Katia's Harry Potter Birthday Party

Phew! I feel like I am JUST catching my breath, after this very involved and detailed party that we had for our girl. Katia decided a few weeks ago, after attending the annual Berwick Library Harry Potter party, that she would like her birthday party to be a H.P. Party as well. So right away I got to work!
To begin with, each child walked through our platform 9 3/4 brick wall, to enter into Harry's Land. In the living room, I had created the illusion of letters coming out of the fire place. I used some old stationary I had lying around and fishing line.
Upon entering the living room, each child was sorted into their houses. We had a sorting hat, and our Harry (Noah) reached into a basket to award each child their house patch (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slitherin).
We then went into the Great Hall (with floating candles- thanks IKEA), to make our wands. We used wooden chopsticks and twisted hot glue around them to look spindly. The kids painted them. We put the wands aside to dry and moved onto our potions class (crushed bones, unicorn tears and lizard snot - baking soda, vinegar and green dish soap). They also decorated a paper bag, that would later be used for a scavenger hunt . All the kids enjoyed these simple activities.
After this, we took a break for butterbeer (yum!), snacks and cake!
 After the cake was our scavenger hunt. I had hidden 5 owls around the house that had scrolls at their feet (just used stuffies and some of my owl decorations). Each scroll had a visual clue to the next owl. The final owl led them to Honey Dukes, the candy shop! I had emptied our board game cupboard and put white lights inside. Each kid was allowed to fill a bag at the candy shop.

And that was the party! I gave the short abbreviated version here, but as you can see, it was a lot of work! As my friend Leanne said, "you can't half ass a Harry Potter party".
In the end, I'm glad I agreed to do this party. Over the years, I have learned to tone down my parties (I used to go crazy for every party and stress myself out while doing it), but for this one, I reverted to my old ways and went all out. I feel sentimental towards parties that involve children's books. I know that this time is fleeting and we wont have these years for much longer.

katia's puppy adoption party

For my standards, this was probably the most simple birthday I have ever done for the kids .... and probably one of the most enjoyable ones too. 

This year, for Katia's birthday, we had an adopt a puppy birthday party. Each guest received a Beanie Boo puppy as their "take home gift" (which I bought in bulk and for sale through Chapters). During the party, the guests filled out an adoption certificate, took their dog to the vet, had a visit to the beauty salon, and made their dog a collar. 

We're trying to simplify in our lives, and in our budget these days too, so I made some conscious decisions to not go completely crazy with unnecessary "extras". We kept the food healthy and simple. Fruit kabobs, cheese+crackers, veggies, pretzels and Katia's favourite chips .... with puppy cupcakes too, of course. I did facepainting for the guests, and then they decorated their bags to take their puppy home in. We kept our guest list to a manageable number (which included Noah and one guest for him). All in all, it was a lovely afternoon, where Winslow and I didn't feel overwhelmed, the guests enjoyed themselves, and most importantly, Katia felt special and loved. 

Our girl turns five in just a week, and I am a wee bit sad to say goodbye to my four year old. 

She's getting so big, and I'm not seeing my baby near as much as I am seeing a big girl. She's kind, helpful, an amazing big sister to Wesley, creative, smart, so social, and such a sweet sweet person. 

Happy birthday Katia. You are so special to us, and we all love you to pieces. 

xox 

turning 4

Katia's real birthday is Nov. 28th, but with me being so pregnant (36 weeks!), and Winslow scheduled to work on the 28th, we figured it was best to do it all on a day , where we could all be together. We may have celebrated a week early and convinced her that it was her real birthday. We had our reasons, and it worked out just fine.

Katia's birthday involved breakfast in bed, phone calls, gifts and cards from her family far away, a mermaid themed birthday party, skating lessons and dinner at one of her favourite restaurants. Our girl is now 4 (well kind of), and of course, this Mama is sentimental about it. 

Katia is my very special girl, who has taught me many lessons about life and being a parent. Patience is a virtue with this girl, but her sweet hugs, her never ending, "Mama, I love yous", her cuddles, her singing, makes anything worthwhile. She keeps us on our toes, and constantly amazes us with her creativity and desire to express herself. She's sweet and spicy, and so full of personality. Katia is clearly an artsy, creative girl who paints, draws and makes things all day long (from sun up to sun down), so we made sure to have some special crafts at her birthday party.

Mermaid Party details:

~ decorations: were a combination of things we had (our old wedding table runners), little battery opperated lights, bottles of seashells, one large mix bag of shells from Walmart (for the Mermaid wands and cupcake toppers, as well as scattered around). I purchased green and turquoise streamers as well as clear balloons for the "bubbles".
~ treats: fruit skewers. dipped marshmallows, and sea inspired cupcakes (at the party girl's request).
~ savouries: croissants with ham and cheese (mayo and mustard on side), veggies and bread and dip (with an crab sticking out of the dip), chips and goldfish crackers. The party was in the afternoon, so we kept the menu to a simple snack menu.
~ drinks: juice boxes, lots of coffee for the adults, and water.
~ crafts: decorate your own treasure box and decorate a mermaid wand. This was the highlight of the party. Katia LOVES crafts, so I wanted something that would hold their interest for a while. The kids got to take home their crafts.
~ game: the "fishing pond" (tack up a sheet in the doorway, have the children line up and take a turn reeling for a "fish". Each kid gets a prize (goldfish crackers). This one is an old favourite in our family, and the kids love it.
~game: pass the parcel. We like to have a prize in the middle that everyone gets to have (so you don't just have one winner, which causes lots of upset feelings). The prize was "mermaid hair" (colourful hair extensions from the dollarstore) and light rights for the boys.

Happy birthday sweet girl. We love you and are so proud of the little girl that you are.