a royal tea party

Continued...

When the royal guests arrived, everyone had fun visiting and the girls each had a special paper they could pick out with Sofia the First or other princesses I had printed out on the computer for them to color and decorate with stickers.  They also read princess books in the tent while waiting for everyone to arrive.  I was so glad I had these activities for them to do at the beginning!

We started the royal tea party and the girls loved it!  They were so cute and felt so fancy.  Every single mom stayed at the party- I think because we were all having so much fun!

And time for the big surprise!!!

Princess Rapunzel!  I wish you could see Kerigan's face here, but her jaw is definitely to the floor.  Rapunzel's arrival was my favorite part of the party.  There is a princess party company nearby that you can choose from and hire a princess to come.  I knew this was what I had to do and that Kerigan would just go crazy over it.  They didn't have Sofia the First, so I picked her next favorite... Rapunzel.  It worked out perfectly because she is also a "purple" princess.  And on several episodes of Sofia the First, one of the Disney princesses makes an appearance.  Rapunzel will be on the show this fall, so I felt like it fit perfectly to have her come!

She was just amazing.  From this point on, she completely took over the party.  She organized the girls into a big circle and went around and talked to them all.  

I'm so sad this picture is blurry but it is my favorite.  Kerigan had been so shy the whole time.  She took Rapunzel's hand and walked to the circle with her, but she wouldn't talk to her, and would just stare at her.  I think she was so mesmerized and in shock!  But when Rapunzel pulled out these beads, she did this!  It was SO cute!

She read them a princess story...

And my favorite part was the presents.  She had all the girls go get the present they brought and sit back down.  I had Kerigan sit up on this chair so no one could "help" her open her gifts!  Rapunzel had Kerigan choose friends to bring up their present one by one and sit by her while she opened them.  Rapunzel read the card to her and interacted with her while she opened them.  It was unbelieveably amazing.  Ha!  For a mom who usually gets stressed out at this part, I was loving it!

The best part was the child who brought the gift got to sit right there by her to watch her.  I feel like sometimes it is just chaos, and such a mess and lots of kids can't see when the birthday child opens their gift.  This was perfect.

Kerigan was so funny to watch.  She loved everything!  We had "practiced" ahead of time saying thank you and acting like you love the gift.  I think the practice worked!  Ha!

She got so many nice gifts!  No duplicates and nothing she already owned!  Ha!  And I loved how everyone picked out something special they knew she would like and lots of the items were princess related but very practical.  Like a Sofia CD and Princess Candyland!  How perfect!

After gift opening, Rapunzel led the girls back to the dining room to sing happy birthday.  She had a beautiful voice!  What a special treat to have Rapunzel sing your birthday song!

Rapunzel even passed out the cupcakes!  Then she sat right down and continued the tea party with the girls.  It was straight out of any little girl's dream.

She took pictures with each individual child, which I am using for the cover of their thank you's.

Group picture with Rapunzel!

The place we hired her from made this picture their facebook cover photo!  Pretty awesome!  I used her "Best Day Ever" banner from her 2nd birthday since it was Rapunzel themed, and purple!  It fit perfectly with this party too.  Plus, my kids birthdays ARE the best days ever to me!  Other than Christmas, they are my favorite days of the year.

Watching Rapunzel walk down the street.

Kerigan and her little friend Annika from day care.  She has made more special friends at day care and we have been so blessed by them.  I was so worried moving her away from her little friends last year, and all she did was gain more.  I just love all her little friends and their mamas!

I sent the boys (Craig's 2 brothers and their sons, Grandpa Huegel, and Craig and Andrew) off bowling during the tea party.  We had planned a family BBQ after the party so they came back and we had a great evening!

We got out the water slide and the kids had a blast!

Our niece Brooke found this baby frog!

This is my nephew's little girl, Lucy.  She and Kerigan are only 2 months apart and such cute little girly girls!

Cousins Evelyn and Brooke!

The boys didn't want me to take pictures of them!  Ha!

I have to mention what an incredibly beautiful evening it was.  For July 12, it wasn't hot at all!  It has been a very cool month, with only a couple of really hot days.  Perfect grilling weather, and we have eaten on the deck pretty much all summer!

My amazing friend Mandy made Kerigan this beautiful Elsa dress and shoes!  Kerigan just loves it and never wants to take it off!  She has made so many adorable outfits for Kerigan and this just tops it off!  She even pulled off surprising me, which is hard to do!  Ha!  I love that it is unique, and so well made.  I hadn't wanted to buy her the Walmart ones because they just rip and fray around the edges so much.  It was the perfect gift.  

Kerigan with Grandpa and Grandma Huegel

Another birthday song!

