Claire's birthday

A couple of weeks ago we had Claire's 5th birthday party.  It is hard to believe that she is already five and headed to Kindergarten in the fall.  When I asked what kind of party she wanted she said Hello Kitty without hesitation.  I looked around for some invitation ideas and I saw these on Etsy.  They were so cute!  Claire invited her friends from school and church - 10 in all.  We had 7 girls come and they all seemed to have a good time.

For decorations I wanted to make it fun and pink of course.  So we hung different swirls and decorations from the ceiling.  Claire was so excited to help put them up and decide where they should go.

I went to get some balloons blown up and Claire I saw this large Hello Kitty balloon.  So we got that too.  It it still in Claire's room.  I think we will have it for some time.

I made these Hello Kitty decorations out of white paper lanterns.  I saw the idea on the internet and I was worried that they would take a long time to make, but they were really easy.

Our first activity at the party was decorating their gift bags.  I also had pictures for them to color.  At first they put on just a few, but then they decided that they liked the sparkly stickers and added lots more.

The completed bags.

The main activity that I had planned was making bead necklaces.  I got some Hello Kitty charms and put them on the center of the necklace and I had the girls pick the rest of the beads.  It was funny because after they put on maybe 6 beads they said they were done.  I had to coax them into putting more on until they filled them up.

The finished product!  They all turned out really cute. 

The next game was pin the bow on Hello Kitty.  Claire really wanted to go first so she did.  However, she got really upset when she didn't get the bow in exactly the right spot.  I had to promise that she could move her bow later after the party.  We also played Hello Kitty bingo and watched a short Hello Kitty cartoon.

I got a Hello Kitty cake pan at Michaels.  I was really nervous about trying to get it done the night before the party.  I started in the top right corner with the icing stars.  Then the icing got too firm, so I took it out of the pastry bag and added more milk.  I think I may have added too much and the icing got a bit runny, so as you can see the texture changed on the cake.  I didn't have time to make it again, so we went with it.  Claire loved it though.

The birthday girl blowing out the candles.

Next up was opening the presents.  Claire was so excited to open them and look at all of the cute things she got.  One of the presents was a Hello Kitty bank that she could paint.  That is right up her alley!

The next day she painted the whole thing.  It was funny because she couldn't decide on the colors, so she kept using a baby wipe to take off some of the colors and try another one.

We got her some books and a Hello Kitty stuffed animal and puzzle.

It seems like Claire grew up over night.  She is really excited to go to Kindergarten and especially to learn to read.  She loves to play with her friends and now she enjoys riding her new bike.