This past weekend we celebrated Kenzie turning FIVE years old. I can't believe that! Crazy. I wrote her normal birthday letter which you can read HERE if you are interested and haven't read it yet. I also wanted to recap her actual birthday party some including the decor because I had quite a few people ask me about some of the things we did for decorating and what not. I admit, a lot of what I did was inspired by others. I'm also thankful for Google Images and Pinterest when birthday party times roll around.
This year Kenzie actually spent some time vacillating between a Moana birthday party or a Rapunzel one. In the end, the daughter of the chief won out and we set about to create the perfect island for Kenzie. This year we kept the party outside (and Will's is going to follow suit though his will at least be a more comfortable temperature in mid-October) as this turned out so well last year. It kept our house much cleaner and made for a fun party because we could do something super fun... like have a water slide! (More on that in a second.) Being outside though meant our decorating options were more limited. Mainly because we had to work around all the stuff that is usually in our garage. Some of it was moved and some was easier to just leave. So we did just that. The plus to being outside though was that same limit on decorations. I didn't stress myself as much as I sometimes do because I knew our space was limited. I also knew that Kenzie is getting older now and while she loves the decorations, we are becoming more and more about friends and spending time playing. And presents. Five-year-olds (and any kid, really) love presents. I will say that I decorated a lot on Friday night and when Kenzie woke up on Saturday she asked to go outside to see what was done. When she saw it she said, "Wow!! Mommy this is awesome." That made me happy because really it is all about making this a special time for her so I wanted her to like it. I wanted to fulfill her (and my) vision of a Moana birthday party.
So, about decor. I don't know if I missed the Moana train or if it just hasn't rolled all the way into the station yet but Moana decorations for parties are limited. I mean, I went to Party City one day to see what they had and was told they sell plates and cups. And that was it. So, I bowed out of that one and decided that we would focus more on a luau style party with a lot of Moana touches. Then I started my incessant research on Pinterest for fun ideas.
Let's start with the main table. I ordered some coconut cups as party favors and initially thought I would paint them all to look like Kakamora (the coconuts that try to steal the Heart of Te Fiti in the movie) but decided that I was worried about the paint wiping right off when they were washed despite trying to seal them. Instead, I painted four to use as party decor. Then I found a crate to use as their "boat" almost. Although their boat actually looks more like an island. I got an idea from a site that used a lobster trap... but I didn't have a lobster trap so I went with the crate in an effort to have a similar feel. Maybe I should have stopped at one of the 3,000 places along US1 while we were in the Keys to ask to have one. I also found the awesome netting at the dollar store so that was added onto it. The table cloth was blue to simulate water to a point. If we were going to have Kakamora, we also had to have Moana on her own boat. I used a wrapping paper tube cut in half, wooden dowels, a piece of cardboard, and cardstock to create her boat that then held Tomotoas (croissants with googly eyes on toothpicks) and a little Moana which our neighbor let us borrow. I freehanded the Heart of Te Fiti symbol and cut it out of cardstock, as well. I think this was my favorite part of the entire table. I loved that little boat and I'm so glad it came out as I hoped it would. We also threw a few of our own conch shells on the table. These are things we already had as we are beach obsessed in this house. Steven and I had our own before we ever met and they have stayed with us. They were perfect in a Moana party. I found some cute luau themed lanterns at the dollar store too so we put one of those up. I also read up and learned how to glitter a glass vase so I used green glitter to do that and put some flower in it that were sort of Moana-ish. I didn't want to use real flowers because I wasn't sure how the glitter would hold up if I put water in the vase and the flowers we used were some of the best we could find for the occasion. On the wall behind the main table, we put a garland that I got at a store that was going out of business a few months ago but ended up being perfect for the party. I also made the tissue paper flowers. I haven't busted out those types of flowers in a while and it was fun to make a few again. I made them smaller than I have in the past and I think they were perfect.
The second smaller table next to the main (food) table was mostly for the cutlery and paper products but it needed a bit of fun on it too so we put Kenzie's chalkboard on it. She kept asking us to read it to her and then getting fake annoyed that we put "Curls" as one of her nicknames. She pretends to not like it. But she really does. She has told us before that she does and then she pitches a silly fit about it sometimes. We had another green glittered vase and flowers along with another lantern. I found the cute grass skirt table border at the dollar store too (thankfully Kenzie's birthday is in July when people are all into luau themes anyway because it makes finding things easier since it is "in season"). I made the "5" decoration. Well, I bought the 5 itself but I painted it blue and freehanded a leaf and flower for it. I then used raffia and tied it into a bow for it. Finally, the green covered table next to the chalkboard one was for pizza so we didn't put anything else on it. We just added the grass skirt border and called it a day. It was filled with pizza anyway. We also had a gift table that just had a green table cloth but I didn't even take a picture of that. It wasn't super exciting for most people (though Kenzie loved it because... presents).
Speaking of pizza... we had other food in addition to that. As usual, I named our food. Because I have problems. Serious obsessive problems. We had coconuts (whoppers), Tomatoas (croissants), fish and chips (which is really what it sounds like but they were colored goldfish), driftwood (pretzels), Kakamora (sausage balls), Hei Hei dip (buffalo chicken dip), ocean water (which seemed like some sort of kiddie drug or something as they were obsessed with it but was really only sprite, koolaid mix, and lemonade), and island fruit (watermelon and pineapple). I learned last year that I didn't need as much food as I usually had if we had pizza too. Though this year everyone surprised us and ate half as much pizza as they did the year before. We aren't ordering half of that amount when Will's birthday rolls around. It's sort of nice too that we are in the pizza stage now. The kids wanting pizza at their party significantly cuts down on what I have to do. Usually I'm freaking out the morning of cooking some things but this time I made the chicken dip the night before and the sausage balls earlier in the morning and called it a day. All I had to do was cut the watermelon (only because it was so much cheaper to buy it whole than already cut) and throw everything out there.
Our last main thing (which was probably the hit of the party besides the water slide) was a tattoo station. The kids were obsessed! We set out a sponge to use and scissors to cut out the tattoo the kids wanted. All the kids were covered by the end of the party. Quite a few of the adults were covered as well. It was so much fun. (And yes, I spelled tattoo wrong on the directions. I'm owning up to that one.)
Last but not least, and it had nothing to do with decorations, we had an awesome water slide. We have used Space Jumps for two years in a row now and they do a great job. We have the bounce house or whatever for a long period of time (almost all day) and set up is quick for them. They come and take it down in the evening at a set time and we don't even have to be there for them to do it. Easy enough. This year we got a water slide in lieu of a bounce house combo with a slide and this was so much better. The kids LOVED it. The only downfall was that they would get so excited that they would get a bit out of control and needed reigning in a lot. Unfortunately, there were a few minor injuries but everyone that got hurt seemed to get over it quickly and most of them were right back on the slide. We did learn that one side was slower than the other which would have been good to put out there at the beginning so the less sure kids could have used the slower side and maybe a few injuries would have been avoided. Maybe. They might have all still been as crazy. Nothing really major though.
This party was awesome. Kenzie was so happy with it and we love how it all turned out. Will wanted to have another party the next day. He is going to be stoked when his rolls around in about 2 months. We already have his bounce house picked out and we think we are working on a Cars theme so that should be super fun. Another awesome party in the books.
Comments
Post a Comment