One of the best things to happen to Claire was moving into this neighborhood. It seems to be chock-full of fun girls her age! Upon moving here and starting kindergarten, she became best friends with Grace Riley. Grace was in her class at school, at church, and lives just a block away from us! And as it would turn out, their birthdays are just a week apart.
When Claire's birthday was approaching, she kept saying she wanted a birthday party with her friends. Honestly, I was NOT in the place to throw a party! But, I want to be remembered as a nice Mom, so I tried to gently discourage her by saying that she had a birthday budget that she could choose to use on a party with her friends...or presents. Much to my dismay, she was willing to give up presents and have her party. Blast! Claire-1, Mom-0. :)
Then Grace's Mom, Laura, approached me about doing a combined birthday party for Grace and Claire, since their birthdays were so close together and they shared all the same friends. I was honest and told her I wasn't sure I could be much help, and she assured me she had it all under control. Well, who could argue with that?
Claire and Grace worked on their Hello Kitty invitations, and then went out with Laura to deliver them together. June 1st was the big day, and the weather was beautiful...the perfect summer day for a water-fun Hello Kitty themed birthday party! Laura and her girls came up with all sorts of fun water games to play. The party commenced with a rousing game of "Hello, Hello, Kitty!"...an obvious take on "Duck, Duck, Goose", but this version included a cup of water being dumped on the person who was chosen as "Kitty". The kids all had a blast!
Then there was a water balloon game. Grace's big sister Emma is quite the artist, and painted some beautiful tulips as targets for the water balloons. It was a very simple game...just throw the balloon at the flower! The kids were in heaven throwing their water balloons and watching the water splat everywhere.
Sophie really got into it, becoming some sort of Water Warrior Princess. :)
While the next game was being set up, we let the kids go and play in the pools. Of the 21 invitations that were sent out, about 18 showed! It couldn't believe how many kids there were! It was awesome.
Most of the girls were from Claire and Grace's kindergarten class, but a few were from the ward, neighborhood, and we even fit some cousins in!
For the next game, we lined the kids up for a relay race/obstacle course. How cute are a bunch of adorable kids in swimming suits lined up against a white picket fence? :)
The course started with a ball and a squirt bottle. The kids needed to squirt the ball all the way down the track before moving on to the next obstacle. This was obviously tons of fun, but not so terribly easy!
Then they would throw some water balls into a swimming pool...
...and move on to fill a cup of water and select the next runner by pouring said cup of water on their feet!
I have to say, Emma and her friends did an awesome job of creating and running these games! Big sisters make everything so cool.
Like I said, this was a Hello Kitty themed water party. After the relay/obstacle course, we directed the kids over for cake and ice cream. Again, Emma and her squad decorated the cake area quite nicely!
And the cupcakes were simply adorable! Again, Emma's doing. I think I might steal her. :)
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Grace and Claire! Happy Birthday to you!!"
BFFs....
The biggest contribution Emma made to the party was her pinata! This amazing girl designed and decorated the cutest Hello Kitty pinata ever! For safety's sake, she opted to design a bat-free version, and came up with an ingenious design. She wove these strings in such a way that all of them but one would give way when pulled. The one that wouldn't pull free would loosen the trap door and the candy would fall out. Incredible!
Claire didn't quite understand that she was supposed to just pull one string and instead pulled a whole handful!
And the candy came a-tumbling down! The other kids didn't mind at all that they didn't get the chance to pull a string once they saw the candy hit the ground. It was survival of the fittest after that!
In the end, everyone got a few pieces of candy and some other little goodies, and took a break to enjoy their plunder.
After the pinata, the kids scattered and played. To help pull them back together, we played a fishing game in the swimming pools. Everyone got to catch a sea creature bath toy with their net. Good times. :)
With the fishing game having pulled the kids back together into one somewhat cohesive group, we decided it was a good time to to presents. A vast majority of the gifts Claire and Grace received were Hello Kitty things, which had both girls seeing pink! Claire wanted pictures of all her friends, so I delivered. I plan on quizzing her yearly on their names. :)
What an amazing party! I think I can speak for both girls when I say it was the best birthday party ever! Claire and Grace have such awesome friends. I didn't get to meet hardly any of the girls that Claire would talk about when she would come home from school, so it was exciting for me to see how many friends she has and how they genuinely care for my girl.
As parents slowly started to come by to pick up their kids, the remaining decided they wanted to give the Hello Kitty sprinkler a try! The pools and sprinkler stayed in action until the very last minute.
Then there was nothing left to do but dry off and catch some rays. :)
For a six-year-old birthday, this party was about as epic as it gets! A huge thanks to Laura and her awesome girls for putting so much effort into the party! I know Claire was on cloud nine...
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