Well I can't put it off any longer. Ella and Aiden are due for a 'plog'. This year they each had their OWN birthday parties instead of sharing. With their birthdays only being 2 weeks apart, it was just easier to do them together sometime in the middle. I should have known it wouldn't last long.
Ella kept telling me she wanted a Princess Party (like that was a big surprise). I tried to fight it. Everything in me was saying "No Princess Party! No Princess Party!!" I didn't raise her to be a frilly, prissy little girl! I almost had her converted to the idea of having a Book Party instead. I even had big plans of making the invitations look like library cards and everything, but my guilty mother side got the best of me. I should not be trying to force something on her that she doesn't really want. It is her party after all. So it was a Princess Party she wanted and it was a Princess Party she got! Dern shoulder angel.
Yes, I did Bejewel her balloons. Obsessive? Oh, you haven't seen obsessive... My next order of business was to build her a castle. So I looked up our local appliance store and asked if they had any boxes. They pointed me in the direction of their warehouse and gave me a free for all. It was lovely. Well, 3 dryer boxes, 2 washing machine boxes and about 10+ hours later, voila! Click Here to view Ella's Box Castle It was amazing.
This is the smile of a 4 year old who just dooped her mother into throwing her the best Princess Party of her life. I may not be so easily swayed next year. Oh and as for the box castle, Brian and I drug it out to the curb for pick up a few days later and less than 15 minutes later I saw our neighbor drag it across the street to her house. The castle went on to entertain a bunch of 3 year olds at a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
As for Aiden, he wanted a Pirate Party. Well, I couldn't argue with that. So with a week break of having my living room back to normal, it was time to revamp.
I had been bouncing around the idea of having a photobooth at the party too. You know so the adults could have something to do inside instead of melting outside not getting wet with the kids. So what's one more project to add to the list? The kids called it their 'pirate house'. I'm surprised it lasted until the party started.
OK, well wasn't that fun? Moving right along to outside...
Since Ella got a castle, I told Aiden he would get ships. So I took another trip down to the warehouse and strapped a refrigerator box to the top of the van and piled in another one and 2 dryer boxes all around the kids. It was like a van fort. I'm sure the people of Chapin really appreciated me going 25mph down the main road at 5:30. You know, when everyone is trying to get home from work! Not my classiest move ever. But in my defense I did pull over 3 times to let cars go around me. So the night before the party Brian and I each made a ship. We let the older kids paint them.
This was quite the water balloon fight. It's like we had our own waterpark in the backyard. How can there be a pirate party without water? I also had a treasure map (they had to use a compass) that led the kids around the yard. I will quote Brian here, "Best party ever." Enough said.
This is the cake that Brian's mom made (she also made Ella's princess cake). The best part was that she hid a treasure chest in it that Aiden had to dig out. AWESOME!!
The whole base of the cake was about 60 cupcakes. Aiden got his own cake. I still can't figure out why he ate it like a dog. Oh, wait, yes I can...it's Aiden. Fork? What fork?
YAAARRRRR!!!!
