Willa Kate's Frozen Party

Sometimes when life is really busy, and you're a second child, you don't get your birthday celebrated until nearly two weeks after the fact. Willa Kate, please accept that as my formal, public apology.

Frozen inspired Cake- top tier: fresh strawberry, bottom tier: chocolate with cookies and cream ganache

And though you may not have shown it during the actual party, how much you've talked about it since has assured me that we have made amends for the scheduling grievance. 

Wills' birthday theme was so easy to pick. She, like every other girl under age seven, wanted an "Elsa Party."  Hooray for mounds of licensed party ware at my disposal!  There are several variations of the Frozen party, so rather than the ice blue and silver look, I went with the jewel tones-- purple, turquoise, and a dark hot pink.

Dessert Table in the dining room

Pinata and handmade (can't ya tell??) Olaf bags for the favors

Sweet girl's chalkboard with her birthday stats

 The benefit of stuffing 30 people into our not big home for a birthday party is that I get to decorate over the course of a week.  Or maybe it even stretched out to weeks.  Have a few minutes?  Slap up an Elsa poster.  Girls eating a snack?  Scrapbook paper the dining room hutch door insets.  Need to be doing 837 other things?  Rip up fabric for a rag bunting instead.  :)

Gifts Table guarded by Anna and Elsa

Food Table

 

Drink Station

Frozen Birthday Book for guests to write notes to Willa

 We are finally making the shift of the kiddos parties actually being about the kiddos.  Before, it felt like we were celebrating our child, but really planning to entertain the adults because how much do toddler actually do at parties, other than demand cupcakes from the moment they walk in?  Now that some of the older siblings in our friends group are able to sit still for more than 8 seconds, it makes sense to add in some fun party themed games or crafts.  So, I planned on a few for her party.  {Disclaimer:  this is NOT a "Pinterest" party.  There are a zillion other parties out there that are more inspiring than ours.  But, I do want my sweet second born to know we made a little effort in her honor. ;) }  I had planned to open up the activity time of the party reading a short Frozen book.  The party pack that I ordered for her birthday included characters that I cut out and put on small dowel rods, so that the kids could hold them up when that character was mentioned in the book.  Butttttttt, the book got laid on the gift table, which quickly filled with gifts, so the book was nowhere to be found when the time came.  Booo!  So, we opened up with some Frozen karaoke and dancing.  The girls got the sing-a-long edition of the Frozen DVD for Christmas, so we just skipped through until we got to the parts with their favorite songs.  Then, I had stickers and markers out for the kids to decorate foam snowmen and snowman-esque party hats for the boys and tiaras for the girls.

 

 
For the last activity, we made snow and let the kids play in it.  This required the most planning.  I got the individual fake snow packets from Amazon and a Dollar Tree plastic shoe bin for each child.  Prior to the party, I mixed up the snow in each individual bin and stored it in our extra refrigerator in the basement until party time.  To add to the excitement, I asked the kids, "Do you wanna build a snowman??  But, did you bring any snow?"  I did not premix Willa Kate's snow, but instead had the powder poured inside and premeasured the necessary water in a jar.  I let Princess Willa work her magic (a.k.a. pour the water onto the powder) to make the snow right in front of the kids, and Corrie and Rachel helped bring in the bins for each kiddo to play with.  Surprisingly, it wasn't as messy as I had guessed, so I'd recommend! 

We finished up with some yummy cake (shoutout to Cakes by Lisa who makes all our cakes, and my mouth waters even typing that!) and a mini ice cream bar, and a little snapshot photo of some of the guests in front of our covered-up bookcase. 

Birthday girl!  (and Mama-razzi)

Happy Birthday to You!

After party!  Frozen cart rides

I wish little Wills had gotten a good nap and happier countenance because she really didn't find her groove until about 15 minutes before everyone left.  But, it has been so sweet to hear her ask "Elsa party 'gain?  More Elsa party t'day?"  Lets me know she had a great time, even experiencing the party from Mama's hip. 

Click HERE if you're curious how I feel about my littlest love turning two.