A Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party

Sunday, October 21st was party day!! 

We began the morning at Village Inn so we could celebrate Grandpa Dan’s birthday which was on the 17th.  After a yummy breakfast we headed home so Kenna could nap and so we could finish preparing for her parties!

We decided to let Kenna open her gifts from Great Grandpa Pete and Great Grandma Lile when we got home, knowing she would be opening many gifts later in the day.  McKenna was speechless when she opened up the Strawberry Shortcake dolls!  She waited so patiently as we got them out of the box.  (By the way- who packages toys now-a-days?!!  It’s unbelievable how tightly and individually packaged they are… wow!)  She was also beyond thrilled to open the Strawberry Shortcake cash register!!

Grandma Tappy and Grandma Lile stayed in town for a little while to help me set up.  We had a lot of fruit to wash and prepare.  Extra hands are always welcomed!!!  Thank you G and G for your help!

I decided this year to have McKenna’s friend party be one without parents.  The last two years we’ve invited the families as well (which also happen to be our friends), but now that each family has grown, I knew we wouldn’t have enough room in our house for everyone!  Matt thought I was completely out of my mind, but I tried to reassure him by reminding him that I am a teacher and that I would have my mom, grandma, and sister there to help out if needed. :) 

Strawberry Shortcake became the theme of McKenna’s party early summer when Danielle found Strawberry Shortcake treat boxes on clearance at Party City.  She mentioned the idea of a Strawberry themed birthday and I knew it would be perfect!  McKenna’s DVD collection of nearly ten movies and McDonald Happy Meal Strawberry Shortcake girls have been one of her favorite things for months. 

I began looking for anything Strawberry Shortcake related throughout the summer and had majority of the party supplies before school started!  That was one thing I can say I accomplished this summer! :)

This 3 year old is ready to party!

At 3:30 nine little friends arrived for Kenna’s third birthday party!  We started downstairs with tattoos and coloring.  Ella enjoyed playing the roll as the helper at the party! :)

You forget how long a three year old’s attention span is…. after a couple minutes they are done and ready to go to the next thing!  Being downstairs allowed us to give them some time just to play with McKenna’s toys.  The dog kennel, kitchen, and princess castle were hits!

     Cousins Camden and Grace playing together!

As soon as we “tatted” (as Jani says :) ) everyone up, we decided we should attempt a group shot!  Poor Camden was a trooper and dealt all the girls so we thought he needed to be at the top!

Trying to get ten kids to look at the camera was an impossible task, but we tried!  I had a spray bottle in my hand and started spraying water so they would all look.  They started putting their hands up trying to touch the water… When I looked back through the pictures you could actually see the water drops, which made the pictures blurry!  (See bottom right picture.)

Top:  Camden B.  Middle:  Violet M., Alaina G., McKenna, Lily, Grace B.  Bottom:  Ella, Jordann O., Harlow O., and Jani W.

It’s hard to come up with games for three year olds, so we kept to the same things as we’ve done in the past! :)  Put the strawberry in Strawberry Shortcake’s basket was this year’s version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey!  Ella helped us spin them around and then guide them in the right direction.  The kiddos had a hard time with the idea that it was okay that they couldn’t see!  Each one would try to take the bandana off! :)

We let the birthday girl go first.  She didn’t want to set her new girl, Cherry Jam, down!  I love the picture from when we were finished because it has a silhouette of McKenna’s face!

I wanted to try to get a picture of each friend with McKenna in front of the Strawberry Shortcake backdrop so I could stick it in their thank you card.  I knew this was a long shot, but I was willing to at least try!  Teacher Ella would escort one kid upstairs at a time for their photo op.  Then she would take them back downstairs so they could play!  This went much better than I expected it to, yay! :)

The party quickly moved upstairs to McKenna’s bedroom for a dance party.  I turned the music on and her bedroom became transformed into Sharky’s.  It was a scary preview of what life might be like in 2030 on The Hill!

Next it was time for presents!  At three, it can be hard to understand that the gift that you bring is for the birthday girl, rather than for yourself! :)  It was cute to watch the excitement on their faces when McKenna opened each gift.  She of course wanted us to get each gift out of the box so she could play with it right then and there!  We had to remind her numerous times that she would get to play with it later because she had more presents to open!

After presents it was time to sing to the birthday girl! 

Grandma Tami made the cake again this year using her fun pan.  McKenna at first thought it was a “M” for McKenna.  Ha! 

We learned quickly that you don’t ask three year olds what kind of fruit they like.  (I should know that from being a teacher!)  We started out with a couple kids at the counter picking out what they wanted to eat.  This caused eight other kids to become VERY impatient!!  “Where’s my food?”  “I want cake!” “I didn’t get a drink!”  “When’s my turn?!”  My grandma, mom, and I looked at each other with the same thought- just put some on each plate and get these kids some food- FAST!

 

Next year we will have all the food prepared on their plates and on the table waiting for them, along with 10 straws in juice boxes before we tell them it’s time to eat!

The rest of the time was spent playing, eating rock candy, and passing out treat bags while we waited for parents to pick up! 

When Alex walked through the door with Eli and Baby Kaiden, McKenna completely forgot all about passing out treat bags to her friends and rushed to give Baby Kaiden a hug.  She immediately started talking baby talk to him, making him smile!  Alex let her hold him and she was in HEAVEN!  Seeing her so excited make her mommy excited and hopeful this is how she’ll be with her baby brother or sister!

Funny story: Ella was downstairs playing with a few kids, including her sister. Lily had just started potty training and this was one of her first times away from home. Lily said she had to go potty so Ella carried her upstairs to us. Well… it was too late… she peed on Ella on the way up the stairs!!! This wasn’t her only accident of the party- as she had pooped her pants twice earlier!!!

Another birthday party down in the books!  Overall, things went better as planned.  We were amazed at how well-behaved our party guests were.  Two minor meltdowns and one child peed on.  I would consider that a SUCCESS!

We hope everyone had a BERRY good time, especially our birthday girl!