Turning Eight is Great!

To celebrate her 8th birthday this year, our daughter requested a slumber party with a camping theme.  The hard part was narrowing down the invite list to just a few names from various phases of her life without inviting one person from a larger group where others in the group may be easily offended if not included.  Traditional parties can accommodate large numbers, but sleepovers must be kept small. The largest tent we could find was 10'x12' and only sleeps six people, so limiting the guest list was by far the most difficult part.  Sending cupcakes to her school at least helped her not feel like she had to invite every girl in each of her classes.

While waiting for all the guests to arrive, the girls perused through all of our daughter's scrapbooks.  Thankfully, her book for her eighth year arrived from the printer just in time for the party.  Then the party began with instruction in making balloon animals.  The girls made or received balloons shaped to look like dogs, giraffes, horses, and swords. 

Next the girls were seated at the dining room table where a red and white checked table cloth, fresh flowers, colorful pebbles, and camping lanterns were placed to make the girls feel like they were at a campsite.  Dinner included grilled burgers, grilled corn on the cob, onion rings, various types of chips, and selections from the two vegetable platters with ranch dip.   

Then the girls were commissioned on a nighttime nature hunt.  Solar lights were placed through the grass to guide the girls to the natural areas where the required nature items could be found.  Each guest also received (as favors) glow-in-the-dark face masks and shimmery pastel flashlights to assist them during their quest.  Whoever filled her paper sack with all the items on the list first received a prize. Large cash prizes were also offered for retrieval of a significant number of sweet gum balls that had blown into our yard from a neighbor's tree, but the birthday girl called a foul on Ranger Mom for manipulating the rules.  Our birthday girl was the first to collect all the items, but since she had an unfair home court advantage and a pile of gifts waiting for her in the living room,  the first place prize went to the 2nd place finisher.  Then Ranger Mom scrounged around the house for more "prizes" because she forgot that when girls play games, everyone must receive a prize lest temper tantrums ensue.  It almost got ugly there for a moment.

While the rangers cleaned up dinner plates and reset the "picnic table" for dessert, the birthday girl opened her gifts.  She was elated with everything.  Her friends know her well.  She has now added extensively to her horse and craft collection and has new supplies for all the stories she writes and for all the adventures she takes in her imagination.  She still loves anything American Girl, but this year, the #1 item on her wish list (besides a horse which is on my wish list as well) was a Twinn Doll.  She designed the doll herself, and then I submitted photos and a freckle placement chart for the doll's face to match our daughter's.  We are thankful to Grandma and Grandpa for contributing to this joint gift so that her wish could be granted without blowing the budget.  The Twinn doll company has cleverly designed their dolls to be larger than American Girl dolls so the clothes are not interchangeable.  Thankfully, one of her friends gave her an adorable school girl outfit (not pictured below but definitely her favorite) for her Twinn doll. They sell matching clothes for the doll's owner as well.

We usually get our kids' birthday cakes from a team of fabulous designers (and close friends) who use fondant and all manner of skill to make a cake that looks more like a fine piece of artwork than mere junk food.  This year, we decided our designer friends needed a break, so we went with something simpler but from the heart.  I used two round cake pans to bake a "Twinkie cake" (there is funny related Twinkie story that could be said here, but I'll refrain and just describe it as dark chocolate cake with vanilla cream in the middle) shaped like the number 8.  Then my husband, our resident cake decorator, iced and decorated the cake to make it look like a campground.  When the candles were lit, it looked like the campfire was blazing.  I copied this idea from the Truthful Mommy's blog.

Some of her Y Princess tribe's members kindly loaned us their handmade campfire which uses Christmas tree lights instead of dangerous flames.  That little campfire "sparked" fun conversation all evening.  While some may hold to the campfire tradition of telling scary stories around the fire before bedtime, I do not approve of such stories.  So, the girls instead played "build-a-story" with each girl adding a phrase to the story as it unfolded. They laughed themselves silly over those stories.

After story time, Ranger Mom announced, "Lights out campers!"  Based on the mess strewn about the next morning, however, those girls must have used their flashlights and lanterns to stay up playing much....MUCH later.

My amazing husband served the girls fresh pancakes, bagels, fruit, bacon, juice, and milk for breakfast.  Before leaving, each guest received the following S'mores favor with a note that reads, "Thanks for making my party s'more fun!"  I stole that idea from Truthful Mommy, too!