Emmy's 3rd Birthday Party {The Party}

We had Emmy's Little Mermaid swim party at our local aquatic center.  It is a nice covered facility, so it was nice to have the little people indoors during the heat of the day. I wouldn't want anyone's party favor to be a lobster roasted toddler. :)

Emmy had a great time playing in the water with her friends and family.  Although it was a busy day at the aquatic center, everyone was really nice and we got to do everything we wanted.  Happy Birthday Emmarie!  I hope you enjoyed your party as much as I did!  Love you to pieces!

The birthday girl!


Emmy's two proud aunts!



Chilling with her BFF Abby!

Emma & Ella got to go swimming for the first time!











Even the adults seemed to be having a good time.

I painted an Ariel scene that I found online, so people could pretend to be a mermaid for the day.  I think it turned out really nicely, and people seemed to enjoy taking their photo.



More of our splashing good time!









Once an hour, they clear the pool for five minutes for safety reasons.  We took advantage of one of those times to sing happy birthday and have some cupcakes.














I really do love this kid!



The birthday girl had to have her picture made with everyone.



A few more people wanted to try out the photo prop.





Once all of the cupcakes had been wolfed down, the kids made a bee-line back into the pool.  I couldn't blame them though because I can remember being a kid during the summer and all you wanted most was to just play in the water all day.

I made Emmy take off her crown, and we found out there were a few more special princesses at the party.















The party favors were summer hats and sunglasses along with some little Ariel favors.  The kids looked so cute posing in their new gear.

Some of the adults wanted to try them on as well!



Everyone just hung out and ate, swam, and visited.  It was such a nice day.



Finally it was time to open a few presents.  I didn't want her to open all of them since there were so many people at the pool, but she opened a few of the out of town people's gifts.





Then pretty soon it was time to start giving out hugs and saying our goodbyes.



After we got everything cleaned up and loaded in the car, we headed over to my parent's house with some of the family to watch Emmy open the rest of her gifts.  SHE LOVED EVERYTHING!










It was such an amazing day, and I am so thankful that Emmy has so many people that care about her.  It makes me smile that she has so many people that cared enough to drive so far to celebrate with her for a few hours.  I am eternally grateful for these small kindnesses, and I hope that I can bring that kind of happiness to someone else's party.  Although let's don't get crazy--I'm really a ray of sunshine. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Emmarie!

Emmy's 3rd Birthday Party {The Details}

This party was a labor of love.  When I decided to have a swim party for Emmy this year, I asked her if she wanted a Minnie Mouse party or a Little Mermaid party.  I gave her a choice because she is a little difficult, but I fully expected her to choose a Minnie Mouse party.  We had just gone to Disney World when I started planning, so Mickey and Minnie were on her brain.  I was surprised but a little delighted when she chose The Little Mermaid.  I have tried to throw her big parties the past few years, and I thought that I would try to scale back some this year.

"We'll just get pizza and Capri Suns," I said.

"We won't do all the craziness this year," I said.

"We don't have to invite everyone every year," I said.

I lied.

Once I got on Pinterest and started looking at all of the ideas for Little Mermaid parties, there were so many cute ideas from so many parties, that I knew I would have to do more than just pizza and juice.  To my credit though, there were a thousand more things that I wanted to do decoration wise, but I knew and accepted that it just wasn't possible to do all of that when you are having a party at a public pool.   The following are some of the details and food from the party.  I think this just might be my favorite so far.  Maybe next year we'll scale it down...








This is supposed to be reminsicient of a scene from the movie.  Ariel puts silverware in a candleabra because she doesn't know what it is for.  Scuttle tells her that forks are "Dinglehoppers," and you brush your hair with them.



Although the card that I made says goldfish, I actually bought the brand that had Shamu on the front.  It had whales, turtles,a nd other sea creatures instead of only goldfish.



My mom made the PB & Jellyfish sandwhiches.  She even went the extra mile and cut them out with a fish cookie cutter.  She's the best.









I think this was a favorite among our guests.  I had three vases of "seaweed" out and people munched on them more than the platter of fruit.  They were a little hesitant at first though because they thought the purple grapes were olives.  GROSS.







The cupcakes.  Oh the cupcakes.  I refuse to put a picture of all of the cupcakes on this post because they were so very sad.  I made them and iced them, and before we left my house they were already melted and dripping down the sides.  I almost started to cry.  So instead of the actual truth, you are going to see two of the cupcakes that were in the best condition, so when I read this post later I can lie to myself and say everything went perfectly.  Since no one is graduating next year from our family, Rae will for sure be making the cake again.  I'm going to put my order in tomorrow. ;)





My sister LOVES Swedish Fish, so I added a bowl of them to the table just for her.



For party favors, I raided the dollar bin at Target and bought all of the little girls sunglasses and beach hats.  I also ordered a mega pack of Ariel favors from Party City when I bought the plates and napkins.  I just put them in a bowl and handed them out as people were leaving.  There were only a couple of pairs of sunglasses that looked like boys could wear them, so those went fast.





We were surprised with cookies from Rae when she got to the party.  This was the sweetest gesture because she has made the cake for every event we have ever had for Emmy (baby shower, dedication, birthdays..).  I liked that there was still something of hers for our guests.  Aren't these cookies the cutest?





I'll post pictures of the actual party next, but I wanted all of the details to be on their own!