The Congdons: Grace's Beach Birthday Party

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Grace's Beach Birthday Party

We had Grace's birthday party a few weeks after we got back from vacation. She really wanted to have a summer fun water party, so we themed it as a beach party.

We did some really simple decorations: blown up beach balls around doors and hanging from the ceiling...

...and flower leis draped around the table.

To add to the capri suns and hot dogs we served for lunch, we had surf boards (vanilla wafers), fish (goldfish), shark teeth (white cheddar cut in triangle shapes), driftwood (pretzel sticks), lifesavers (gummy lifesavers), and pool noodles (fruit flavored twizzlers). The kids loved the themed food.

We did a water balloon toss with the kids, which ended up turning into...

...a water fight.

We even tried a water relay race, giving each of the kids a small bucket and told them they had to stand in line and take turns taking water from one large pink bucket to another. They went one round, and then the kids just played with the water guns, buckets, and remaining water balloons. They had a blast!

Thankfully the area around the swing set didn't really get wet, so we hung our happy sun piñata from it and each of the kids got a turn.

Gwen had her cast off a few days before, but was supposed to wear a splint for most of the time still. It couldn't get wet though, so we got her some elbow pads that she could wear during the party so she could still participate. She was really grateful that she could still join in on the fun!

The kids all seemed to have a super fun time, and Gracie was on cloud 9 all day.

And of course, her birthday wouldn't be complete without a few Hello Kitty presents!!

My mother in law gave me this cool birthday cake for kids book when Gwen was little, and I found a beach party cake in there. Obviously it didn't turn out like the picture in the cake, but the kids still really liked it. Teddy bears at the beach (I even gave them icing bathing suits)!!