Brooklyn’s Animal Birthday Party

This year, Brooklyn’s birthday fell on a Saturday, so we were able to have her birthday party on her actual birthday. She was so excited in the days leading up to the party; she kept asking over and over if it was her birthday yet. When I asked her several months ago what kind of cake she wanted for her party, she replied, “A tiger cake!” So, we ended up with an “animal” theme for her party.

We ended up inviting a lot of people to the party, and Travis thought I was crazy :) We invited all of her friends from church (plus their families), our families, and a few others. I think the total number of people including babies was 40-45 people. I wasn’t too worried about it because it was a holiday weekend (President’s Day weekend, plus Valentine’s Day was the next day), and I figured there would be several families out of town that day. Well, we only had SEVEN people RSVP that they couldn’t come. Whoops! :) But, it turned out that we actually had two families that couldn’t come at the last minute because their kids were sick, so we ended up with around 18-20 adults, 6 toddlers, and 3 babies. I was a little stressed about it the week of the party because the weather kept changing and saying it was going to be colder and colder on the day of the party. I think it turned out to be in the mid 30s that day, so it was definitely too cold for the kids to play outside (which would have been ideal). Luckily, we were able to borrow some space heaters, and my wonderful husband cleaned out our garage so that we could set up tables and chairs out there. It worked out really well, and the space heaters kept the garage at a comfortable temperature. Yay!

I put coloring pages and crayons on the dining room table, as well as stuff to “make your own penguin”. Brooklyn did that little penguin craft at the library one day after story time, and I thought it was so cute!

We had the party at 11 AM, so we served lunch: chicken salad sandwiches (made by Rae Rae), crab salad, broccoli salad, veggie tray, apple slices with dip (all made by Cici), PB&J sandwiches (for the kids), oranges, chips, animal crackers, Goldfish, and cheese cubes. I wanted to have a bunch of food that could be made ahead of time and didn’t need to be heated. I think it worked out well!

I found the serving bowls that the chips, animal crackers, and Goldfish were in at Marshall’s, and I love them! They will definitely come in handy at future parties :)

Fruits and veggies

I made the “3” with pictures of Brooklyn taken since she turned two, and I like the way it turned out! We are planning to hang it on her bedroom door :)

Like I mentioned earlier, we set up tables in the garage to have extra space and seating…

We also had a bunch of riding toys out there for the kids to play with, as well as games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey…

…and a Monkey bean bag toss game with banana-shaped bean bags :)

Britni made the cake and cupcakes, and I thought they turned out awesome! The tiger cake looked just like the picture that we found on Pinterest; it was way better than anything I could have done myself…and tasted great too. Brooklyn loved it! I also put M&Ms and gummy worms in little cups for another dessert option other than cake :)

I found these animal masks on Oriental Trading and thought they were really cute. Brooklyn enjoyed trying on some of them, even if she couldn’t get them on straight! :)

Mr. Douglas tried some of them on too!

So silly!

Kind of ironic that Brooklyn wanted Britni to wear the cat mask…since she hates cats! :)

We waited for a few minutes for most people to arrive, and then it was time for lunch! Brooklyn was so excited that she barely ate anything :)

The dads congregated out in the garage for most of the party…

We were so glad that Emily could make it to the party!

I couldn’t believe it, but Savannah slept for probably the first 30-45 minutes of the party…despite the noise! She must have been tired! After she woke up, she hung out with the grandparents and ate her lunch. She loves to eat!

I’m glad I only spent $1 on Pin the Tail on the Donkey because Brooklyn was really the only kid who “played” with it. And even she didn’t want to close her eyes or wear the mask; she just decorated the donkey with a bunch of tails! :)

She was also the only kid who played with the bean bag toss; I really thought it would be more of a hit than that. Lesson learned: 3-4 year olds just need space to run around, riding toys, balls, and balloons to play with, and they’re good! Organized activities were pretty much a bust. I’ll remember that for next time :)

At least Carter made a penguin! ;)

And the coloring pages were more of a hit with the adults than the kids…haha. I did see Brooklyn and Nathan coloring a little bit…

After everyone ate and the kids played for a few minutes, it was time for cake! Natalie was already in line for a piece of cake before we’d even sung Happy Birthday :)

Brooklyn loved it when we all sang “happy birthday” to her! She wasn’t shy about it at all; in fact, she even sang to herself. It was pretty cute :)

And, when we all clapped at the end, she joined right in!

Rae Rae held Brooklyn up so she could blow out the candles; she blew the first two out right away, but that third candle was a little tricky. It took 2 or 3 more blows to get it out! :)

She might not have eaten a good lunch, but she always has time for dessert! That cake was yummy!

Mason ate the orange icing and left the cake on his plate…haha ;)

Mikayla and Rachel were my special helpers during the party; they held babies and played with the kids almost the whole time. It was so sweet of them to come and help!

Sweet Gabriel :)

The riding toys were a hit!

Nathan is so sweet! He gave Brooklyn a big hug, unprompted by anyone! So, I asked him to give her another hug so that I could get it on camera ;)

Natalie enjoyed the M&Ms and gummy worms…

…and Miles did too!

This was the best picture we could get of me and B; she just doesn’t like to get her picture taken most of the time…and especially not when there are friends to play with!

Natalie gave Brooklyn a bunch of balloons for her birthday, and Brooklyn loved them! At the end of the party, the kids were mostly just playing with those balloons!

Static!

We saved the gift opening for after the party since  we’d requested “no gifts”; a lot of people brought a gift anyway, but not everyone did…so we just went with the original plan and opened them after everyone went home.

Brooklyn got a lot of really cool gifts!

Mason and Miles gave her a tub with her name on it and lots of goodies inside (like art supplies and a Barbie doll)

Savannah “helped” open some gifts too! ;)

Savannah even got her own gift from Paw and Rae Rae: rubber duckies for the bath tub!

We really appreciated all of the special gifts she got! She got so much stuff that we may have to put a few things away to pull out in a few months from now when the newness of everything has worn off :)

Before Paw and Rae Rae left, we had a little photoshoot with them and the girls. This was as good as it got; it was almost nap time and everyone was tired! :)

And, Brooklyn didn’t want to take a picture with her parents, but we made her do it anyway. This tickling picture was the best we could do:

Maybe one day she will actually like having her picture made?

Overall, Brooklyn had a great birthday! Her party was a blast; nothing got broken, no major meltdowns ensued, no one got hurt, and there was plenty of food and cake. Can’t ask for much more than that when you’re dealing with toddlers! Brooklyn had so much fun and when we ate all the cake, she kept asking when Mrs. Britni was going to make her another tiger cake…haha. It was a hit, for sure! If I’ve brave enough to host a birthday party when she turns 4, I hope it turns out half as well as this one did. We had a great time!

Oh, and one more lesson learned: During Brooklyn’s nap that afternoon, Travis let the air out of all of the orange and green balloons we’d used to decorate with for the party, and he stuck the remains in the trash can in the garage. Not thinking, he opened up the trash can a few days later to let Brooklyn throw something away, and immediately she zeroed in on what was left of the balloons. Whoops. So, ever since then, she’s been asking why Daddy “blew out the balloons” and if he would blow them up again…haha. At least she didn’t cry! Next time, we’ll just have to dispose of the balloons in a better way so that she doesn’t find them later ;)

Can’t believe she is already 3! I’m sure I’ll blink, and this year will fly by too!