Yes, our spunky and feisty little girl turned four this weekend. We celebrated with Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Nelson, a whole bunch of Sofia the First decorations (Mommy may love Sofia just as much as Nora), and a Cinderella cupcake “cake.”
Okay, maybe you have to squint a bit to see it, but it’s a Cinderella dress made out of cupcakes. I’m telling you, you haven’t truly lived until you’re pawing at your smartphone with buttercream-crusted fingers to find out exactly which shades of blue you need for Cindy’s dress. And kudos to my mom for taking the time to put the little pearls on as decoration! I pointed out that she’d made a “Hidden Mickey”, which was entirely by chance. 🙂
Happy birthday, sweet girl! You are full of imagination, dreams, and drama. You might just be the funniest person I know, too.
Saturday was Nora’s third birthday. She requested a pink, sparkle, rainbow, Kai Lan birthday party … with chocolate cupcakes and pink frosting. I think the cupcakes were her main request, actually. Anything else was just fun. Â We turned that request into a dress-up party for Nora, Seth, and five of Nora’s friends. That was the perfect party size!
For reference, I have a Pinterest board and a Flickr set (below) of how the party decor turned out. I want to be completely honest: I had so many “pinspirations” that never made it to production. She wanted cupcakes instead of the pink swirl cake I was going to make – guess who wins since it’s her birthday? I was going to do butterfly sugar cookies, I was going to do tutus as party favors  … I even bought the materials for all of that! Never happened. As a matter of fact, I attempted the tutus at midnight on her birthday (same day as her 10:30 a.m. party!), made a mess of it, and gave up. I felt good about it, though, because I’d decided ahead of time that there were things she really wanted (cupcakes!) and things I wanted (marshmallow lollipops!) and that was good enough.
Nora’s 3rd birthday – Seth has a cupcake
I loved all the little Hobby Lobby decor items I found on clearance (sparkly napkin rings as chandelier decorations!) or not (plastic tablecloths as window treatments!). I especially loved covering the French doors to our dining room with a plastic tablecloth so I could lead all the little girls (and Seth!) in for a birthday surprise. I also dug the dollar store treat boxes with dollar store or Hobby Lobby dress-up jewelry inside for all the girls (and Seth!).
Mostly, though, I loved making it a special day for Nora. She had a great time, and that’s all that counts. I probably could have just made cupcakes and it would have been fine! Oh, and to keep it real (humble) – I totally forgot about feeding the adults. I was so fixated on a dress-up party for little girls (and Seth!) that was egg and dairy-free for our friends’ Â allergies that I did not even think about food for adults. Tortilla chips, salsa, and a smoked pork loin to the rescue!
Last little tip: we had a church group gathering at our house the previous weekend … we did the big clean for that and then maintained during the week. Made life a LOT easier for a Saturday morning party!
