Sunday afternoon we finally had Lily's birthday party! We held it at the golf course again since it is such a great space to have a party. But to make it more special and different than last year, we invited Princess Belle (Lily's Princess of choice) to come and run the party! Lily and all her girlfriends were SO beyond excited . . . and so was I!!
Since the room has been redecorated and is prettier now, I didn't do a whole lot to decorate. I just bought balloons. But my Dad let us use the chair covers and sashes and tablecloths. He even had Melina at work, put out little centerpieces with a single rose in a vase. I don't even think she realized how totally perfect that was for a Belle / Beauty and the Beast Theme. But I did and I loved it!
The cake. I thought I was SO clever to get 4 candles that spelled Lily for her 4th birthday!
While waiting for all her friends to arrive, my Dad hooked my phone up to the stereo system and Lily entertained us all by performing to Katy Perry songs.
Lily dressed as Belle for the party and it was her idea to have all her friends dress up as well! It was so cute seeing all the little princesses and a few superheroes!
Such a ham.
Makayla was the first to arrive! Lily showed her how to play the castle ring toss.
Belle got there and immediately got the party started with some stories. The girls were mesmerized . . . the boys took a little longer to get into it.
Having SO much fun!
Dancing and playing with silly hats. Belle had a lot of hats!
Making funny faces in funny hats.
A story with the princess puppet -- then they all had took turns running around the room with it.
Go Lily!
Cheering on their friends.
Dancing and freezing when the music stops.
Then Belle pulled out her treasure map and it was time for a treasure hunt!
Squeezing by the prickly cactus . . .
crawling through something (can't recall what) . . .
running through tornados . . .
climbing trees . . .
They found the treasure! Lily got a special crown, wand and purse with lip gloss.
Looking at the treasure chest.
Everyone got to pick out 3 items to keep!
Then it was time for face painting and balloon animals.
Trying to get a photo with the whole gang, but there were 24 kids there, so that was never going to be perfect!
Cake time!
Make a wish sweet baby girl!
Saying good bye to Belle. I am SO glad we invited her to come! She did a fantastic job and made it a great party to remember forever! And, it made my job super easy since I didn't have to do much at all! :)
The best part was at the end when the kids discovered that the balloons would fly when you put them over the heater vents on the floor! They had so much fun with that!
Grandpa wanted to let all the extra balloon go and watch them fly away (since they would lose their helium in a few hours anyway), but Lily started freaking out and would not let go. So we brought them all home.
Time to open all the presents!
Silly Lily lined them all up.
She got so much good stuff! Lots of Strawberry Shortcake stuff, which she was berry excited about (pun intended) and only a couple things she already had -- but thankfully, those came with gift receipts so she is all ready to return them and pick out new toys. . . since that is exactly what she needs -- more toys!! It was a great day!