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birthday, birthday party, Candy Land, candy stickers, Chicago, child's birthday party, decorated fireplace mantel, decorated staircase, fruit scented gel pens, gerbera daisies, girl birthday party, glass candy garland, glitter, glitter gift bag, glitter notebook, hair band lollipops, Happy Birthday, helium balloons, Joffrey Ballet, Learning Express, Michael's Arts & Crafts, November birthday, Nutcracker Ballet, party favors, Pier 1 Imports, rainbow bracelets, sugar and spice, sugar plum fairy, Sugar Rush, Tchaikovsky, white tulips, Wreck It Ralph
Today we celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a little party for her friends at our house. It will probably be the last of its kind as she is getting older, and every year they are more exhausting! But the joy is in the details and planning, and most of all seeing the happiness on my daughter’s face.
November is a tricky time for a child’s birthday. The weather is unpredictable, and it’s wedged in between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Luckily it was an absolutely gorgeous 72 degree day.
When planning the party, I wanted to come up with a theme, which I don’t do every year. But as my daughter gets older, she is becoming more artistic and creative. She enjoys and appreciates the little things I do. This week I took my children to see the new movie Wreck It Ralph. In the movie was a video game called Sugar Rush, much like the board game Candy Land. It inspired me to create a sugary glittery party for my little girl. The land of the sugar plum fairy from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet also popped into my head. So that was it. Once I had my daughter’s enthusiastic seal of approval, it was full steam ahead!
I was a busy bee last night decorating the fireplace mantel with balloons, streamers, twinkle lights and glass candy garlands. And we can reuse the garlands at Christmastime!
The gift bags had to be equally sweet and sparkly, as well as their contents.. glittery little notebooks, fruit scented gel pens, hair band lollypops tied with glittery ribbon, rainbow colored bracelets, and candy of course.
I also tied the top of each bag with adorable fabric cupcake ribbon..
For the dining table I used a white plastic tablecloth, which I normally don’t like to do. But it makes clean up a lot easier when you are dealing with eight very excited messy little beauties having lunch! They also decorated their own cupcakes. Enough said! I put glittery birthday confetti down the center of the table, and hot pink gerbera daisies with white tulips in the center.
The party was a success, as evidenced by my daughter declaring it was the BEST DAY EVER! I am completely exhausted, but it was worth it. I don’t think I will be doing this next year, which makes it bittersweet. But however we celebrate her future birthdays, what matters most is the joy they bring her. Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl!
And if you are going to be in the Chicago area this holiday season, the Joffrey Ballet performs the best version of the Nutcracker Ballet I have ever seen. http://www.joffrey.com/nut
Shopping info..
Glass candy garland at Pier 1
Glittery notebooks, rainbow bracelets, glitter gift bags, candy stickers, fabric cupcake ribbon, and hair tie lollipops at Michael’s
Fruit scented gel pens at Learning Express