Surprise Party!

That's actually the last photo of the party, but my favorite.

We had convinced Ainsley that she wasn't having a friend party this year (not hard to do, since she's never had a friend party!). We told her that we didn't have time for a party, since her birthday was the same week as the UEA holiday and we'd be going to St. George. I told her we'd make cupcakes, and dad would take her on a special date instead. We made the cupcakes in the morning, and I told her we'd frost them when she got back from lunch with Rob. When they left, I finally let the other kids in on the secret, and they helped me decorate and clean. When all the guests arrived, I called Rob, who had Ainsley at the school playground. He suggested that Ellie might like to join them at the playground, and Ainsley agreed that they should go pick her up. When she walked in the door she looked up and saw all the balloons (about 3 dozen) and started saying, "What the..." when everyone jumped out from behind the bar and yelled "Surprise!"

I had worried that a surprise party would rob her of the anticipation of it, but she was so excited. All the work was worth it.

I went with a Pinkalicious theme. While we were waiting for Ainsley, the girls worked on some cute puzzles (here). I found cute foam crowns for them to decorate.

And of course they decorated pink cupcakes.

Ainsley opened presents.

Then we went outside for some games. They played a version of duck, duck, goose, only they would name various colors and run on "pink."

The other game had someone in the middle, who would call out a color, and everyone who liked that color would run to the other side of the yard while the person in the middle tried to tag them.

Thank goodness it was a beautiful day!

We finished up reading a couple of the new Pinkalicious stories while parents picked up the kids. The favors were paperback books (LOVED this), bags of pink bubblegum balls (less ideal, but cute) and the crowns they made. It was a success, hopefully something Ainsley will remember and realize we love her!