these sweet handfuls have birthdays in april (little m) and may (ruby), with matt's birthday smack between them at the end of april. while m is decidedly an extrovert who believes a party is only a party if there are a ton of people and lots of decorations and special treats, ruby likes more low key events. in april and may we had a whole bunch of events that we either hosted or were pretty involved in, so way ahead of time i decided that a very small birthday would be best for ruby- both because i knew by the end of may we would be wiped out from a hectic schedule, and more importantly, because that's ruby's preference anyway.
so, first up? birthday big for our 6 year old:
m asked for a rainbow cake, so that became the overriding theme. at the time of her birthday (um, yes, this post is about a birthday way back in april- i realize it is now mid-june; better late than never) we had chosen to shop locally for the season of lent. (sidebar: that in and of itself probably deserves a post because it was much much harder than i thought it would be, and yet i also learned a lot form doing it. BUT it was not convenient when i was trying to plan a birthday party! no target, people! no party supply store! seriously, oakland? get it together!)
we decided to get a bounce house for her party, which we'd never done before. i swear it was the best $100 we've spent on a party. loads of high energy kids occupied for hours! we decided to put it out in our driveway to spare our brand new sod that matt had put down just two weeks before.
my kind friend nicole lent some pretty paper lanterns to add to my collection (since i couldn't leave oakland to buy some of my own!) and to complete my vision, which was really more like this, but the wind did not cooperate!
new backyard ready for party time! lots to go, but we are getting there!
fun friends and colliding worlds, which i always love
plus aforementioned crazy kids happily bouncing for hours
i topped the cake with gumballs in the shape of a 6, and let me tell you, the rainbow cake never fails to delight!
i made cute little favors with chalk and little paper baskets (both from the dollar store); my requirement was that the favor had to be usable and not just more crappy plastic that would break in 5 seconds. they only cost about 25 cents each, the kids loved them, and i could use the leftover favors in our backyard!
at the end of the day, my girl was 6, we were exhausted, and so we took a family nap in the bounce house after the festivities.
next up? birthday small for our 4 year old:
ruby picked her favorite little girls to join her, and chose a tea party! their parents could drop them off, which kept them feeling like big girls and also kept the party feeling small. ruby's grandmas and some of her aunts also came, making it a real girls only tea party!
i reused the paper lanterns i'd made for my sister-in-law-to-be's bridal shower the weekend before.
we had fancy treats on fancy china
matt's mom made cute cakepops that were the hit of the party!
all of the girls opted for cakepops;
they might be big girls but they are still kind of little after all.
each little girl got some fun and fancy jewelry, and their nametag was a faux teabag
our activity was to go make headbands,
since i know each of these little girls and they are not so much the hat type!
it was so much fun!
and for dessert?
a white cake with lemon curd filled layers and a lemon buttercream frosting.
yum!
the sweet six who came to celebrate our ruby
their favors? lisa frank coloring books, because who doesn't like unicorns and horses and glamorous pictures to color in? especially if you're big enough to be dropped off at a tea party!
hooray for little girls,
hooray for celebrating the lives of these daughters,
hooray for life and health and cake and silly faces and friends and family
and excuses to party, big or small!
