Lia's Beanie Boo Birthday Party

After hours of preparation, I am happy to say that I successfuly wrapped up Lia's friend birthday party yesterday.  Unlike previous years, Lia went back and forth as to what theme she wanted to have this year.  On her own, she came up with the idea of a Beanie Boo party one day this past fall, but I told her I would only do it if there was a plethora of ideas on the internet.  However, I never got around to looking into it until the beginning of January when the holiday season was over.  I was blown away to learn that there was hundreds of ideas online and so I told her it was a "go!"  And I am happy to report that this was our cutest friend party yet.  I really had a fun time coming up with ideas for the decorations, activities, games, and the cake.  In addition to the Beanie Boos, I decided to go with a lavendar, turqouise, and bright pink color theme with polka dots.  Like Lia's 6th birthday party, we invited 18 girls and got a "yes" from 17!  Ahhh!  I let Lia add one more to the list and so we had 19 girls under our roof for two hours.  But thanks to having everything planned out and having Ron's assistance, the girls had a great time and the party was a real success!  I am so grateful for the wonderful group of friends that Lia has from church and school.

This the second year in a row that I made a coordinating wreath out of deco mesh to hang on the front door.  We just happened to have five, minature Beanie Boos that matched the color theme to put on the wreath.

Although Lia loves Beanie Boos, she does not have a large collection (mainly because I can't stand  piles of stuffed animals in my kids' rooms).  As a result, we had to borrow 35 Beanie Boos from three of Lia's friends.  It really helped to make the party so cute.  Here is the mantle all decorated.  The penant says "Happy Birthday" with a different picture of a Beanie Boo above each letter.

The grand table set for nineteen girls!  I leared how to make tissue poms this year which hung from the ceiling and the windows in addition to the balloons and streamers.  We also ran Beanie Boos down the entire length of the table.  It looked so cute!

The birthday cake with Lia's Beanie Boo unicorn, Magic, on top!

A close-up of the table with the polka dot plates and napkins, the confetti I made out of scrapbook paper, the Beanie boos, striped straws with the Beanie Boo strawtoppers I printed and cut out, and polka dot pillows I sewed for each of the girls' Beanie Boo (that we asked them to bring).  

After the girls arrived and had a chance to color a Beanie Boo coloring sheet, we did two crafts with the girls--making bead necklaces and party hats for the Beanie Boo they brought.  Here are the girls working on their party hats.

Suzette, Lia, and Charlotte decorating their party hats.

The group of girls hard at work. 

After the two crafts, we played several rounds of Beanie Boo Bingo on bingo cards I printed out.  Here is Ron leading the game.

The girls searching for a picture of the Beanie Boo Ron just called out.

Instead of playing drop the clothespin in a jar, we played drop the miniature Beanie Boo in the jar.  This game turned out to be harder than I thought and we only had two rounds instead of three!  Here is Sienna dropping the stuffed tiger into the mason jar.

Lindsay taking a go at it with Addison and Adalyn looking on.

We then opened gifts next.  Here is Lia opening up a gift with her new friend, Bella, who just moved up the street this past October.  

Lia reading Maddison' card.  Maddison probably gave Lia the most surprising and generous gift of all--a miniature American Girl Lea Clark doll and her first, two books.  

Lia showing off the two Beanie Boos that sisters Mollie and Gabriella gave her.

Lia reading Addyson's card. 

We finished off the party with cake and ice cream.  Here is Lia making a funny face as the girls sang "Happy Birthday" to her!

Lia blowing out the candles.

The girls enjoying their cake and ice cream.

From left to right:  Lilah, Gabriella, Mollie, Isabel, and Suzette.

For some reason, the girls fell in love with the blue, Hawaiian punch we served.  They kept on asking for refills which kept Ron very busy until they drank up the entire large jug of punch.  I managed to get this funny picture of three girls holding up their cups for refills with Lia eating in the background.  

My sweet birthday girl with her new Beanie Boo friends at her side.