photo IMG_1771.jpg

Claire's birthday was last weekend. I can't believe she is already six years old. She was born in Boston in the middle of a snow storm, two minutes before midnight, which I was thrilled about because I didn't want her to have a March 17th birthday. I mean, who wants to have a St. Patricks Day themed birthday every year? Apparently this girl:

 photo IMG_1823.jpg

In our family we don't do friends parties for every birthday and for Claire's birthday this year we decided just to have a celebration at home and invite over our cousins that live in Westchester. I've talked about my sweet friend Jenna here before. She has absolutely cornered the market on cuteness - her clothes, her kids, her blog, are all amazing. And girlfriend can throw a mean party! Between Jenna's skills and Claire's enthusiasm about a St. Patricks Day party, I knew I wanted to do something fun for the decorating, while hopefully not breaking the bank.

 photo DSC_0310.jpg

The Dollar Tree, Michaels and Party City came through for me. All of these stores have dollar or less sections that carry pretty cute stuff. You just have to hunt a bit, and then get creative. Streamers are two-for-a-buck at the dollar store, and buying eight rolls was an easy and cheap way to make a rainbow wall for our photos.

 photo IMG_1806.jpg

It was Claire's idea to make the chandelier look like a cloud that the rainbow was coming out of. We picked up a couple of these accordion garlands at Party city for $2 each. We added the green garland, satin bows and dangling clovers for good measure.

 photo DSC_0353.jpg

I love that my girls came up with most of these ideas and that they executed a lot of it by themselves. Nothing makes me more proud than seeing their little creative brains at work.

 photo DSC_0347.jpg

 photo IMG_1762.jpg

Since we are from Arizona originally, we hold true to the idea that a party's not a party without a piñata. I showed Claire the Pot O' Gold DIY piñata that Jordan posted a week or two ago and Claire said we just had to have it.

 photo IMG_1723.jpg

This was my first piñata and I was surprised at how easy they are to make! And pretty fun actually. It took me and Claire about two hours in all to cut out the cardboard and glue the fringed tissue paper. We watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People while we were at it, to get us into the spirit of the thing. :)

 photo IMG_1728.jpg

 photo IMG_1735.jpg

The pinata activity at the party worked out perfectly this time, which as any mother will probably know, doesn't happen very often. 

 photo DSC_0205.jpg

This time every child got two full turns at the bat and then Claire, the birthday girl, was the lucky one to bust it open. 

 photo 6DSC_0250.jpg

Chocolate coins and gold nuggets were everywhere! I think the candy scramble is so hilarious to watch now, but I remember being so stressed out as a kid as soon as that candy fell out. Must. get. all. the. candies!!

 photo DSC_0256.jpg

The kids used their party favor baskets to collect the piñata spoils.

 photo DSC_0268.jpg

Claire and I found the tiny little baskets at Michaels for 99 cents each and just chose the ones with the most green on them.

 photo IMG_1677.jpg

Claire embellished the baskets by herself with a little ribbon and some monogram placards made from stickers and cardstock.

 photo IMG_1686.jpg

 photo DSC_0330.jpg

There was plenty of room in the baskets for more candy and other little trinkets we picked up in the dollar section.

 photo IMG_1810.jpg

We also gave these little leprechaun clover pots as favors. Aren't they so cute? My local flower bodega guy was selling them.

 photo IMG_1794.jpg

We picked up the clover when we were buying some forsythia branches and a bunch or two of daffodils.  (you know it's spring when the flowers start to get cheap again!) :)

 photo IMG_1767.jpg

I think the rainbow backdrop was my favorite part of the party though.  It made for some fun shots of the kids.

 photo DSC_0334.jpg

I have two instant-print cameras (both are really pretty inexpensive), the wide format is here and the small, credit card size is here. I'm finding it's such a chore to get my digital images printed out these days that these cameras are such a treat to have on hand. Especially when we have visitors over. And seriously, who doesn't love the magic of watching your image appear in a matter of seconds?

 photo DSC_0290.jpg

We let the kids pick out their favorites to take home with them, and then once the party was over, the rest of the photos were moved to the coffee table, where I'm sure we'll enjoy them for a couple weeks.

 photo DSC_0314.jpg

All in all, we had a busy but a great weekend. Claire told me in her sleepiest voice last night as she was drifting off, that no one in the world has ever had a better mom or a better party than the one she had this weekend. Which of course made me feel like a super hero. I'd go to the dollar store every weekend for the rest of my kids' lives if it meant hearing lines like that. :)

 photo DSC_0271.jpg
 
Top