My daughter and I thought long and hard about how to celebrate her 12th birthday with her friends, yet stay within a reasonable budget. We moved her birthday up a few weeks to take advantage of the warmer weather and planned an outdoor movie night.
I love home birthday parties
There is just something about the planning and getting it all together in the “home” that reminds me of when my mom had a couple parties for me, when I was young. Of course back then I think I only had 2 birthday parties. We just did not have a party every year …
Party Favors
Each girl who was invited was asked to bring a blanket and a standard-size pillow. Although I’m not a big fan of “party favors” (After all, aren’t guests invited to come and celebrate the birthday girl? Why do we have to give a gift back?), my daughter and I shopped at Ross and TJ Maxx for silk pillow cases ($2.50 each), and had our friend Hoppi sew each girl’s name on them. They were a hit!
The Eats
We served a mini burger bar with individual mini-fluted cakes for the eats!
Games
I think the games were the funnest part of the evening! The girls had a blast.
Relays using feet
Line kids up into two teams. Having the same items in the beginning of each row (ie, lemon, DVD, pen, bottle of lotion – all fairly light items totaling 10), on the start of “go” the girls have to pass each item back using their feet only, all the way back to the last person.
The team who gets all the items to the very end first wins!
Russian tag was a favorite
The kids lie in a circle, teamed up with a partner (heads to the center). There is a runner and a chaser.
The chaser has to chase the runner, and can cut through the middle, but the runner always has to run outside the circle. It doesn't matter what directions the runner goes. The runner's goal is to lie down next to a person, and the person on the end gets up and runs, becoming the new runner. If the runner is tagged then chaser becomes the runner and the runner becomes the chaser. It really is fun! Have you ever tried playing this?
A 99-cent ball
Good old-fashion fun with a ball. Let the kids make up their own rules and fun!
Freeze dancing could go on for hours
Play fun, lively, dancing music. The kids dance and when the music is turned off, the person who is moving is “out.” You eliminate a girl each time you stop the music, and end up with one winner.
Trying to keep it all together (me!)
16 girls who are bright spots in my daughter’s life
Girls do just want to have fun. They really don’t even need much entertainment – they can make their own! They had so much fun with games and just playing, that we could have even done without the movie. We could have invited many more friends - but since I ran the party by myself, we had to have a cut-off point. That was not easy (future post!)
Next post – the “Eats” and how we did “Outdoor Movie Night!" And if you want to read about past birthday parties, you can read about my ICE CREAM TROUGH, here, and another SIMPLE BIRTHDAY, here.
9/23/08
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38 comments:
The pillowcases are SUCH a cute idea! My mom and her sisters are coming to town next month for our annual "Girls' Weekend" and it's my turn to host. These would be a PERFECT gift when they arrive!
What a cool mom!! Love the pillow case idea! I may have to use that one.
I love that! The pillow cases were a great idea...how original.
Your girl is so cute! And 16 friends?! You're brave, woman!
They all look like they're having a blast. What a fun, memorable, and special birthday celebration!
This puts a huge lump in my throat. Now that we are way past those years, I realize how precious they are.
We had the all girl band the tinfoil girls... pictures are in safe keeping for the right event!
Y'all enjoy!
I can only imagine the beautiful sounds in your backyard from all these girls laughing and giggling!
What a wonderful celebration for Abby! You did put alot into this Sandy... LOVE!
xo
j
love your blog~~love your family. thank you :-)
How fun is that! The girls seemed to have a wonderful time. I had great parties growing up and I still remember them! Love the pictures!
-Sandy Toes
Wow what a fun night for your daughter and her friends. Happy Birthday!!! My daughter will be turning 12 soon too I may steal that idea. We have soooo many mosquitoes here though, it might not work outside. The pillowecases were the best though
happy day
deezie
Great idea & 16 girls - whew. That's quite a party.
Can't wait to hear the rest of the story.
i've just found your blog, and i love the games that you shared!
i'm impressed that you were able to entertain 16 girls with such great ideas! thank you for sharing.
That looks like a total blast! My oldests birthday is in November and we've talked about doing a friends party in the summer so she can do more fun summer activities.
16 girls?! By yourself! Wow you are a brave woman. My max is 8 yet my son is having a sleepover soon for his 9th birthday so I drew the line at 2 for sleeping over.
Looks like fun was had by all though!
this is such a great idea! how did you play the outdoor movie? on a sheet? i don't have kids yet, but i'm keeping this in mind for the future!!
What a super party. I think you were downright brave to have 16 girls over. It is hard to set a cut off point tho isn't it?
Darla
What a memorable birthday! Great ideas. =0)
i'd enjoy a party like that even as a 25-year-old. :) awesome event, definitely, and i plan to keep that relay game in mind for the future! :)
Well that just looks like terrific fun! I enjoyed this post and the ideas I always get from you!
I loved hearing how the gifts to the girls were inexpensive and yet so beautiful. The party sounds wonderful Sandy. I am always in awe at how special you make events like this in your children's lives. What a gift you give them.
What a fantastic party! Love your pillowcase party favors - great idea!
What a blessed girl to have so many friends! I am over here just filing away ideas for parties at home... love it! Thank you!
Looks like they all had a blast! I can't wait to read the rest of the details!
All you daughters friends must be telling her what a great party is was and what a cool mom you are. I love foot relay. I want to play!
Sounds like "A Good Time was Had by All!!!" That's great.
Lots of good memories to look back on. The pillowcases were a great idea, too.
Betty in Oklahoma
Beautiful pictures of the girls and great ideas for games and goodies. I am totally in agreement with you on the whole goody bag thing. Who in the world started up that crappy idea?
Happy Birthday to your sweet daughter!
What a cool, fun party!
You're the best Mom Sandy!
What great ideas and so much fun! :)
I love your blog! I TAGGED you...take a look on my blog if you want to "play"!
-Sandy Toes
Oh my goodness how precious. We did an outdoor movie night last summer... we can invite tons of families over when we are not confined to the house! So fun.
That looks so fun! My daughter did an outdoor movie night once, even the neighbor adults came out and watched over the fence!
What a great idea!
I love your blog. I will definitely be coming back for some great ideas!
My daughter would have loved this one...very cool. I love it....you make things for your kids so very special.
At home birthdays are always the best. It looks like she and her friends had a fantastic time. HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY to your cutie.
I loved everything about it! 12 is such a sweet age!
Oh how we love birthday parties! My daughter is excited because the big 10th birthday party has finally come! We are fortunate to have a great farm market down the road that has a corn maze, veggie launching, hay rides, etc....this will make my job easy!! Like you - we don't want cheesy gift bags - so we are tie dying orange shirts for all of the girls (easier to keep track of!!)
Thanks for all of the fun pictures!
Karla & Karrie too
What a wondeful birthday party she had! You are an amazing mom and you inspire me so much. Thank you for that and I can't wait for my daughter to get older :)
Oh, man ... I really, REALLY want an embroidery machine -- I know -- an odd thing to want! But look at everything you can do with it! Awesome favors!!!
I love it! This was so cute! I smiled the whole time reading this post...aww, I just loved reading about such a fun party. I am sure all these girls created some wonderful memories that night!
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