podge experts, were on hand to give some direction.
The girls watched a movie….and were adamant that it could NOT contain princesses or make them teary eyed. They chose Bedtime Stories and ate popcorn and trail mix while they giggled alot. I finally turned in about 11:15 and I’m not sure how much later they stayed up but they were up and raring to go at 7:30 Saturday morning. I made breakfast super easy….store bought donuts, cereal, strawberries and grapes.
How cute are these cups?!! I paid way too much for them and I am sure they will be 50% off this week at Hobby Lobby but they were perfect!
The girls had a great time and I was super pleased that Carly was so happy having her friends over.
Birthday parties do not have to be stressful…..pick a theme and pull together some simple decorations. The kids don’t even notice and the biggest thing to provide is a fun atmosphere….and that can happen anywhere!
Happy Birthday Carly Jo!
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