My friends daughters... Emily and Piper.  I had Mandy and Angie bring their families back for the BBQ, too.  I just love friends that are like family!

After everyone left and the kids were in bed, we broke out a bottle of wine and celebrated!  They wanted to toast to a successful party, and us being in our town for a year now.  I also got a new job for next year that I will update about later.  I love these girls so much!  It is amazing for me to think that I barely knew Mandy a year ago (we were acquaintances through our heart support group, and she just happened to live in the town we moved to!) and Angie I didn't know at all.  She is a teacher in town and it honestly feels like we are twins separated at birth.  We have pretty much everything in common, and I just can't believe how fast we have become friends.  She has the sweetest family too (like Mandy's!) and we all love getting together.  Her husband is one of Craig's coaches on staff so they love hanging out together too.

I was laughing so hard at this picture of Craig with his wine.  I gave him his wine in a glass from our financial planner, as a joke because we were toasting to my new job!  Ha!  He is thrilled that I will be working full time again.

Cheers to the best day ever!

Happy birthday Kerigan!

kerigan the third

I had to split Kerigan's birthday party update into two parts because there are a million pictures!  I absolutely loved this party.  Kerigan picked Sofia the First for her theme, as it is her very favorite show and Sofia is her favorite princess.  This update is mostly pictures of the decorations and party preparations.

I used the Sofia logo and changed it to "Kerigan the Third," since she was 3!  Each girl got a wand and a Sofia the First necklace (I had these made on Etsy).

We had a "royal" tea party (there is a tea party episode of Sofia) so I had to do teapot invites!

I punched out little "tea" bags and put Sofia's picture on one side.  On the other side it said that a special guest would be arriving and the time of arrival.  This was a surprise for Kerigan, and I could not wait!

This is Charlyn, our "cake lady!"  My mom has worked with her for years and she started a business a few years ago and started making cakes.  She is amazing!  I love that for my kids parties every year I know who will be doing the cake and she always carries out my vision perfectly!

Kerigan's actual birthday was on Saturday this year, so that is when we did the party.  I gave her a bath in the morning and did the sponge rollers so her hair could dry during the day and her nap.

When daddy brought home balloons she was beyond excited!  Nap time was difficult!

My precious 3 year old!

She loved sitting in her tent and looking at princess books I had out for the party.  As my mom and I were getting things ready for the afternoon, I told my mom I actually think I like it better when her birthday party is on a different day than her actual birthday.  I felt like we were rushing around, working on decorations and food and didn't get to spend a lot of time with her during the day.  Then her party is so busy and I am hosting so I can't really sit down and relax with her then either!  So now at least it won't be on a Saturday again for a long time!

My favorite part of the decorations was this tea cart.  This was on our screened porch at the lake every year since I can remember.  My mom loves this tea cart.  She let us use it for the party and it was perfect sitting here when you walked in the front door.

It held all the treats!  The girls got to fill a sack to take home along with their other favors.

The tea party room!  We used our dining room, and I just moved our table to the wall and used it for the food and cake.  Then our coffee table was brought in from our family room (we needed the space in there for our special guest!) and this way the little girls could kneel around the table for the tea party.  I also spread my great grandma's quilt on the floor like a picnic blanket, and we had a wicker tray set out for a couple girls to sit there too.  I struggled with the set up but I love how it turned out.  There were 12 little girls coming, so they didn't all fit at one table and I had to figure something else out!

Cookies shaped like teacups!

We had mini cupcakes for the little girls at the tea party.  The big cake was for the family party that evening.  I loved the bottom layer of the cake- it was like Sofia's dress, and it had amulets all around it!  Kerigan loves amulets!  She has known that word since she was 2, and what it means!  Ha!

I found some cute tea cups at the good will that I set out as decorations.

The food was so easy!  I loved the time of the party (it was from 3-5) so this was mainly just a snack.  My mom made all the sandwiches and cut them all out in little crown shapes!

We had good ol' PB&J and ham and cheese.  I wanted to do little cucumber/cream cheese or something more fancy but if the little girls coming were anything like my kids, I knew they wouldn't eat them!  These were a hit!  And they were still cute!

I made all the food tags and the sticks with Sofia and her animal friends.  They really are easy to make. I just use my computer, scrapbook paper and my circle cutter.  I used Photoshop to remove the original logo and add my own words.

We had princess punch at the drink station (just pink lemonade), and tea cups and mason jars for the moms with purple chevron paper straws.

My mom and I decorated the plastic tea cups with purple sparkly washi tape and tied ribbons around the handles and they were so cute!  I made little labels with each child's name so their cups wouldn't get mixed up.  The girls loved them and several people took them home as a party favor, too!

Up next... the royal tea party with these little princesses... and a big surprise visitor!