So, if you are reading this post thinking I'm going to talk about sweets, I'm not. But, what I am talking about truly was Delightfully Sweet!
This post is long over due. My sweet Brylee turned 3 back in December and I never got a chance to recap her birthday party. When I started writing and gathering pictures I realized I had ZERO pictures from her party! Total Mom fail! My sister took a few on her phone but I had none of the decoration before the madness began! I was so sad - the set up was beautiful. Because I needed to do this post and most of it did come from pinterest, I thought now would be the perfect time to recap. And yes, this was a Christmas themed party but take out the gingerbread and Christmas colors and you could totally do this whenever. It was so much fun!
Brylee's Gingerbread House
I planned this party for months! According to Pinterest I started pinning 23 weeks ago (ha!). Brylee loves to bake and help me in the kitchen so when I stumbled upon this cookie decorating party I knew it was the perfect idea! With her birthday being 10 days before Christmas it's convenient to do a Christmas theme - Gingerbread houses and everything red and green! I, of course, added some pink and it was so cute.
I decided to do the party in the garage. Having at least 10 kids all under 6 with icing and sprinkles, the garage would have been super easy to clean up. We were prepared to have space heaters if needed but the weather was perfect and we had both garage doors open. With the walls being bare and white, it was easy to have a blank slate to decorate with.
I used solid brown wrapping paper as table cloths and found a super cute red, green, blue and pink small roll of wrapping paper in Target's $$ section. I put that over the brown to give it something extra. I used some gingerbread man/girl scrap book paper at Hobby Lobby that I used as place mats. I also found a Gingerbread man door hanger and chalkboard at Hobby Lobby that I used for decor on the food/cake table (no pictures of that - I could kick myself!). I got all the kids a solid white apron from Hobby Lobby with the intention to iron on a gingerbread man/girl I found off etsy but I ran out of time. B did have her own apron that I had made for her party from someone local. She wears it all the time.
Each kid got a gingerbread cookie, baggie of icing (genius idea), and four paper bowls they could fill up with as much candy as they'd like. I had marshmallows, M&M's, gumdrops and sprinkles. I also gave them each a plastic spoon to spread the icing; some used it, some didn't. They went to town on these cookies! Blobs of icing, candy and sprinkles - parents were thrilled with the amount of sugar but the kids had fun.
Notice these are of my shirtless (ha!) nephew but each kid's cookie looked about the same!
My mom read this book to them while we gathered up their aprons, cleaned up the candy and put the cookies in the fridge (something I learned from a pin). After the table was cleaned we had a bit of downtime before we sang Happy Birthday so the kids colored these gingerbread house puzzles I found from, you guessed it, Hobby Lobby (seriously most of her party was from there!). While they were busy, the adults got to visit and eat some finger foods - pinwheel sandwiches, lil smokies with bbq sauce and chips and queso.
You can see the gingerbread door hanger back there, as well as my laundry sorter (insert laughing/crying emoji)!
When the coloring was no longer keeping them occupied we sang Happy Birthday and had our cupcakes/cake. Planning Tip: After planning Brylee's first birthday and trying to make everything myself someone gave me a great piece of advice - only make 3 things, buy everything else! There is so much unnecessary stress that goes into planning a birthday party so why stress even more making something when you could have just as easily bought it. I didn't listen to that said advice this time. I rushed to have everything ready and that's probably the reason I have no pictures before. Moms - take that advice! Back to the cake/cupcakes! I bought the cupcakes for the kids - Walmart Christmas cupcakes (heck yes!) and made the cake. Y'all I made Mix and Match Mama's Gingerbread Bundt Cake and it was divine! I totally recommend that.
That's totally her cake, by the way. Like I said, I have no pictures! :(
We opened presents and wrapped up the party! As each kiddo was leaving they got their 'goodie bags'. After their cookies chilled in the fridge I put them in a small baggie. I put that, their apron, their colored puzzle and a few other goodies in a paper bag and sealed it with their name cards from the table. They all enjoyed it and I do recommend this kind of party if you have a little baker in your house. :)
Check our my pinterest board to see my inspiration.
Follow Leah's board Parties/Events on Pinterest.
Follow Leah's board Parties/Events on Pinterest.
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