Birthday Recap

This year Athena's big birthday present is a trip to Disneyland with her Daddy, so on her actual birthday we just had a small celebration at home with a few friends. We sent invites for a "party playdate" and asked people not to bring presents, told them it would be really casual and everyone we invited showed up which ended up being 11 kids and 8 adults. Most of the friends are a group who we're recently spent alot of time with. We all go to a neighborhood Parks and Rec art class and then usually end up playing in the adjoining park for an hour or two. The kids are really lovely, get along great and all live within blocks of us. There are a couple of potential "besties" for Athena, too.
I brought out all of Athena and Zoe's dress up clothes and every little girl immediately changed into a princess upon entry. Zoe however chose to dress as a giraffe with purple wings.
I made a ton of pink and purple playdough which I set out in case some children were feeling quiet, but it quickly became the focus of the party.
Athena's birthday cake was a simple store bought princess sheet cake and I accidentally bought trick candles! Oops. All the parents thought I was the meanest Mommy ever but honestly it did not say anywhere on the packaging that they would relight again and again. The kids had never seen those and a couple got really upset...After everyone left, we clean up the disaster and then had some quiet time with the new Madagascar DVD sent by PopPop (Thanks PopPop!). For the first time, Athena was allowed to choose dinner for the family as the birthday girl. Her first choice was (of course) "Candy!" but after a little more explaining, she changed it to "Sloppy Joes with potato chips and birthday cake for dessert." Following dinner, she opened all the presents that have been accumulating from family this week. Thank you Yiayia, Unca Stu, MorMor, Baba, Grandaddio, Nana, Mary and Buck and PopPop!
It was a lovely day. I think she felt really special and had a blast without over doing it. And the icing on the cake, she got to wake up and go to Disneyland with just her Daddy.