4

Our baby girl is turning 4 next Tuesday. This weekend we’re having one of her parties. One with my husband’s family, and then a small BBQ with my family to celebrate the summer birthdays. My brother’s, daughter’s and mom’s birthdays are all within 13 days of each other. So, it’s fun to do two different parties. Penelope especially likes it because of all the presents!

I cannot believe how fast these 4 years have gone by. She is my baby, but growing into such a sweet, loving and funny little girl. She is filled with this independent fiery spirit, but at a moment’s notice can be reduced to a puddle of tears because she is very sentimental and emotional. Kinda like someone else I know, ahem. I cannot believe that this time next year, we will be gearing up for Kindergarten. I still remember the day I knew I was pregnant with her (I’ll share that story some other time), the day I actually found out I was pregnant with her…the whole pregnancy…the first time I saw her little heartbeat flicker on the ultrasound…the first time I heard her cry…the first time I laid eyes on her…the first time I held her and smelled her sweet smell. She changed me to the very core. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. Being a mother, being her mother is my greatest accomplishment in life. There are times that I wish we had more money, we had nicer things, or that life was just easier in general. Then I stop and remember how I blessed I really am. I have a husband that adores me…he adores our children. We have been blessed by God and were given the ability to have and raise two beautiful children in a loving home. I guess I can’t ask for much more than that. I will be honest, as my children grow up, it can be bittersweet. When they are young, I can protect them and shelter them from every one of life’s storms. I get anxious when I think about them growing up and sending them out into the world…letting them experience the sours of life so they can grow. Not shielding them from hurt and disappointment because even though I know it will hurt like hell in that very moment, someday they will learn from those experiences, and it will make them better people. It’s tough, but I wouldn’t trade these moments of their childhood for anything else in the world.

With that being said, I am in the midst of planning and prepping for her 4th birthday party. I had a party planning catalog and I had asked her what she wanted her theme to be this year. She looked at all the pages and decided on Yo Gabba Gabba (YGG). It’s a show she LOVES on Noggin. I can be creative at times, but usually for the sake of time and everything else, I justify spending money on pre-made things such as party decorations. This year I was going to not spend very much and keep things low key since this party was going to be small…just us, her grandparents, her Aunt & Uncle and her cousins. Well, when I went through this catalog and started to order on online, the amount of money I was going to spend for a few plates, napkins, and decorations was quite spendy. To put the icing on the cake (no pun intended), the shipping for all this was MORE than the combined total of the products I wanted. With that I was defeated, pissed, and moreover just sad because I couldn’t justify spending so much money on something that would be done with in a few hours. So, I was all prepared to pull a “Bad Mom” trick tell my daughter that the catalog was “out of” the YGG stuff and that she would have to pick out something that we could find at Target. I was lamenting to a friend at work, and then bless her heart; she found a site where I could get a lot of ideas for “homemade” YGG stuff.

I hit the jackpot!

I made it my mission, to give my daughter the best YGG party that money didn’t buy! Because she is worth it…she deserves to have her YGG party, but her parents don’t need to go into hock to do it. So with this, I have resolved to make everything myself. I have resolved to make everything with products I already have on hand from my craft supply or things I can find at the Dollar Store.

Can I just tell you, this is going to be the best party ever!

I will post pictures later (once everything is complete), but here are the things that I am going to do, and how I’m going to do them. That way, maybe you Moms out there, will take this challenge too, and throw a party old-school!

Back Story: Here is a picture of the YGG crew:

Invitations: I made a two-sided invitation that I found on GabbaGabbafriends.com. A mom on there made a simple invitation which she shared for free. I printed them on cardstock, and put googly-eye stickers on them to jazz them up a bit and tie them in with Muno’s one eye. I had hot pink envelopes on hand that I used, and I made address labels using Avery labels and I shrunk down the above graphics to put on the labels.

GAMES:

Piñata: I’m making, yes making, a Foofa Piñata. I got the idea from a site especially for Do-It-Yourself YGG parties. I’m using balloons and paper mache for the head & body. Once that part is complete, I’m going to use poster board to form tube-like arms & legs which I will stuff with newspaper, and then paper mache those. Once it’s all dry, then I will take pick crepe paper and actually decorate Foofa! I plan to use cardstock for her daisy head, necklace and face. I also have lunch sacks that I’ve embellished with YGG stickers that I made from shrinking down YGG graphics and putting them on different size file & address labels which I already had on hand. These will be used for the kids to collect their loot from the piñata.

Pack of Balloons - $1
Pack of Dark Pink Crepe Paper - $1
Pack of Light Pink Crepe Paper – had on hand
Cardstock – had on hand
Newspapers (for Paper Mache) – took a stack of New Times (free)
Flour & Water – had on hand

Pin-the-Eye on Muno: I’m going to buy a red piece of poster board, and then I’m going to make Muno’s mouth with cardstock. I’m going to make Muno’s eye (the game piece) with felt.

Red poster board - $0.50
Everything else I already have

Since there will only be 3 kids, 2 games is enough because then we’ll be swimming the rest of the day.

GOODIES:

Goodie Bags: These will be made out of lunch sacks and print-outs from Noggin & Nick Jr.

Pack of lunch sacks - $1.00
Candy & goodies for 3 sacks from Dollar Store - $12.00

Activity Packs: I had large white manila envelopes which I embellished with personalized color printouts of YGG graphics and metallic cardstock for each child. In each activity pack I have put the following: coloring page packs of each YGG character, a safety pack of coloring papers featuring YGG characters, paper dominoes, paper puzzles of each character, a YGG fortune teller, character masks, and a pack of coloring crayons.

Envelopes – had on hand
Print-outs – free from Noggin & Nick Jr.
Cardstock – had on hand
Crayons - $1.00 for 4-pack of crayons

DECORATIONS:

I’m going to put table covers (plastic) on the kitchen table and island. Then I’m going to make a paper garland made out of different colored cardstock to put around the island and window sills. Then I’m going to attach color print-outs of YGG characters to the garland. I’m also going to hang larger character cutouts and dangle them from the lighting fixtures with colored curling ribbon. YGG also hase balloons with different faces, I’m going to blow up several solid color balloons, and attach cardstock faces to the balloons.

Balloons- already bought for piñata
Print-outs – free
Cardstock & Curling Ribbon – already on hand

FOOD:

Pizza, veggie & fruit trays, cake & ice cream. DJ Lance from YGG has a boom box that is part of the show. I’m going to make a boom box cake, and then cake pops from Bakerella in YGG colors.

Obviously my only real expense will be for food, but that’s totally okay.

Of course I will post pictures of everything once it’s done! I am so excited!

And since pictures always make blog posts better...here are a few! I love you Peepers!

Just a few weeks old here!

This is always the face I see when I look at her...this age!

Us at Garden of The Gods, Coloradao Springs, Co - 8 months old.
Our first Christmas Photo - 6 months old