Madeline's birthday party, part two

After all the kids were there it was time to play some games. 

For the first game I printed off a bunch of pictures of some Shopkins. I then taped a picture to their backs and the other kids had to give them hints about which one they had on their backs. I knew that not all of them would know the names of different Shopkins so I also made a cheat sheet they could look at and point at the one they thought it was. 

 

Damon had a little trouble figuring his out.

Henry is one of Abi's best friends. He got his pretty fast. 

They were all so cute and having so much fun. Five and six year olds are easy to please!

Maddy also wanted a pinata but I didn't see any Shopkins ones. 

What I ended up doing was just filling a white lunch bag with candy that I bought after Halloween on the great sales and then I taped a bunch of ribbons into the bag. I let them each grab a ribbon and pull. 

I didn't want it to be a free for all so I told them each how many pieces of candy they could pick up, ensuring that they would all get the same amount.

Next we did the pin the candle on Wishes. 

McKinley was all over the place. Ha. 

So many kids had "winning" candles that I then took the candles and held them with the name part away from Maddy and had her pick two since that is how many prizes I had. 

Then we paid a card game I picked up at the store. The instructions were a little confusing so we played it like Musical chairs. Whoever had the lowest score each round was out. 

It ended up being between Henry and Maddy. 

Henry won!

They had a lot of fun. 

After this game the kids were ready for lunch. 

So, up next: Lunch!

Madeline's Sixth birthday: part one

This was the first time Maddy has had a friend party. 

She was a little excited!

Doug asked his parents if we could use their house for the party because our place would have been majorly cramped with a bunch of kids running around so we had a nice space to work with for the party. 

Maddy decided on a Shopkins theme. 

For the favor bags I bought some inexpensive bags at Michaels (these ripped a bit too easily so next time I need some I probably won't go for these cheap ones again). I cut them to look like shopping bags and then taped on a Shopkins logo. 

We filled each basket with one shopkin (I bought a 12 pack and we split it up) and some Shopkins stickers. 

I made a pin the candle on Wishes poster. However, if I were doing it again, I would draw on a bunch of candles and then have one spot where the one they are putting up is supposed to go because I didn't think about the fact beforehand that there were lots of "right spots". 

We set up some coloring pages with crayons in the kitchen area so the kids could color while waiting for other kids to show up. 

I printed off a birthday banner from the Shopkins website and taped the pieces to a plain one from Target's $1 section. 

It's hard to see, but it was cute. 

We packed a lunch for each kid consisting of a small peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some goldfish crackers, and sugar free applesauce. 

Rather than just serving the lunch, I wanted to keep the Shopkins theme so I used the same bags in pink and cut them to look like shopping bags as well and then filled them with the lunch items. 

Then I drew a face on red cups and they drank from those. 

I bought Maddy a 12 pack for one of her birthday gifts and we used those Shopkins to decorate the top of the cake. 

We let her invite 10 kids because she wanted to invite kids from both her kindergarten and first grade class. We ended up having 5 show up and then we let one of Abi's friends stay too (he is the brother of one of Maddy's friends) so we had a total of 8 kids. 

They started arriving right on time. 

The kids loved coloring so they ended up doing it for a few minutes after the last kid got there. 

Up next: games

Fall Time, Cozy Time Book Tag

Fall is here... and almost over according to the weather this past week, so I thought I better hurry and do the Fall Time, Cozy Time book tag. 

This tag was created by Novels and Nonsense and you can see the original video here. 

Here we go!

1. Crunching Leaves, The world is full of color: Choose a book that has reds, oranges, and yellows on the cover...

It doesn't get much more "fall" than this book. Autumn by Susan Branch. 

This book is full of recipes, ideas for fall fun, and wonderful illustrations per usual from Susan Branch. I love her artwork and her books so I love pulling out the seasonal ones each year. 

2. Cozy Sweater, It's finally cool enough to don warm cozy clothing. What book gives you the warm fuzzies? 

Obviously. Right? Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery will always make me feel happy inside. 

3. Fall Storm: The wind is howling and the rain is pounding. Choose your favorite book or genre that you like to read on a stormy day.

I think that kind of weather most often makes me want to curl up under a blanket, next to a fire with a really good Gothic Romance!

And no one does that better than the Bronte sisters. 

4. Cool Crisp Air- Who is the coolest character that you would want to trade places with?

Hermione. No question. 

5. Hot Apple Cider- What under-hyped book do you want to see become the next biggest, hottest thing? 

I am going to mention two here. 

Shannon Hale seems to be pretty well known and a few of her books get talked about quite often. However, Book of a Thousand Days is one I rarely hear anyone talk about and it is one of my two favorite books by her (along with Goose Girl). 

I have only heard one other person talk about the awesomeness that is Icefall by Matthew Kirby... and that is my mom, and I'm pretty sure I gave her the book. This is a book more people need to read. It is fantastic.

6. Coat, Scarves, and Mittens- The weather has turned cold and it is time to cover up. What is the most embarrassing book cover you own and would like to keep hidden if reading in public?

I'm going with two for this one as well. 

First, I almost didn't read The Selection series by Kiera Cass because of the cheesy covers. And that would have been sad because I really like this series. 

I hate the cover of my copy of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I think it looks like a harlequin romance type book. I definitely need to get  new copy of this book that looks more like the actual story inside!

7. Pumpkin Spice- What's your favorite fall time comfort food? 

Hot Chocolate. It is definitely one of my very favorite things. My favorite flavor is Stephen's Chocolate Raspberry. It is so good!

That's it! 

What are your favorite fall things? 

I tag anyone that would like to do this on their blog!!