Ava's Birthday Party

So this past weekend we held Ava's 7th birthday party. That's right...she is turning 7. I can't believe my baby girl will be 7 in 10 days! Where has the time gone? So this year after much deliberating she decided on a Barbie themed birthday party. I agreed...I figured it would be easy. I'm somewhat of a procrastinator so I was a little stressed out in the hours leading up to the party and when the guests started to arrive but everything turned out great.

Ava had a few requests for this party, one of which was a pinata. That was one of the reasons I was stressed. Party City didn't have the right size Barbie pinata and the nearest Walmart didn't have a girly enough pinata. So this task unfortunately was left to the hours leading up to the party. Once we secured a pinata I hadn't even given any thought to how it was to be hung. I mean the pinata has to hung up right? My mom and I picked up some clothesline at a different Walmart but hanging it didn't seem like a problem at the time. I was wrong. Thankfully my Dad pulled through and made another trip to Walmart to get some plant hangers which he screwed into the ceiling of the patio and voila! we had a hanging pinata. Don't even get me started on the fact that we didn't have anything to beat the pinata with. Lets just make it simple and say that my wonderful sister in law, Megan, had a billy club in her car and it worked beautifully!

Ava's other request was a Barbie cake. I looked into how to make and figured it didn't look that hard so I would do it. Well there were issues with it. First of all, the barbie Ava picked for me to put in the cake and replicate had a skirt that wouldn't come off. I mean, really, what Barbie can't you undress...this one apparently. I worked my way around that and had my four layers of cake...but wait...it wasn't enough cake. I used scraps for the 5th layer. This Barbie was too tall! Next issue...I ran out of frosting. I thought 2 cans would be good...nope on the morning of the party we were picking up more cans...I ended up using a total of 4 cans of frosting! All in all it turned out well...I ran out of time to decorate it so it didn't look quite as pretty as I wanted but it still turned out well for a first attempt!

All in all, Ava had a great party. We had 4 other little girls come which was the perfect size party! They were a wild and crazy bunch of girls! Unfortunately, due to work obligations that arose at the last minute, Charlie was not able to be there. :( I definitely could have used his help! By the end of the day I was exhausted! I still am too! Thankfully I got a nap today! :)

Here are some of the highlights of the party. A big shout out to my photographer Megan! Thanks so much for helping me capture Ava's special day!

 Barbie cake! 5 layers, alternating red velvet and french vanilla! yum! don't judge the decorating job...the guests were starting to arrive and I hadn't changed yet!

 Playing pin the glasses on Barbie!

 Ava with some of her friends.

 The pinata that almost messed up the party. However it was a huge hit! Literally!

 Thanks Dad for your help!

 Ava taking her turn at swinging...notice me trying not to get hit!

 Haha! I was "forced" to take a turn. I didn't break it. Sad.

 The girls attacking the candy.

 My mom and Olivia.

 Having party snacks.

 Olivia was sneaky and playing with some of the candy from the pinata!

 My sister, her husband Matt and my Dad!

 Blowing out the candle!

 Barbie is saran wrapped, stuffed in paper towel roll, taped with blue painters tape and the saran wrapped again! She was nice and clean when I took her out!

 Opening presents. She loved her American Girl doll from Grandma Boo!

 Long day of partying wore this girl out! Miss Cranky Pants! (Ava, not my Mom :) )

Happy Birthday Ava! Love you sweet girl!