Wednesday, December 9, 2009

All Things Gingerbread....

Last year when we were doing our "After Christmas Bargain Shopping", Kinlee decided that she wanted to have a Gingerbread Man party when she turned 8 - almost a WHOLE year later. After the speech of "you can't change your mind if we buy stuff now", she agreed, and we were able to rack up on some great bargains. She dabbled here and there throughout the year on other ideas, but with much reminding and prompting, she stuck with her plan. Her party was this past Saturday, and she told me she thought is was the best one yet!! (I love hearing that!!). She invited 15 girls, and I think all but 2 were able to make it. They had a blast!!! We have found in the past with that many girls, it is easier to divide them into groups and rotate them around to different activities - girls like that sort of thing. The boys just want a football and a yard, but the girls want "crafts"! So, we decorated G.bread man purses, painted G.bread man ornaments, decorated cookies, and played a "build your own g.bread man" game:
I was able to scrounge around and find more Gingerbread man stuff around here than I thought I had. A day or so before her party, Kinlee said, "I sure wish I had a Gingerbread man shirt to wear to my party." Well, that's all it took. Not having enough time to run to Wal-Mart and there is NOTHING around here in the craft-y store department, again, I scrounged. So, with an already purchased black shirt, a tan pillowcase, some buttons, scrap material, and zebra print ribbon, the following shirt was created. I surprised her with it when she came home from school. Much to my relief....She LOVED it!!! Mission accomplished. It even gave me an idea of how to decorate the gingerbread man on her cake:
I have probably mentioned this in past birthday posts, but we have a tradition that also helps to get rid of all those balloons....at the end of the party, each child grabs a balloon, and outside we go. On the count of three, we all shout "Happy Birthday, ______________" and release the balloons. The kids have begun to look forward to it and love to watch the balloons fly away and see how many will get stuck in the trees - I think we only had 1 casualty this year!!!
It was a great day, and much fun was had by all. My job is finished....

5 comments:

Wendi said...

That is the most adorable party idea!! Love it!:) You do such a great job!!!:)

Arika said...

WOW! Very cool party! You are such a great and creative mommy! :)

Sandy said...

Looks great! You are so crafty!!! I sure wish I had a gingerbread man shirt :-) :-)! The cake looked awesome too. I love that it matched Kinlee's shirt.

Stephanie said...

I'll have to see what I can come up with, Sandy....oh, sorry, all out of pillow cases!!!:(

Sandy said...

Too Bad! :-)!!