The Decor: Some of my favorite details that saved me money and looked fabulous...Perfectly matching wrapping paper rolled out on the table to serve as a table cloth...Oatmeal, hot chocolate and peanut canisters covered with coordinating fabrics and papers to hold baking utensils... felt flags with bits of leftover fabric from the aprons...last but not least, a party is not a party in my world without lanterns tied with ribbons!
The Party: The girls made cookies and decorated their own mini cakes. I made each girl an apron and a chef's hat. The chef's hats were easy to make and oh so cute! You can make them by going HERE.
Tips: I made all the sugar and gingerbread cookie dough in advance, rolled it out onto wax paper and piled them up in the freezer so the dough was ready to go when the girls were. For next time, I would borrow cookie sheets so that each girl has her own place to plop cookies when ready for the oven to avoid cookie mix ups!
I glued white cups to white plates and provided paint and crepe paper in the party colors (I'm a bit of a nut case when it comes to party colors...MUST STICK WITH THE THEME!!). While the cookies were baking the girls decorated their own cake stands.
The Cookies: Here are the cookies I made for her to take to school on her "real day". After going to great lengths to make the tray look just right, She informed me that it was "way too much" and "super embarrassing" and asked me if she could please just bring the cookies in a grocery bag. WOW...words can't describe the mental toughness it took for me to allow this display to be dismantled and to throw the cookies in a bag. Perhaps next year we'll just buy cupcakes at Safeway like all the other kids. Ha- let's not get carried away!
On April 29, Caitlyn Hope entered the world. 
Here she is in all her sweetness!
Oh, okay, just one more!
...which brings the kid count in my family to 5, count them, 5 children! 
In May we traveled to California (yes, with a 2 week old) for my cousin's wedding. 
Just two weeks after the wedding, we traveled back to California to my hometown to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa.
We even fit in a trip to Disneyland!
Lastly, while I was in California, I got an email from Shannon over at Creative Parties and Showers informing me that the Ice Cream Social party was featured!! What a treat! I'm telling you, her site is fantastic. I love checking out all the creativity that's out there. So much inspiration!
I think that gets us caught up for now. Good thing because I hear Caitlyn calling...
The invitation said "come dig and play at Caleb's 3rd birthday!" and I asked them to bring their favorite diggers and dump trucks to use in the "gravel pit".
The birthday boy wit his "I love Dirt" shirt. I always try to find or make a shirt to fit the theme of the party.
Because my son is a younger sibling, a lot of his friends have older siblings. I chose to include all of the children so I kept the favors simple. They each got a construction hat, a bucket and a shovel with their name on it.
One of the games involved the daddies...there was a prize buried in the gravel that they had to search for! The kids loved seeing their dads get competitive.
The cake! mt son wanted a digger and a dump truck...I opted for making the digger out of cake and purchasing a dump truck to fill with cake "dirt". It was a hit, he loved it! 
The All-American Cheer party was featured over at Creative Parties and Showers! What an honor to have one of our parties featured alongside some of the cutest, most creative parties out there. Seriously, you have to check out this site. It is loaded with party inspiration!
"Stars of the Show" announced who would be dancing at the party with the name and photo of each little girl.
Star shaped wooden name tag pins had different colors and ballet themed designs to designate what group each girl was in. When having a party with 24 kids, it helps to split the kids into groups for some of the activities. At this party, we had 4 stations:
-Hair: ballerina buns
-Craft: ballerina bear wands
-Snack table
-Make Up and Tu Tus: lip gloss, sparkles and blush. for make up. For their outfits, I asked each mom to send their child in a leotard and tights. I made 24 pink tutus. They looks so cute when they were all in head to toe pink!!
The "ball of tu tus" hung on display until we were ready to put them on the girls.
Ballerina bear wands! I painted the bears in advance. The girls glued on the eyes, tu tus, and bow. I like to test the party crafts out on my children before the party to make sure it will not be too hard or complicated and also get an idea for how much time it will take.
The "special guest" arrives to a crowd of sweet, curious little girls.
Hiring a special teacher (ballet, karate, gymnastics)is a great way to entertain the kids without having to conduct the entire party yourself!
24 little ballerinas!
Lots more photos of this cute party, I just have to get them off of the old hard drive. Stay tuned for pics of the cake, invitations and other cute details!
Check out the full package we provided for this bride's pink and silver bling themed wedding HERE
A handsewn garter with a little "something blue" for a special bride We made a second garter for the bride to toss so that she could keep the original.
Adorable wicker gathering balls custom made for three little flower girls. Hairbows to match!!
