Lana's Big Bash

 

Lana had her birthday party on Saturday and we had 14 five year olds & 3 three year olds present.  It was definitely crazy fun!  She wanted a costume party & chose her duck costume for herself - 1 of only 2 girls who didn't dress as a princess!  This picture shows all but 1 of the guests (Alex, not shown in a batman costume, isn't a fan of getting his picture taken!)

After letting the kids play for a bit in their costumes we laid out props for them to play with.  Here is Lana dressed as the very-rarely seen "Ele-duck". 

Nalen here is showing off a mouse mask with some funny glasses on top!  The kids really loved to mix & match the masks, noses, hats, necklaces, etc.!

Gwyn the Walrus!  (I wasn't the only parent who joined in the fun - several tried on masks, hats, noses, etc. )  These "props" doubled as our party favors for the kids.  we let them each take home one of everything & 3 hats each.  Some kids didn't want certain things to take home but we actually had one parent who, when their child said they didn't want the funny glasses with the nose & mustache, say, "yes she does!".  I think we know who will be playing with those at home!

I found some paper crowns on clearance and bought loads of stickers for the kids to use to decorate them.  We had letter stickers, scratch & sniff, sparkly, etc.  It was a bigger hit than I expected from some of the kids (although 2 kids were having so much fun they didn't want to stop playing to make one!)

As we've always done, I had the child whose present Lana was opening, come up and sit next to her.  The kids did a pretty good job of giving Lana & the gift-giver their space!

After a bit, Janae started pointing at un-opened presents next to her saying, "this one's mine".  I thought she was getting jealous of Lana opening presents but then realized that she was jealous of the kids getting to sit next to Lana & give her a present.  So on the last present I put Janae next to Lana & Josh (the gift-giver in this picture) sat in the prime spot. 

We had 3 tables of kids & Lana chose to sit the furthest away from the kitchen!  Cake is always Lana's favorite part of birthday parties - including her own.

Couldn't get her to look at the camera - she was too enthralled with the cake.  She picked out the decorations on the cake (from Hy-Vee).  It is actually a cake made out of cupcakes which made distribution very easy - and no forks required! 
Happy Birthday Lana!