The Party Family

Yesterday was Deanna's birthday. We've had three days of partying. If this is how things go at 10, what will it be like when she turns 18?

On Saturday, she had a Princess Party. We invited 4 friends, asked them to dress accordingly, and, as they arrived, Don announced them. They were escorted to the Prep Table where they received blush, glitter and lip gloss as well as their tiara and ring. The name of a Disney princess was pinned on their backs and they were instructed to ask only "yes, no" questions to detrermine who their princess was. They they were escorted into the living room to join the other princesses, again being announced by Don (in his suit).

After all had arrived and been "prepped", we moved on to other games. After games, we ate. I served cream puffs, lemon bars, Gardetto's Mix, and cheese straws. Punch was the beverage of the day and pink was the color. I made the punch with Raspberry Sherbet, pineapple juice and Sprite, so it was a lovely pink color, also. I floated pink rose-scented and shaped candles in a crystal bowl as part of the centerpiece. Pink balloons were everywhere. I had printed pictures of Disney princesses off the internet and mounted them on cardstock, then hole punched them and made a hanger out of curling ribbon. Deanna's chair was covered in a pink plastic tablecloth and tied down with curling ribbon so it looked like a throne.

Then I brought out the Castle Cake. The girls ate their weight in cream puffs, but the cake was poorly attended. Deanna opened her presents, we gave out treat bags, and recessed to the Den for the movie watching - the Princess Bride.

All-in-all, it was a very fun party, albeit exhausting for me. I almost hated that there were only 4 girls here, after all the effort I went to. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

On Sunday, her actual birthday, we did very little, since we had church. We ordered out Papa John's pizza for dinner and Deanna opened her presents from us, her grandparents who live in West Virginia and her Aunt in Colorado. Low key. Small. Quiet. Lovely.

Today, we had our school fund-raiser at Chuck E. Cheese, which was a great opportunity to make more money for the school by inviting the family members. We all gathered, prayed, ate, sang "Happy Birthday" yet again, then had cake and opened presents. This was probably the most fun party for Deanna. While she loved the Saturday event, and this was probably the last year she could pull off something like a Princess Party, tonight was more fun for her because ALL her friends were there. On the way home in the van, we ran through the list of the kids in her class. Her class had 100% participation!! It was amazing.

So, we're exhausted and I have a terrible headache, but her 10th birthday was fun and we're finally through all the festivities and the fund-raiser. Now I get to wait to find out how much moeny we made.

In the meanwhile, I better do some laundry.