Party times TWO!!

Twice the parties

Twice the work

Twice the fun

Twice the maddness

Twice the exhuastion

Yep, I think that about sums it up!!

This was the first year that we've done a friend birthday party. I was completely puzzled on what to do; A- have separate parties for Brooklyn and Blake on separate days, let them each invite 10-12 friends, or B- have separate parties on the same day (Matt in charge of the boys, me with the girls) and only have 6 friends each. Neither sounded especially easy for me, but we decided on the latter. We held the parties at the same time at the same place (in different rooms of the house) with separate themes. Brooklyn and Blake completely dictated their guest list, with my insistance that they invite at least one cousin, and that was really hard for me. I didn't want to leave their Primary friends out, but I didn't want to cut out their school friends either. I started thinking that Brooklyn and Blake might always get jipped in the birthday party department since they always have to divide their time with each other and I can't handle a zillion kids running around multiplied by two!!

Moving on.

Blake had a LEGO party. I had to let go of my control-freak self and allowed Matt to reign here. I gave him explicit directions on what I wanted accomplished and even though it wasn't done exactly how I would have liked, I think everyone had fun. The boys built Legos out the wazzoo with various different games. I didn't take as many pictures (hardly any) because I was in the other room with the girls. Conclusion = boys like Pizza Rolls and blue jello, not veggies. LOL!The boys in attendance - three out of six invited + a little bro + the bro of an invited guest. I don't understand this bringing the whole family and acting like you should just join right in on everything?????? Whatevs.

Brooklyn had a Fancy Nancy soiree. That's a fancy word for party. ;) Ooooooh, it was SO fun!!! And SO girly! We started off with me reading the original Fancy Nancy book {a must have for ANY girl} while the girls ate some fancy lunch.

Then we jumped right into making our own fancy wands.We put glitter on cheeks and painted fingernails.

Here are the girls, all fancied up!!

Brooklyn and Blake opened their gifts, then we sang Happy Birthday and had cake/cupcakes.We thanked all our guests for coming and sent them on their way with gift bags full of treats! The boys got a Lego Racer set, an Anakin Skywalker keychain and a little bag of candy bricks.The girls received a homemade flower clip, a candy necklace, a jewel ring, a feather boa and some Fancy Nancy coloring pages and activity sheets. Here are my big, partied-out 7 year olds!!!!!
I made Brooklyn's tutu. Too-too FUN!! I also did the shirt.Themed and/or character shirts are not my favorite.
But I'll make a special exception for birthday parties. ;)

******

I love hosting things like this, but I usually get so incredibly stressed out that I can't wait for it to be over and done with so I can collapse on the couch for a few hours and do nothing. But seeing the excitement and joy on Brooklyn and Blake's faces made everything worth it! So much fun, let's do it again! Maybe in 3 or 4 years....