Ashley's Silly Six Party was SO much fun! I think I wore the kids out as well as myself. The rules were that you had to dress silly and that all the games and food had to have a silly theme. Ashley said "it was the best birthday party ever."
We started out with TONS of silly games. We had blown up 50 balloons and had them all over the floor.
1. Pop the balloon: Find a balloon with a candy in it. You have to pop the balloon to get the candy! (This was hilarious to watch the different methods used to pop the balloon.)
2. Balloon relays: Place a balloon between your knees and hop, or walk very funny, trying to get to the door and back. Next, find a partner, place the balloon between your heads and again go to the door and back.
3. Balloon Fight!
4. Mummy Wrap: I gave each child their own toilet paper roll. With a partner, they took turns wrapping each other all up. Lots of laughter and toilet paper everywhere on this one. At the end, I had them all wrap up Ashley (along with Zack since we had an odd number and he didn't get wrapped yet) and that ended up turning into a toilet paper fight. The kids really enjoyed it because how many times do you get to play with a whole roll of toilet paper?
5. Donut eating off a string
6. Hula Hoop game: 2 lines, holding hands, have to get everyone in their line through the hula hoop. This one was a little bit hard because they kept dropping their hands.
7. Twister
8. Dance and freeze when the music stops. Crazy dancing encouraged! (I used this to fill up extra time and at the beginning).
9. Chicken Dance and Bunny Hop (These were also fillers for the beginning).
10. Parachute: We put all the balloons in the middle and had great time bouncing them in the air. Of course, we also had to get under it.
When it was time to open presents, I had all the kids sit in a circle. One person would spin a silly straw and whoever it was pointing to got to give her gift to Ashley and then spin it herself for the next person. This kept everyone pretty entertained.
We also had some great silly pictures. . .
For a silly cake, I made this ice cream cone cake! I even frosted the cake with buttercream icing and had fun decorating it with lots of dots.
The kids loved it because it looked like ice cream. We also used trick candles with several kids trying to blow them out at the end. We paired it with Cookie Dough ice cream.
Betty Crocker's Ice Cream Cone Cake:1 Box Betty Crocker Supermoist party rainbow chip cake mix
(Also need vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake box)
24 flat bottom ice cream cones
1-2 containers Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy frosting (or make your own like I did--I just used Wilton's Buttercream Icing recipe).
1. Heat oven to 350 (325 for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2. Make cake batter as directed on box. Fill each cup 2/3 full of batter (1 heaping Tablespoon each). Place ice cream cone upside down on batter in each cup.
3. Bake 15-20 min or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Remove paper baking cups. Generously frost cake with frosting and decorate as desired.
My tip: Since I wanted the finished product to look like a big cake, after frosting each top I would place it on a cookie sheet very close to the previous cone. The frosting helped them stick together at the top and give it stability.
At the end, we passed out little treat bags with silly straws, silly glasses, and sour candy (to make silly faces).
It was a lot of fun, but boy was I exhausted at the end. I noticed the kids were drinking a lot at the table so they were partying hard as well! Natalie was asleep for most of it, but woke up just in time for cake and silly dancing. She loved all the kids being there. Zack can't wait for his silly six party someday now...at least I have 2 years to build up my energy for that one!
Josh caught 2 great expressions while taking her picture one day. Here she is happy about the pictures:
and here she is clearly done with the pictures!
Everyone was so excited that she joined our family:
and now she is 2! You can tell she had a great time at our IHOP birthday celebration with pancakes and chocolate milk ...
Her favorite present was her new easy dress dolly:
She knew just what to do when those 2 lit candles came out--she blew them right out :)
Ashley really enjoyed the phone calls and presents she got for her birthday. One of her favorite presents was this new mermaid dress-up.
I have always wanted to be mother. We had to go through a lot with both of these pregnancies and I am thankful for modern medicine and good doctors. I still remember our 2 years of trying to get pregnant with Ashley and our very first pregnancy resulting in a miscarriage. We were so excited when we finally got to hold her in our arms for the first time.
Here is a great picture of Ashley with her Aunt Heather!
I am so thankful for the blessings that come from being a mother. I am also thankful for girls! Having 2 girls is so much fun...although I am thrilled to have my cute boy too :)
3. Balloon Fight!
5. Donut eating off a string
6. Hula Hoop game: 2 lines, holding hands, have to get everyone in their line through the hula hoop. This one was a little bit hard because they kept dropping their hands.
9. Chicken Dance and Bunny Hop (These were also fillers for the beginning).
When it was time to open presents, I had all the kids sit in a circle. One person would spin a silly straw and whoever it was pointing to got to give her gift to Ashley and then spin it herself for the next person. This kept everyone pretty entertained.
She put together this outfit so she could be "the purplest girl there." Ashley came home bubbling about her day and had even scoped out "a handsome boy." We'll have to find out more about him...
Ashley is almost 6! We took some pictures of her dressed up "very silly" in anticipation of her "silly six party." She is very excited. A special thanks to her cousin Naomi and Aunt Emily for giving us the inspiration and fabulous example for this idea! Stay tuned for a future update on how this party turns out...
