Emma's Birthday Celebration

Well, it's official. Our sweet baby girl just turned five. I'm here to give you the birthday party recap. Let's start with the invite (with some information blurred out :)...

We've been planning her party for months now. It all started with a request about nine months ago for a reindeer party. All I could think was a reindeer party? In September? And Christmas had already passed, so there was not a single reindeer thing to even buy. awesome. So, this is what I did...

It was an Emma's favorite things party. So, she picked it all. The colors. The reindeer. The cake. The drinks. The list goes on. Just so you don't think I'm crazy, take a look at this photo, and maybe after you read it, you won't think I'm quite so schizophrenic, and you'll understand how this party came to be.

We had tons of family in for the big celebration. It's always a treat to see my sweet sisters...

And, of course, no party's complete without Mama C.!


This was her cake. It was a lemonade cake, which was per miss emma's request. Her favorite color is yellow, so the inside was yellow too. We used her very own toy favorite reindeer for the top, and I made a sweet bunting with her name for decoration. I used this recipe. But, I did tweak it a bit. I don't think I'm capable of following a recipe completely. I used yellow lemonade mix, and added the zest of two lemons. I think I doubled the lemon juice, and added some yellow dye too. I only had a bite, but it was delish! The lemon cream cheese frosting was divine!

The night before, I cranked out over 50 "fairy cakes." I made the toppers myself, and used good 'ole Starbucks stir sticks, broken in half, for the stick portion. Don't worry, I've bought my share of Pumpkin Spice Lattes lately :) I used this recipe for the cupcakes.







She was a happy girl!

I used our family heirloom tree branch as the centerpiece. We made reindeer, cupcake, the number 5, and the letter E salt dough ornaments, and I used some old mardi gras beads that I had on hand for garland.

Marshmallows are one of Miss Emma's very favorite things, so I made marshmallows pops. Some were just yellow chocolate covered with sprinkles...

And others were chocolate covered with graham crackers on top...smores! She loves those too!

Since fairies are one of her favorite things, I used the fairy theme to label the food...

This was the door to "Tink's Workshop."

They were busy crafting in the backyard.

My hair looks super greasy in this photo. I promise it isn't. And, I promise it was super windy that day too.

We had a cupcake pinata, which I filled mostly with non-candy items like bubbles and mardi gras necklaces. There was some candy thrown in too :)

It was filled to the top, but you would have never know it.

Holy geez, I don't think any of it every even hit the ground.

Bro was happy with his sugar overload...

So, so happy with Cam too.

We did bobbing for lemons...

Which Miss Emma informed me tasted, "nasty."

But was still quite entertaining.

And, we had a great turnout. There were little children everywhere!

It was time for the cake...

And thanks to the wind, I had to cup my hands completely around the candles to keep them lit. I haven't quite figured out how to do that and take a photo at the same time :) But, she made her wish, and that's all that counts.

I think she enjoyed herself...

And I think he did too.

We love her. She's sweet, helpful, independent, and oh so spirited.

And, she loves her daddy tons.

Our babysitter extraordinaire was even there for Miss Emma's special day.

Grand-dad and Nana came too.

And after everyone had left, Carson braved the jump house for a little while.

He had his personal assistant with him.

See, she does just what he wants :)

They're sweet.

These were our favors....cookies in jar. They were fun to make, and so fun for Miss Emma to hand out to her friends. I've been wanting to make them for a long time. Here's the recipe, if you're interested! I wanted to use the breast cancer pink m&m's, but they aren't being manufactured anymore. So, I just doubled the amount of chocolate chips :)

I made tags for the front and tags for the back...

Carson got a turn with some real cowboy boots. It made me want to go buy him and his sister a pair.

And, the next day, everybody had to go home. We were so glad that Papa C. got to make it too.

Thanks to everyone for all of their help...especially our dads! They did the grilling and the steaking down of the bounce house, and a lot more. I'll spare you the details and the photos, but the morning of the party, I had to take Rob to the E.R. He practically cut his finger tip off while washing my punch bowl. Eight stitches later, we were back home with two prescriptions for pain, an antibiotic, and one for the books.

I was so grateful that Aunt Lindy was there to keep the kiddos while we rushed off to the emergency room. It was an eventful weekend to say the least.

So, Happy Birthday sweet Emma! You've grown up too fast, but we've enjoyed every minute. You are a super special little girl, and we all just love you to pieces.

Your party was fun, but in your own words, it was "too fun" of a day :)

Love you Memms!

More birthday inspiration can be found on my "happy happy birthday" board on Pinterest!

It's so addicting...so, so addicting :)

If you need an invite, just send me an email to jenncdouglas{at}gmail{dot}com

I'd love to get you addicted too :)