Spring has truly sprung in San Antonio, and March going out like a lamb also signifies Sadie, the baby of my family of six, blowing out an ever-increasing number of birthday candles. Sadie turned the great 8 on March 27. This year she had a very small group of friends over for a slumber party. We had a make-your-own pasta bar, bundt cake (have you tried Nothing Bundt Cakes yet?), jumped on the trampoline, watched “Flika,” and sent the girl’s home fortified with Sadie’s favorite breakfast: Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon French Toast Casserole and little smokies. This year’s birthday bash was very different from the last big backyard birthday party we hosted for Sadie in 2012, when she turned six. At the time, Sadie was enamored with her American Girl dolls. Since we don’t have an American Girl Doll store here in San Antonio, I decided to bring the experience to our backyard. Here’s what I did:
A few weeks before the party, Sadie and I worked on the menu. We wanted the girls and their dolls to have traditional tea party fare, so we settled on peanut butter and jelly flower sandwiches, fruit kabobs, Cheetos and cupcakes. We made the doll food ourselves, and Sadie and I had so much fun with this project! We used light brown craft foam for the sandwiches and purple glitter glue for the jelly, orange pipe cleaners for the Cheetos, and we made the fruit kabobs and cupcakes out of clay that you bake in the oven. The girls had so much fun making little plates of food for their dolls!
We had tables and chairs for the girls and dolls set up in the back yard. I found the porcelain tea sets at Wal-Mart, and the girls got to take them home as favors, along with the doll food.
The teapots were filled with apple juice, and Shirley Temples were served with lunch. There were lots of crafts for the girls to do. They made sticker foam tea pots, designed hair accessories for their dolls, and made tote bags for their dolls to take their party favors home in. I found all of the craft supplies at Oriental Trading Company.
All in all, the party was a big hit with Sadie and her friends!
Have you thrown a successful birthday party for your little one lately? I’d love to hear about it!
Thanks, Katie! The school librarian at Howard, Rachel Gurwitz, is also a great resource for anything AG related. She does wonderful American Girl “camps” at Summer at Heights every summer, and my daughter just loves the activities and doll crafts she comes up with.
Cute party idea! I do an American Girl book club with my third graders at school and we end with a little tea party. I might borrow some of your ideas for next year!