Olyvia's 6th birthday party

Today was Olyvia's 6th birthday party. She had a great time and so did I. It was a prairie girl party. Not only was it an original party idea, it was HER idea.

The invitations were hand delivered little aprons with a note card in the pocket that my mom and friend Sharon made. They were adorable and all of the girls wore them to the party.

As the girls arrived they decorated a straw cowgirl hat with artificial flowers. They chose the flowers they wanted and decided where to put them. They were all very unique and flat out adorable! While they were waiting to make a hat or waiting for others to finish the girls colored on the table with twist crayons. They drew horses, hearts and flowers...just like I assume the girls of the 1800's did!


Next they had dinner. Olyvia chose the menu:
chicken strips with ranch or bbq sauce
baby carrots
green and purple grapes
dinner rolls
lemonade
They had dinner on pie tins and had pink cowgirl boots for cups - again, adorable!




After dinner we made prairie bread. This idea is similar to cowboy cookies or kitchen sink... They chose the topping for their bread from cinnamon, brown & white sugar, nutmeg, raisins, chocolate chips and cloves. They scooped their topping in to a plastic ziploc bag. Then they rolled their "dough" (chopped up refrigerator biscuits), dipped it in vanilla milk and then dropped them in to the bag, gave it a shake and popped them into their loaf pans. Delish!




While the prairie bread was baking we played barnyard round up. They had ballons with animal faces on them tied to their ankle. They ran around and popped their balloon which had a nice toy horse surprise inside. They girls had a great time playing this game *mental note* and LOVED the tiny toy horse. (why is it that if you make it tiny it just seems better???)



After the round up we headed in for pin the tail on the pony. This game never gets tired, they were all cracking up and eagerly awaiting their turn. We did the blindfold and the spinning and the whole bit! It was so great to hear 10 little girls belly laughing (someone pinned the tail on the horses face - hilarious!)


Next we painted little wooden horses with watercolors. This was a great activity and all of the girls seemed to enjoy it! We had some very interesting looking horses!

Next, by popular demand, was present time! This is always a struggle for the birthday child. This year I had the girls sit on the rug while she sat in a chair and opened her gifts and I have to say we avoided the traditional "gift opening mob". She opened some lovely gifts and she made sure to show gratitude and excitement for each gift.

Then we had cake and ice cream. I decorated her cake and I am pretty darn proud of my efforts. I had the twins hanging on me at 1st so the base isn't as fab as I had hoped but all in all I think it looked nice. They sang happy birthday and Lyv was just as excited as she could be. They all laid on the floor and shared secrets and giggles over cake and ice cream...perfect!


The goodie bags were simple but fun - seeds, markers, a pencil and all of their treasures from the party. I think a good time was had by all but most of all from the birthday girl and that is what matters most of all - Happy Birthday Lyv!