Party Time

The girl had her first big birthday bash here at the house over the weekend. 20 teenagers. Wow.  What was I thinking? Trust me, future gatherings will have a LOT less kids. Fortunately, she had a couple of friends who came the day before and helped out so much in terms of setting up. After we burned a twenty at the dollar store, they decorated the front porch:

One of the oddest buys were these balloons from the dollar store that came in "assorted shapes".  Seriously, what kind of shapes are these?

We made one wall a photo booth area and set up a prop station (which you'll probably notice included more dollar store finds like the mustaches, boas, leis, straw hat, sunglasses, and a foam cowboy hat):

I loved the signs that the girl's friend made:

Obviously this friend dislikes wasted cups of soda.  My kind of girl:

They even moved the furniture around and hung balloons and homemade banners around the room:

As the kids came in, I'd lead groups of kids to the photo booth wall and some would try props and pose together.  Some really got into the props and others preferred plain group shots.  Before they left, I printed out pictures for the kids to take home.  Since the party was in the afternoon, food was simple--chips with dips and cookies that the girls made:

Good use of one of the balloon shapes, right?  Less sure about the mustache:

Some kids dug the temporary tattoos and went for a "sleeved" look:

And there were birthday cupcakes that the girls baked and frosted.  The part you don't see is after the girl blew out the candle, a cupcake got smooshed in her face.  One of her friends said it's kind of a tradition--I guess it's not just for weddings anymore!

I'm sure a lot of kids would "just die" if I posted their photo booth pics, but I do have this one I snapped of me and the girl post-party.  I think this party managed to age me ten years and ten pounds.

But the girl had a good time. Happy Birthday to my big girl!