As a result, Saturday, May 4th, was literally the first Saturday that I was able to host her party besides her birthday weekend. Ella helped me come up with a list of friends who she wanted to invite and she chose to have a Frozen themed party. Since I have already thrown Frozen themed and Little Mermaid themed birthday parties for Lia and had kept all of the decorations, etc, I gave Ella these two choices. She was happy to go with Frozen and so I was easily able to plan and prepare for this party in a matter of hours as compared to several days when I put on Lia's party back in 2015. This was such a help to me since I have so little 'free time' right now with a nursing, young baby. Most of the girls we invited were able to come and Ella was so excited when Lia helped me put up the decorations yesterday after school. I added some extra lights and tinsel garlands (that I had bought on clearance back in December) to the decorations this time around and the kitchen and family room turned out to look quite festive. I planned the exact same activities and games that we did at Lia's party and even made the exact same cake with an Elsa Barbie doll. I got Ella all dressed up for her party complete with her Elsa costume and jewelry, curled hair, and even some make-up (which is something that Lia never would have let me do before her party due to her aversion to all things scratchy and uncomfortable). My mom arrived just minutes before the party to watch baby Emmett upstairs in our room and so we were all ready to go when the guests started arriving at 2 p.m. Ella and her friends had a great time playing games, opening gifts, and eating cake and ice cream. They all looked so adorable in their princess dresses (which we asked them to wear to the party) and were really a well behaved group of girls. We finished a few minutes early and were able to send them outside in the glorious sunshine for some backyard play time before the parents started arriving at 4 p.m. Overall, I'd say the party was a success. It took little effort to pull off and Ella had a great time and enjoyed being in the spot light for a few hours which is a rare thing when you are child #3 out of four children!
Ella all dressed up and ready to go before her party started!
Ella posing on the front porch in front of the Elsa and Anna cutout and the balloon bouquet.
The gorgeous, Frozen wreath I made four years ago for Lia's party that is still going strong.
A shot of the family room through one of the open windows that was framed with tinsel, lights, and hanging snowflakes.
The grand table ready to go.
The mantel decorated with the burlap garland I made four years ago that says, "Let It Go," and two of Lia's American Girl Dolls dressed up as Elsa and Anna.
The massive Elsa cake sitting on the party table.
Ella's first guest just happened to be her friend, Valeria, who was the only girl who came dressed up as Anna. I immediately had to take a picture of these two 'sisters.'
As the girls arrived, we had them color a Frozen coloring picture of their chose. Here is Ella with Sloan (a friend from preschool) and Valerie (a friend from church and last year's preschool co-op).
Emmy, Mia, and Amelia coloring away. Ella knows these three girls from church, preschool, and her dance class.
After coloring, we moved all of the girls out to the garage to paint a snowflake ornament. Here is Ella giving me a smile.
Emmy, Ella, and Mia painting away.
We then came back inside to play 'Pin-the-Carrot-Nose-on-Olaf.' Ron and Lia helped out with this game. Here is one of Ella's friends from preschool, Audrina, getting turned around by Ron before trying to put the nose on Olaf.
Talia, another friend from church, placing her nose on the poster.
Logan enjoyed participating in all of the games before he was picked up by a friend to go to his own birthday party. Here he is feeling around the poster before placing the nose on Olaf.
We next had the girls move into the family room to play the pretend game, 'Keep-the-Snowflakes-Up-in-the-Air,' using white balloons while we played the song, "Let It Go!" As with Lia's party years ago, the girls just loved this game.
Bouncing the balloons up into the air!
More of the same!
We then played "Hot Barbie" instead of "Hot Potato," and both Lia and Logan joined in for this game. We put a positive twist on the game and gave everyone a piece of candy when they happened to have the doll in their hands when the music stopped.
Amelia passing the Elsa doll to Ella.
We finished off the games by having the girls play, "Hide the Elsa Barbie doll shoe," instead of our family favorite, "Hide the Thimble." This was a new game to all of the girls and everyone seemed to enjoy it!
Ella then had a chance to open up her gifts. Here she is opening up a cat care set from her friend, Zoey, who she knows from preschool.
Ella was so excited to get an Elena Barbie doll from Emmy.
She also was so thrilled to get a handmade mermaid tail to put on her AG Wellie Wisher doll from her friend, Mia.
The girls all gathered around the table next for some cake and ice cream. Here is Ella listening to everyone sing, "Happy Birthday" to her.
Ella blowing out her candles!
Ella watching the smoke rise off the candles after she was done blowing them out.
Ella enjoying her blue punch that we served with the cake and ice cream.
Valerie, Amelia, and Zoey eating away.
Sisters, Palmer and Sloan, enjoying their dessert.
Mia and Emmy, too.
The birthday girl and her friend, Audrina, at the head of the table. I love how it looks like Ella is blowing a kiss in this picture!
The adorable scene found in our backyard at the end of the party when our playset was crawling in little princesses wearing poofy, ball gowns!
At the end of the party, grandma ventured downstairs with baby Emmett who managed to sleep for the first 1.5 hours of the 2 hour party. Good job, baby! She was able to join us for some cake and ice cream before the guests left. As always, thank you grandma for your invaluable help! We could not have thrown this party without you!
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