Fairy Tale Adventure Party

Jeff and I, along with the help of good good friends, actually pulled off a pretty awesome birthday party for Hazel this year. Little miss fancy pants herself was even pleased (which is saying a lot).

We had a "Fairy Tale Adventure Party" at one of our very favorite parks which just happens to be right by our house. The stars must have been aligned right that day: the rain held off, the friends all showed up (in costume even) and Hazel only melted down a few times.

For the party the kids all showed up as their favorite fairy tale characters and Jeff organized an awesome adventure treasure hunt.

He made up pretty cleaver clues (even burnt the edges of the paper to make them look old and authentic) that lead the kids all over the woodsy park imagining they were fighting off dragons and dodging witches. They had to look for magic fairies and find enchanted acorns. They had to throw rocks at dragons down in bogs near burnt out bridges and knock on magical trees. They even had to find a toad (which they did), make a big "croak" and hear his joke. I think they were all delighted. I love watching kids light up with imagination.

At the end of the treasure hunt was a pinata treasure box filled with all kinds of cheap thrills. The kids loved the loot once they could get that darn Pinata opened! After two rounds of whacking I finally had to rip it open when they said the magic word.

Much to Hazel's delight she got to be the "fanciest" fairy at the party, open some great presents (she was so disappointed when the family presents ran out) and eat all the strawberry cake that she could stomach.

After everyone left Jeff pushed her high on the swings while she chanted "I love Pine Bakes Park, I LOVED my birthday party." Ahhhh, the relief I feel!

Charlie was pretty much a little angel throughout the whole birthday week. I was pretty amazed (and quite pleased) that he didn't break down and demand more attention as we spent SOOO much energy on Hazel. I can't get over how happy I am that these two are such good friends.

I even had a good time, thanks to my dear friends A and M who were busily taking awesome pictures for me so that I could just be a mom and not a photographer too. That sure made Jeff happy. Thank you SOOOOO much!

So, yes.....we did it, we survived our first real birthday party....and we've decided that every other year friend parties is a family tradition we're going to embrace. Boy, that's fun, but a lot of work!