Friday Five: Eliza's Birthday
Party time!
Eliza celebrated turning twelve tonight with twelve of her closest friends. So far it's been.....loud. And messy. My boys are kind of gross and sloppy, but turns out they've got nothing on the girls. I kind of feel like that guy in the parade that walks behind the elephants with a shovel and a bucket. I haven't stopped picking up crap all night.
Since it was an Instagram party, we kicked off the event with an Instagram scavenger hunt. I broke the girls into two teams and they had to complete a list of photo challenges as fast as they could. One team finished first, but the other team was so creative! I used the girls' phones to take the pictures so I don't have a single one to post which is too bad, because they were incredibly fun.
As far as the decor went, I showed amazing restraint this year. I am finally getting real about my limitations and realizing that a little done well is much better than a lot done with hair-pulling, stress and anxiety!
I made individual s'mores packets and "tagged" simple Wal-Mart purchased suckers with an Instagram-themed flag. For the cake, I went the easiest route possible. Sam's Club sells a mini-cake/cupcake combo for $12 that was perfect for what I needed. We picked colors to match our theme and I decorated it with Instagram-themed pics and tiny printouts of each girl from their Instagram feed. They loved it and I think it turned out great!
The girls loved seeing their "selfies" on the cake.
For the most part, twelve-year-old girls are pretty self sufficient, although a little ADHD. My house felt like a beehive.
Impromptu dance party/singalong to the "Frozen" soundtrack.
I'm sure a lot of it can be attributed to the insane amount of sugar these girls can put down. I had treats available for the party, but E's friends all gifted her with some kind of sweet treat as well. As I looked around at all the long legs and skinny arms and lean torsos, all I could think was, "Enjoy the metabolism while it lasts!" I am still picking up candy wrappers.
By 11:00 things started to settle down, so really, I can't complain. I've known most of these girls since they were five. They are pretty familiar installations around this place. It's been fun watching them all grow up - they're turning out to be some amazing young ladies. Eliza included.
Don't try convincing Larissa that it's not her party!!