For our loved ones who could not be here to witness the energy and chaos in person, here's my version of a recap:
As the girls arrived, they made beaded necklaces with flowers, letters, and pony beads.
After they had all arrived and finished adorning themselves with beads, we played a couple of organized games in the backyard -- Lucy's choices were Toss The Ladybugs In The Buckets (these trusty plastic bowls were purchased for her first birthday party and have been used innumerable times since!), and Flower Flower Bee (which was an adaptation of Duck Duck Goose, but the chaser got to wear a "bee" headband).
A bouquet of lollipops was avaliable to pass out as prizes.
The girls then came inside and got to decorate a flower pot.
I opted for stickers and gems instead of paints, glues, and other messy things I would have to clean up. I know, I'm such a stick in the mud. But hey, at least I go with the garden theme! I must say that after watching 12 girls reaching over each other at the table, I didn't miss the mess at all!
They seemed quite focused on their masterpieces.
Lucy helped put each girl's pot in their take-home bag, which also had a flower-shaped lollipop, a bag of potting soil, and a bag of wildflower seeds to plant after they got home. (Here you can also see my pricey party decor, which consisted of construction paper flowers cut free-hand with green curling ribbon stems.)
While they decorated, they came over and made a guess as to how many 'bugs' were in this jar. The winner took home the large jar (she got it exactly right!) and the next closest guess got to take the small jar home.
This might have been a little overboard for seven-year-olds, but I wrapped the forks and spoons in green napkins and ribbon to look like flowers and leaves. Can't say that they noticed, but it was a fun touch for me.
(And you may be noticing quite a bit of this green curling ribbon in the decorations and on pretty much everything else. I've had this spool of ribbon since Josiah's first birthday party, and it never seems to end. It's a requirement now in our house that green MUST be incorporated into the party theme. This year I used a ton of it, and yet the spool goes on...)For lunch the girls ate bunny grahams, fruit salad, and sandwiches cut into flower and butterfly shapes. One sandwich was cream cheese and strawberry jelly on wheat bread, the other was peanut butter and blackberry jelly on white bread.
We had them stand around our deck table under the sun shade to eat.
And then they came back inside to sing "Happy Birthday" to Lucy and have dessert: Dirty Pudding.
Each cup of chocolate pudding and crushed Oreos had gummy worms and a plastic flower. Lucy's also had a butterfly. And a candle, of course.It got a great reaction from a room full of girls -- lots of gasping and "eeewwwwww!" But they all gobbled it up!
Then it was time for Spin The Bottle. To see whose gift Lucy would open, of course. At least that's how we play.
And I've never been more grateful for The Albatross -- our backyard swingset. In between activities, this is what they all kept asking to do.
Three things made this party possible without too much drama or loss of sanity: 1) The weather was glorious, making outside playtime possible and enjoyable! 2) Both our boys napped through the whole thing. Poor Joey woke up asking when the party was going to start. But it allowed us to focus on Lucy and the girls the whole time, which was a treat for her. And we saved him some dirt pudding, which made all forgiven. 3) The help of my dear husband and his parents -- Nana and Papa were sandwich-making, plate-serving, picture-taking, dirt-bagging, gift-recording stars, and I am so grateful they were in town to help!What a lot of silly girls! What a lot of fun! Happy Birthday, dear Lucy!
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