Alanna's First Birthday Party

11-10

Ok, so on Alanna's actual birthday, she mentioned that night that she had a sore throat. The next morning, she had a fever and a REALLY sore throat. Off we went to the doctor to confirm what I suspected - strep throat. :( We were home from the doctor by about 9:15am so I scrambled to start calling parents and postpone her birthday party. The poor girl was devastated. It was her first birthday party and we had to reschedule! UGH! I pushed it back to the following Friday and the same time (3-4:30). She had nearly everyone there that she invited (10 friends) so I think it worked out just fine. Charlie ended up with strep the next day and everything. Shucks. 

So! The next Friday we had Alanna's rainbow themed birthday party! We actually spent the morning and lunch at a birthday party for Alli Miller, Macy's sister. When we left, we just brought Macy with us to play for a bit and to be there for Alanna's party. Worked great! Macy and Alanna got a bit of extra playtime together, and they ran around in these fun Shopkins dresses. Macy got Alanna the strawberry one for her birthday. 

 The first game - Skittles, straws, and using your sucking powers to arrange the Skittles into a rainbow. Starting at the bottom left and going clockwise around the table is Cooper, Alex, Briya, Tylee, Zoe, Macy, Alanna, Peyton, Molly, Luca, and Bentley. 

Taste the rainbow, birthday girl! 

 Once all the kids arrived, we did the Skittles game and then opened gifts. After gifts was an obstacle course and then we finished with cupcakes and juice boxes on the deck. Worked great! A handful of parents arrived to pick up kiddos just as they were singing to Alanna. It was a nice enough day to be outside so that helped keep the mess to a minimum. 

 Kindergartners sure know how to do silly faces... 

 Alanna had quite the crowd around her while she was opening gifts! She received some really great new things - a scooter, a fingerling monkey, a hatchimal, a Shopkins purse, and even her first pet (a betta fish named Lily Grace Rustand from her friend Cooper Paschall). 

After gifts, the kids headed outside where Matt had set up an elaborate obstacle course. He really knocked it out of the park; running around pumpkins, crawling under a bedsheet, climbing over the kayak, jumping over the beanbag chairs, a gunnysack hopping section, a jump on the trampoline.... it was epic. The kids had a blast and once everyone went through once, they just all ran around and did it simultaneously. The kayak was the only thing that caught people up because if one person was on it, the kayak tipped up in the back when they ran down the front, but the other kid wasn't anticipating the kayak to move. I'm sure a handful of kids had bruises on their shins after the party. Charlie really needed a special task during the birthday party so he took it upon himself to put together a first aid kit incase we needed it during the obstacle course, and wouldn't you know it, we needed it! I loved that he felt like he had a role in the party without stealing Alanna's spotlight. It worked wonderfully. 

 The final activity: birthday cupcakes! I frosted 4 each of purple, blue, green, and pink, and put mini marshmallows on three of them to look like a cloud. Rainbow cupcakes! 

 It was a bit chilly towards the end of the party (I grabbed a few of Alanna's hoodies to give to her friends) but it worked out really well to do cupcakes at the end. 

 I didn't do too much for decorations (hello! kids don't care!) but I did put up a little crepe paper rainbow in the French doors doorway. I put a shortened version on the table and that was it! Easy!