Kate's Night Owl Party

Growing up my mom would throw us a good old fashioned "homemade" birthday party every year.  Fun games, cute cake, and you know what?  They're some of my best childhood memories.

So I enjoy carrying on that tradition.  Except I now throw a big party every OTHER year because with 4 kids so close together, it became a little too much.  But I LOVE throwing parties.  I enjoy the planning, the pinterest perusing, and making all of the little details come together.

When I first spotted this Night Owl party here, I knew I wanted to do this for one of my girls.  I thought it would be for Chloe in October, but once Kate saw it she decided she wanted it for her party.  And I only had a few weeks to start working on it.

I will warn you ahead of time.  This party takes HOURS of prep time because of the time it takes to sew the owls.  But it is so worth it when you see how excited the girls are to receive them (and quite honestly, I enjoyed making them!). 

So let's start at the beginning.  I decided to go with a Night Owl theme.  My girls don't do sleepovers, but they LOVE having late nights with friends.  So we made up the invites (free customizabe printable found here) and told the girls to wear their pajamas!

The best part of this party is that each girl gets to adopt their own owl, and each one has a different personality.  The downside - you have to hand make each owl.  They are not difficult, just time consuming!  You can purchase the template for the owls here and see all of her cute ideas for the party here.

Once your owls are made, the party can begin!

I made up tissue poms and owls out of paper lanterns just by adding eyes, a beak and some wings.  Super quick and easy.

Here are a few fun touches that were added to the table.

 Cute wire owl purchased at Hobby Lobby.

 Who needs cake pops?  Just add donut holes to skewers and a jar of Froot Loops.  (The girls loved eating these!)

And orange juice served in 1/2 pint jars.

When the girls arrived, we kept them busy by making Froot Loop necklaces.  Had no idea how much they would enjoy this little craft.  Some didn't want to stop when it was time to eat!

This pic below summarizes Kate's personality perfectly! :)

 The menu consisted of breakfast for dinner.  We served up pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs.  And here is my most amazing mother who I couldn't have done this party without.  Helped me cook AND clean up.  Love her to pieces!!

 Another fast (and I'm talking three minutes) Pinterest find that I thought was too cute:

Fried egg and bacon strips made by melting white chocolate, adding an M&M and pretzels, and voila!  Cuteness.

So the girls ate and then the adoption of the owls began.

I hid 10 numbered stars around the room and told each girl to go and find one.  Whichever numbered star they found would be the gift they'd receive.  To minimize the chaos, we did this process one at a time, so that each girl could unwrap her owl, read about its personality and then fill out the adoption card while the other girls watched and waited for their turn. 

Here's a sample of the owl description and adoption card.  You can also purchase them through the same etsy shop.  Super easy!

It was so fun to hear the girls oooohhh and aaaahhh over each owl.  So made all the time it took to make them WORTH IT!

They hung on to their owls all night long (and I hear from some moms they still are attached to them 24-7)!

After we opened Kate's gifts...

 ...we headed up stairs to the movie room for some movie time!

Had plans for doing mani's and pedi's but we ran out of time! We sang happy birthday and ate some cupcakes before the girls left.

And like that, the party was over.  Had to send the girls home with a little thank you, so I recycled something I'd done for a Valentine's treat in years past.  Individul cereal boxes:

 When the party was over, Kate come up to me, gave me a hug and said, "Thanks mom!  Best party ever!" And that's why I love to throw a party.

 

Sure love my baby Kate!  Can't believe she is SIX already and going to be in first grade next month.  Growing up way too fast.  Love you, baby girl!