the long and winding road...

Under the Sea birthday party
We arrived home on a Saturday, sick as can be, with Georgie's 5th birthday party planned for the following Saturday. There was so much to do and not nearly enough time or energy to get it all done.

Georgie had chosen the the mermaid theme months and months before. I had two additions to the plan: first, it wouldn't be a Disney mermaid but rather a general mermaid and, second, pirates for the boys. I'd been scouring Pinterest for months! Bobby and I worked tirelessly on the party prep every evening and some of the days. Not enough hours in the day!!! Finally, the day had arrived! Georgie couldn't have been any more excited than she was.

The food was made: "shellwiches" deli croissant sandwiches, "seaweed salad" chinese chicken salad made with ramen noodles, "octodogs" hotdogs cut into the shape of octopii (super cute, so sad I have no pic), "shell" macaroni and cheese, "mermaid nectar" lemonade, "ocean water" water bottles wrapped with mermaid labels, "grotto grub" chips, "fish" goldfish crackers, and "sushi" rice krispy treats topped with swedish fish with fruit roll nori!

These little guys were a Pinterest find and came out pretty cute even though I wasn't thrilled with my choice of cookie. But wow!!! were they time consuming to make!

We didn't get a picture of the "sushi" on the day of the party so we made these a few weeks later for fun!

I absolutely loved Georgie's cake. I had the same wonderful custom maker as last time. Fantastic! I took a grocery store candle and blinged it up a bit with gold glitter to make it more fun.

 I ordered a digital party pack off Etsy and made the invites, birthday banner, and other decorations.

 I love the way the snack table came out. The photo of Georgie above was the crowning jewel.

Georgie showed off her princess pose while waiting for her guests to arrive. Her mermaid dress from Halloween was the perfect attire.

We covered one entire wall of the garage with underwater bulletin board paper. It really set the undersea mood.

The mermaid and pirate characters kept the kids well entertained and active for a full hour. The mermaid was pretty good but the pirate guy was awesome!!!

I'm not sure if its apparent from the pictures but Bobby and I blew up over 300 balloons! The created a fun atmosphere.

Haha! Georgie and friends Gracie and Cora putting forth all their effort on the tug of war game against the boys. At one point the girls started losing ground so Bobby slyly grabbed the end of the rope to seal the deal :-)

I thought the water wall looked a bit sparse... every ocean needs fish! The night before I drew about 20 or so sea creatures. As a gathering activity --or whenever-- the kids would color them in then we'd tape them up on the wall. G enjoyed it so much that she continued to add to the fish wall for the next few days :-)

 Loot bags

Finally, surrounded by pirates and her fellow merfolk, Georgie regaled in her birthday song!

I asked Georgie later what she wished for... I've always told my kids that the best way to have your wish come true is to let people in on it. Georgie's wish?? That "my family will be happy forever". She is truly the most beautiful person I've ever known.

As a party favor and just for fun, I made the mermaid tails for the girls. To be honest, it was quite the undertaking involving sewing and lots of hot melt glue. I think they turned out awesome! The tiaras were a dollar bin find from Joanns

This is about half the group of kids... I have no idea where the rest of them were at the time of this pic. As you can tell, Georgie is no stranger to the camera. She's pretty much always ready for a photo.

 My beautiful, beautiful girl...

We had one tail left over so I altered it a bit for Maria. Doesn't Casey make a cute pirate? I had hats for all the boys but they didn't seem to care for them. They did like the eye patches and, of course, the balloon swords made by our pirate.

After the characters left and lunch was over I pulled out a bin of sidewalk chalks and let the kids go wild.

Later that night, I asked Georgie what had been her favorite thing about the party. She answered without hesitation; having all her friends there.

In my opinion, the party was a huge success. Fun was had by all and Georgie smiled from ear to ear all day long. Yay!!!

About a week later, Georgie shared with me that she'd chosen the theme for her 6th birthday party... better hurry, only about 340 more planning days to go :-)