Ella went to the roller rink for a friend’s birthday party last year and hasn’t stopped talking about it since. Other than strap-on skates in the kitchen, that was her only experience with being on wheels. I’ve known for at least six months that it was her plan for the party, but her vision was a little different from mine. We were laying in bed, browsing Pinterest several months ago and I mentioned to Josh how much the roller rink would cost and how many kids were included in the party package. Ella looked at me like I had three heads. She said pretty definitively, “I do NOT want to invite fifteen kids”. It turns out, she was thinking we would have a few friends over to skate and spend the night. I was thrilled to hear the party was much smaller and more economical than I previously envisioned!
She only invited her three best friends (and one ended up with strep throat and couldn’t make it), so we went with digital e-vites this year. You know the paper snob in me was just DYING, but it seemed silly to have 25 invitations printed and only mail 3 of them. She was very specific about the color-scheme and this is what we came up with!
Since we would be skating on Saturday night, I decided to order pizza and feed the girls before we left the house. Instead of doing a ton of decorations, we just fancied up the dining table for breakfast the following morning. She wanted lots of sparkle and glitz, so we reused these centerpieces from her 2nd birthday party (you can see the original setup here, here and here). They have been on a shelf in our laundry room since then and Josh gives me constant grief about their necessity in our lives. Clearly, he didn’t realize they were going to be perfect six years later! Even funnier? She wore that same tutu on her second birthday, too.
Since we were having a slumber party, I knew the thing to do for party favors was to have matching sleep-shirts for the girls. Ella probably couldn’t care less, but I had visions of sweet little girls in matching t-shirts. Of course I called Amy, at Tootlebugs, who is my monogrammer extraordinaire and she whipped them right up. Fortunately for me, her husband works across the street from my office so he is always bringing me treasures at work! Ella also wanted glow bracelets and necklaces for the girls to wear at the rink, so I picked up buckets from the dollar bin at Target and filled them with tinsel for a little more sparkle on the table.
Since we would be eating birthday cake for breakfast, I grabbed muffins, donuts, OJ and chocolate milk and we planned for a little breakfast feast at 8 o’clock in the morning. Ella had a pint of mint-chocolate chip in the freezer and decided that no cake is complete without ice cream.
Since we were only having a few friends over, I decided not to go overboard on the birthday cake this year. Malinda made us a layered, six inch cake with ombre ruffles and it was perfect. We had just enough for breakfast and a few slices left over for family lunch at my parents’ on Sunday. It was delicious!!
Here are the girls after they were all changed into their shirts and ready for bed. Seriously, how adorable are they all? They were exhausted from skating and ready to watch a movie by the time we got home and settled in for the night.
I had set up an air mattress in Ella’s room and used our extra set of pretty sheets and quilts so that everything would be perfect. Of course, they bundled up on the couch to watch Dolphin Tale and when we checked on them at ten o’clock, they looked like dominos. Ella was laying down at one end of the couch and then everyone was leaning on her! I can’t believe they slept all night like that. Sophie marched into our room around six and announced, ” I can NOT sleep on that couch any longer!” and fell back asleep with us for a bit.
After the other girls were up and had some time to play, we sang the birthday song and had a very non-traditional breakfast. Who says cake isn’t perfect first thing in the morning?!
Can you tell how happy about the day she was?
These girls were so sweet and had such a great time together. Eight was the perfect age to introduce the slumber party and the girls all got along so well. They were pretty cranky and tired by the time their mommas picked them up, so I hope they got a nap just as long as the one my girls took! The best part for me? I was able to completely clean up and put away the decorations after breakfast while the girls played on the trampoline. Three cheers for a clean house post-party!!
This is the very first party I have EVER hosted for my girls where K didn’t photograph the event. It seemed silly to have her over first thing in the morning on a Saturday and I’m sure she appreciates it! Fortunately, the poor lighting in our dining room didn’t cause too much havoc and I managed to capture many photos of my girl and the girls she loves best.
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1. Glass Milk Bottles | 2. Monogrammed Tee | 3. Plastic Carafe | 4. Paper Straws | 5. Chevron Napkins
Click Below to Pin Our Easy Birthday Breakfast Bar!
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