Sophia's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Sophia's 3rd birthday with an Olivia the Pig themed party at our house on Saturday.  We invited close family and friends to be with us and Sophia was SO excited about her special day.

The invitation:

Olivia's favorite color is red, so I incorporated as much of that color into the decorations as possible.  I accented with some pink, which is a close second for Olivia's preferred colors.  It helped that I had several red pieces left over from her sock monkey party a year ago and Valentine's Day was so close to our day of celebration.

Two days before the party, Sophia helped me in the kitchen making RED strawberry and raspberry jello-covered popcorn.  So easy and so fun.

She also helped me to make the gift bags for our young guests, which I am always certain to include my kids in on the goodies.  Lots of gluing and lots of stuffing of the bags.

This time, I did most of my decorating the day before while the kids were napping.  In the past, I have waited until the morning of the event (because my little ones were prone to getting into everything if it was set-up too early), but this way, I didn't feel quite as rushed.

I incorporated some of the books that we already had from the girls' closet and accented with some signs that I had printed off and framed.

There were a lot of the pictures from Sophia's photo shoot framed and displayed on the tables.  There were so many cute ones (my girl is not lacking for personality) and I couldn't bring myself to narrow down the selection. 

My mom had the red/white plastic popcorn tubs which were perfect for the red-coated popcorn.

There were also various types of red candy scattered about for the guests (mostly Sophia -- she couldn't help herself!) to enjoy.

The plate/cup/napkin/utensil area, waiting for guests to load their plates with spaghetti and meatballs, salad and garlic breadsticks.

I couldn't resist these balloons that I found online.  Steve took the girls on the morning of the party and got them filled with helium.

Sophia counted each one that there was just enough for each young guest to have one at the party!

The dessert table:

I made and frosted the cupcakes the afternoon before the party.  Sophia had requested a strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream, and I was happy to oblige.  For a little variance, I made vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting and strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  I tinted some of the vanilla frosting red and piped it out of a bag together with the plain vanilla to give a two-toned look.  It turned out pretty well.

I had to go to "Plan C" on the cake.  My original idea did not pan out as well as I had hoped, so I went to another option.  After working pretty hard on it (and my hands were tinted red), Sophia scraped the frosting off one side of the cake later that afternoon.  I was devastated.  While she was sitting in time-out, with tears squirting out of her eyes, I asked her why she ruined the cake.  With muffled sobs, she managed to tell me, "it's just that ... I just ... I just love frosting so much ..." 

I know, baby doll.  I know.

So, after dinner the night before I party, I managed to make some more frosting and come up with a different plan (aka "Plan C").  Not my best work, but Sophia loved it.  And that is all that really matters.

I also dipped some jumbo marshmallows in red candy coating and covered them with sprinkles.  Sophia loves marshmallows so much that she would eat them every day if I would let her. 

Waiting for the guests to arrive:

The birthday girl:

Posing with Momma before the party (Jack was still napping):

Aunt Minnie came prepared to paint faces!

Checking out Aunt Minnie's handiwork in the mirror:

 

 

 

Grammy and the birthday girl:

 



Opening presents:

So happy with her necklace and rain boots:

Sophia loved every last little gift!

Waiting for everyone to sing happy birthday to her!

 Loving every last bite of frosting ...

 

It was a day filled with fun and memories.  And, my momma heart swelled as I tucked one tired little girl into bed that night.  I kissed her cheek and reminded her (again) just how special her actual birth date was to me, three years ago.  She was the best gift that I received for my 31st birthday that year.  Born the day before my birthday, I spent my special day in the hospital with her, cuddling her little body and wondering what she would grow up to be like.  I know now and I am so happy ...