Rowan's Polka Dot Party

We threw Ro a little birthday party last weekend. We just had her cousins come, and really, there were more than enough people there! No one told me how rowdy kids can get at birthday parties! We'll have to think out more party options for the future--hard when you have winter birthdays.

Anyway, I decided to do a circle themed party. We did balloons, a polka dot "Happy Birthday Rowan" banner, round party favors, and round food. Behold:



We didn't do a huge amount of food, but it worked out perfectly. Round pb&j sandwiches (the store bought ones...they are yummy and were easy), round cut cheese with pepperoni and crackers, round candy, and clementines.

For the favors, I used little round tins and printed polka dot stickers with each kid's name to put on them. They were filled with gumballs. Then we had dot candy (you know that old school stuff that you peel off the paper? Justin had never seen these....) and big round lollipops and bouncy balls.

My very mediocre cake. To start, let me just tell you that I was very frustrated when I finally got to the fondant part of this cake. I'd made another cake and it crumbled to pieces when I tried to "dirty ice" it (thank you Cake Boss). So I had to make another. AND this was my first time using fondant. Tip: don't touch colored fondant with wet hands---the color runs. Anyway, it was tasty despite all that, and I don't think Rowan cared how it looked.

Speaking of, here is the birthday girl in her polka dot dress, refusing to look at the camera. Classic.

And here she is again, ignoring my repeated attempts to ask her to get down.

For "games" we played ring around the rosy (you go in circles):

We did the hokey pokey (again, circles):

And we had a hula hoop contest:

{our clear winner}

I know Rowan and most of her cousins may seem a bit young for hula hooping, but they had fun. And it was fun to watch.

In keeping with the round theme:
Are you kidding me with the cheeks?

And just a few more photos....

opening presents...

Uh oh, princesses! And so it begins. She has played with these every single day since she's gotten them.

Blowing out the candles. She didn't actually blow them out....I think Holden did.

Cousin love :)

And last but not least, her other favorite present. The purse. After everyone left, she carried this around on her arm like so, while pushing her baby stroller around. Then she proceeded to talk to us for a solid 15 minutes....not sure exactly what she was saying, but it was non-stop talking/explaining for a good 15 minutes...seriously. With hand gestures even. It was all we could do to not laugh....it was hilarious.

So that's it. Hope you enjoyed your party Ro! Thank goodness I don't have to do that again for almost a year.