So the day finally arrived: Noemie's Birthday party. It was her first one she's had so she was uber excited. It all went really well and she had a fantastic time and I think all her little friends enjoyed themselves as well. We had 24 kids, about 25-30 parents and an entertainer. The entertainer was about 15 minutes late but she made up for it with how she got all the kids involved. Even the boys who usually just sit around in the corner were jumping, dancing, singing and joined in with everything. Though it was a princess party in that the girls were dressed up and the cake/cookies were all princess themed, I didn't want the activities to be girlie as I can't blame the boys for not wanting to get into that stuff.
They started out with some songs, dancing, playing with musical things and getting warmed up. Some hula hoops were involved, lots of jumping and prizes for various things. Then we moved onto Pass the Parcel. The never ending game as there were 17 layers to unwrap. Each layer had a little prize though so it kept the kids going. Once that was over we took a quick break for refreshments and snacks then it was time for some Karaoke.
Noemie volunteered to sing first which was a total shock as she's usually the quiet reserved kid. She totally came out of her shell today and was the life of the party which was wonderful to see. She sang twinkle twinkle little star. Her party dress is Cinderella's wedding dress that Kirk picked up in NY last month. It's not even for sale yet in the UK so that was pretty cool! Her sparkly princess shoes are a tad too big for her but I fixed that by stuffing some of my spinning fibre into each toe.
Once everyone had a turn at singing, we moved onto the Pinata. The Pinata that just wouldn't release the toys and candy contained within. It took a lot of beating and finally we had to tear it open and a massive load of stuff came out. I went a bit nuts with the filling as I wanted to be sure that all the kids got a good amount of stuff. Usually it's the more outgoing kids that get stuff and the shy kids coming away with nothing. It was pretty funny today as they all sat in an orderly circle once the stuff was out and picked through the stuff they wanted and put it into their little loot bags to take home.
Last but not least, time for cake! I was up until 1:30am last night decorating this thing but it was so worth it as Noemie loved it! And the kids and other parents seemed to really enjoy it as well. Noemie had a lot of help from her friends to blow out her one candle. I'm pleased with how this cake turned out. Last year was the robot. Wonder what next year will be?
Once the cake was done, the kids ran around for a bit more while the entertainer packed up to leave. I think people finally started filtering out at around 4:15 and the last person left around 4:45. The party bags were a hit, I didn't take a photo of them at the party as there was a mad rush to hand them out to the kids, but I did take one the other day after Noemie and I had finished putting name tags on each bag. We had some siblings at the party so I had to make sure the contents of the bags were age relevant so I put names on everything just to make it easier when it was time to hand stuff out.
This was the first birthday party I planned and the amusing thing is we had less people at our own wedding. This probably compared to planning a wedding with all the little bits involved and I could've made my life easier by buying a cake, ready filled party bags and ready made food but I actually kind of enjoyed doing all the stuff myself. I think the next big party will be Noemie's again as I think Charlie might be too young still to have something on this level. At least I've done it once now so the next time will be far easier!
Everyone went to bed easily tonight. Noemie went to bed easily last night too and woke us up at 7am which wasn't too bad (except for I went to sleep at 2:30). I fell asleep on the sofa tonight before the kids even went to sleep. On that note, it's bed time now. We have a few videos on Kirk's phone which I need to download and share on here sometime.