Making Do

My daughter turned 4 years old this week.  Yesterday my Mike and I threw a bounce house party for her.

Logan, the birthday beauty -

Early on I decided to have the eating, drinking and candle blowing activities take place in the garage which opens up to the section of the yard where Mike thought the bounce house (a castle actually) should be located.  The garage is in desperate need of painting, but I didn't want to work on that project until this summer, so I had to figure out how to "make do" with the garage, yet throw a birthday party that met my personal throw-a-good-party standards.  My solution was to hang inexpensive white plastic tablecloths from a beam that runs across the garage creating a backdrop and an area to store things I didn't want to look at or move for the party.  In the center was a table and chairs where the kids sat for lunch and cake.

Please view my handiwork -

What's a girl's party these days with out tissue paper pom-poms?

On the table were party hats and plastic sand buckets that held sidewalk chalk and bubble tubes -

When Mike first saw these buckets sitting on our dining room table with the rest of the party supplies before I'd added the chalk and bubbles he asked me, "Are you getting sand?"  I said, "Sand?  For what?"  He said, "You've got these sand buckets." ... Way to think INSIDE the box Mike.  Funny.

I also covered the 2 side walls of the garage with plastic tablecloths where I placed the beverage and food tables.  Beverages - water, lemonade and champagne lemonade (to assist the adults, of course) with a copy of the party invitation in the middle -

Food and cake - PB&Js for the kids, BLT wraps for the adults, grapes, string cheese, chips and rainbow twizzlers for everyone!

A close up -

Smuckers has to make a seriously good profit margin on these, but don't they look nice all in a row?

Rainbow twizzlers are really good.  They were a crowd-pleaser for sure.  I am devoting a whole other post to that beauty of a cake you see here -

A close up of the pendant banner I made -

Party favors passed out at the end -

A cold front blew in Friday so the weather was cloudy and windy with the temperature in the mid-fifties when the party began.  That didn't stop everyone from enjoying themselves and the kids bounced themselves silly.  The party people and the bounce castle -

Since it was so cold everyone including Logan and I were wearing jackets.  Underneath her jacket she was wearing this super cool tee shirt I ordered for her (this the tee model not my daughter by the way) -

Some people have Christmas pajamas.  We have birthday tee shirts.  The tee back - 

An apron I ordered for myself, but forgot to put on.  I'll still use this a lot -

The party was a success in my book.  Nobody got hurt or cried.  Everybody ate, drank or bounced - or all 3.  When I asked Logan last night what her favorite part of her party was she said, "Having all those people come to my house."  Success.