Punzel Party

This weekend the time had finally come for Ava's "Punzel Party." Never mind that her birthday was early LAST month... We've been busy and I needed time to prep for this one.  Ava didn't care though.  She just wanted to have some fun.

On a side note: I got a lot of these ideas from pintrest.  So anywhere you see {via} you can click there to find the site I got the idea from. 

These are what we made up to invite Ava's friends to the party.  I go the idea {via} but we tweaked it a little to make it our own.

On the day of the party, as the guests arrived they were greeted by the beautiful ribbon wands (to resemble Rapunzel's hair) and the purple hats with Punzel Braids.  

My amazing husband stayed up until an ungodly hour the night before making those ribbon wands {via} and assembling the goody bags.  Talk about a real man.  I told him the wands were a "man project" because of the wooden dowels.  I don't think he bought it but he didn't complain.  

I will blog about making these hats later. But the templates for the hats can be found {via} and the idea for adding the Punzel Braid {via}.

"Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

{via}

Ava didn't want regular cake.  She asked for an Ooey Gooey Butter cake.  So that's what I made.  I was a little worried about the cake sticking to the cast iron frying pan but with two sticks of butter in it (a Paula Dean Recipe of course {via}) I should have known the only thing it was going to stick to was my thighs!

The first thing we did was paint in the back yard.  Rapunzel loves to paint,

and so does Ava.

After that it was tattoo time.  Even some of the Mommies got a tattoo too.

Next we played pin the pan on Flynn.

I found the poster {via} and the pans {via}.

 It was super hot outside so we headed inside after the game to sing happy birthday and have some cake.  I had made some Pascal blowers {via} for the girls to "help" Ava blow out the candles.  Ava said "Mommy, look Pascal likes all his Pascal friends!"

Parker got a tattoo and a Pascal too!

Ooey Gooey Butter cake!

Those cute little things are supposed to be cupcake toppers {via} that I bought from etsy long before Ava decided she wanted the Butter Cake.  Oh well, they are still cute and the kids loved them.  A few of the girls asked to take some home.  I also purchased the tags on the goody bags from the same shop. They were great quality and shipped very fast.

Happy Birthday to you Ava!

That smile says it all.  That smile makes everything worth it.  I think it's safe to say she had a blast and I hope all her friends did too.

I had mixed emotions leading up to this day.  This is the first birthday party we've had to do without any family here visiting.  I was having a hard time with that.  Family is a big deal to us and it was hard knowing that they couldn't be here to be a part of this special day.  That is a huge reason why this blog exists.  I want to be able to share the day with everyone who wishes they could be here.  A big thank you to all our friends who came out to help make Ava's day special.

After the party was over and the last guest had gone home, Brian and I plopped down on the couch out of sheer exhaustion.  But the girls were still going strong.  They busted into the presents and danced around the living room with the ribbon wands.

Happy second birthday Ava-Ba-Dava!  You will always be a princess in Daddy and Mommy's eyes.

Two great things that I want to remember that you said from this day are:

"I am so excited to be 5 now.  I am 5 right?  I just had my 4th birthday last morning. So now I'm 5 right?!"

and

"Is a pony going to show up soon?"

You are so silly.  No baby girl, you're still 4 until next year.  And no, there will be no pony at this party.  For those of you who missed the post about the My Little Pony party the girls had last year here it is {via}.  I guess I could have looked into finding a Maximus look alike.  

There's always next year...

Pony Party!

Actual Date: Saturday, May 14, 2011

The big day had arrived.  Time for the Pony Party!

Awhile back when I asked the girls what kind of Birthday party they wanted they both said "My Little Pony."  Well actually Ava said "Your Little Pony."  Whenever she wants to watch My Little Pony she says "Can I watch Your Little Pony Mama?"

Any who, I figured there's no sense in doing two different My Little Pony parties and since their Birthdays are only two weeks apart, we decided to do their parties together.  The girls said they didn't mind and it really works out best because they both have pretty much the same friends.  

The cake table.

Thank you Misty for letting me borrow these!  

If you remember a few weeks ago I told you that my little adventure in trying to make these myself was not turning out so well. (click here for that)  Out of the blue my sweet neighbor asked me if I wanted to use the puffy balls left over from her daughters party because she noticed they matched our intimations.

What a life saver she was.  Thanks again girl!

Oh and the invitation!  I almost forgot!  I don't think I ever posted them for ya.  

I ordered these from Etsy.  I love that place.  How did we ever plan parties without it?  I just e mailed the info I wanted on it to the lady and she made them up and e mailed me back the final proof.  After that I just printed them out.  Two of them fit on a 4x6 so it was super cheap.  

After I cut them up I put them together in clear cellophane party bags and tied them off with curly ribbon.  I made sure I put one ticket per child in each families invites.  I wanted everyone to feel special because they got their own invite.  Plus they said "admit one" for a special treat that I had planned for later in the party.

Speaking of treat...

Here's a sneak peak at the inside of that cake.  I love making this cake because it's always a surprise to your guests.  Everyone loves it.

Oh and remember those cute little ponies that Chelsea helped me make?  Here they are on the big day...

And the banner.

I found these cute little clay ponies that I put out for all the kids to paint at the beginning of the party.  While we were waiting for the "surprise" to arrive.

Here's the girls faces when they first saw the "surprise."  Brooke smiled really big and just stood there like she didn't know what to do, and Ava wouldn't take her eyes off of it.

I'd say that's a super excited face.  Wouldn't you?

Ta- dah! A real My Little Pony.

Brooke was the first to ride.

Ava's first ride.  I say first because I think she had about 6 of them!  She LOVED it.

Here's some pictures of some of the fellow cowgirls and cowboys that came to celebrate with us:

Mia

Avery

Lily

 Landon

Joshua

Olivia

 Bri

 Ava again.  

I had Brian wake Parker up from his nap so he could have a turn too.  He didn't quite know what to think about the whole thing.

Brooke having another turn before cake time.

 Time to sing Happy Birthday!

 The big reveal of the cake.  

It didn't last long.

Avery, Brooke and Alexis saying goodbye to Nappi.  It was time for him to go back to Pony Land, and time for the girls to open presents.

Let me tell you, those girls were spoiled.  They got lots and lots of good loot.  Thank you everyone who came out to celebrate our precious girls with us.  

They had a ton of fun and we hope you did too.

That night after we put the kids to bed, Brooke came out and said "Mom, was that a real My Little Pony?"  I told her of course it was. She said "Well,  how did it know how to get here?"  I told her that I had sent an invitation to Ponyland but I wasn't sure if they would get it.  Obviously they did though...

She smiled and said "I knew it!"