{ orva's 4th birthday }

Orva turned 4 a little while ago (I guess it's been almost a month now...) and we did her first "friend" birthday party. I subtly talked her in to doing a rainbow theme, since I had no desire to throw any sort of Disney princess party (and I'll be the first to admit - this party was as much for me as it was for her...) The Invitations: made from paint chips, hand-colored (I did the letters and Orva did the rainbow) and topped with glitter spray.

The Table Setting: rainbow dot runner, rainbow candy jars, birthday hats, mason jar drinks, and vinegar/baking soda balloon bottles (that we "set off" to inflate while we sang happy birthday.)

The Food (and some hand-sewn paint chip rainbow garlands): rainbow fruit skewers, individual rainbow cakes in mason jars, and vanilla wafer sandwiches with rainbow sprinkles.

The Art Table: rainbow pictures with tiny rainbow colored tissue paper squares to glue on, gold glitter for the sun, and cottons balls for clouds.

Decorations: birthday banner and rainbow balloons.

The Pinata: 3D number four, covered in crepe paper rainbow ruffles and topped with glitter spray. I made it from cereal boxes and put strings in all the seams - they're tucked behind in this picture, but when we hung it, we gave each child a string to pull. They all pulled at once to open the pinata, instead of taking turns hitting it with a stick. It worked great! I made this one night after Orva went to bed and when she saw it in the morning she was quite pleased. When I explained to her that we would fill it with candy and rip it open, she was NOT pleased. Luckily I made it the week before party and after it hung from our dining room chandelier all week, she was ready to part with it by the time her party came around.

A little dazed with all the party chaos:

Singing "Happy Birthday" and inflating the balloons (some of the balloons inflated very quickly and then popped off the bottle top, spraying vinegar and baking soda everywhere which made the whole thing a little too exciting - still fun, though):

Opening presents: people were insanely generous with their gifts - we couldn't believe all the stuff she got. Orva was in heaven with all the princess/coloring/baby/girly goodness.

Rainbow Volcanoes with vinegar and baking soda: the kids LOVED this! They stayed at the table forever, adding more and more vinegar until they were left with nasty muddy messes (which they all insisted on taking home - I'm sure the parents were thrilled with us).

Slip'n'Slide: I think Ford loved this more than any other kid there (along with his little shadow, our friend Charity, who followed him around during the whole party). I really wanted our landscaping done for Orva's party but at least we had grass! Even a month later, we're still waiting on the concrete path and the paver patio...

Not pictured: the really cute sign I made for the front door, the fabulous finished tissue paper rainbow projects, the rainbow sock bubble snakes (super fun), and the party favors I made - rainbow licorice twisted in an arch with baby marshmallows and "gold" rolos at the bottom. We had such a good time! There were TONS of kids there - every single person we invited came which I thought was statistically impossible on a Saturday in August - but it made for a very fun and wild party. Orva insisted on inviting the siblings of several of her friends, because "Mom. We have to invite ALL the people. That's just what you DO for parties." Thanks to everyone that came!