Party Planning

My third daughter, Sarah, is turning 7 next month. She is almost an exact copy of myself at that age! It's so funny to watch her, it's like watching myself grow up. I now understand why my family laughed at me so much as a kid, and I just didn't get it at all, or would get mad. Now I get it. She can say some of the funniest things. This girl even eats her pizza like I did as a child, even though I never told her. She lives in a dream world much of the time (likes to pretend a lot), is gifted in her reading abilities (I don't remember NOT being able to read) catches on  to music very quickly (I played piano by ear for years before I took lessons) and is a lover of art. I spent much of my childhood drawing, painting and coloring.

In light of that, we have decided to host her an art birthday party. In times past, I've really gone all out for her. She is very social and really enjoys having a big birthday party. The other girls don't seem to care too much, but she does, and plans her parties a year in advance. It does get changed though, as a week ago it was going to be an Alice in Wonderland Tea party, which would have been cute, but a lot of work. Then the idea of art party came up, I googled and pinterested it and we were both sold on that one! The best part is that most of what I use to decorate with, we'll use because it's art supplies.

I am actually going to mail out some invitations for various reasons, and my husband is supposed to help me make a cool one similar to this one.

 Since I used to make cakes for people, she has a specific one in mind.Although, I don't think I've ever made on with this many layers in ONE cake before. But she's confident in my skills, LOL, even though I haven't made a big fancy cake since June!

I liked the simplicity of this art party. I really like those pennant banners that are so popular, and they made them from watercolored paper. I think we're planning to use regular paints though.

We also thought the art theme would make the party appealing to some boys that are friends too, and I am personally glad to not be doing Barbie or princess this year, for once! Some other neat ideas:

Sarah really liked these rice krispie treats too-what a cool idea!

The picture above here would make a great centerpiece as well as a gift for the  birthday girl! It's an art 'cake', ha,ha.

There's lots of ideas out there though, and we haven't totally chosen what we'll do. I would like to have it outside and have a huge board painted white that all of the children can 'grafitti' with their paint, but if the weather isn't nice I'll need an alternative. I thought about making a bunch of tie dye rainbow shirts, which I've always wanted to do, as smocks for painting. Generally there's a lot of dye, so why not make a bunch? As usual my head gets going and the reality of what I am actually able to do doesn't become obvious until it's too late. I will TRY to reign it in this time :)

Anyways, this is a fluffy post, just something that I'm thinking about. The planning is one of the most fun parts to me, as well as the making of stuff. I guess it's just my thing. I know other people are so amazed at what I do sometimes, and I don't intend to be impressive at all. It's just what I like to do because I think it's cool- I do not seek praise for it at all. I do it for my child and for me, because it's fun. That's all.

So, I am in party planning mode, which is good because it sure is gray and colorless around here. It gives me something cheerful to think ahead for.