Happy Birthday to our American Girl!

Ellie's birthday started off with her requested breakfast "Pancakes with Whipped Cream and Sprinkles". She opened her gifts for us, and it was so fun to watch her open "Kit". She didn't think that she was getting it, and was so surprised and excited! She also got matching dresses for her and Molly, which they wore to the party.

After lunch we got ready for her party. She has really been into the American Girls, so we had an American Girl birthday party. I made this banner for her out of images I found online, and strung it together with letters that spelled out "Happy Birthday Ellie" I then decorated with red, white and blue streamers, and sparkly garlands. I also got R, W, and B star balloons. We had a doll's table made out of a sheet of plywood sitting on paint cans that I covered with a matching tablecloth and a table topper decoration. I then made 8 little mini cakes for the dolls (which the girls took home as favors) and set them around the table.

When the guests arrived, they had a picture taken with their doll, and then they sat their dolls down at a spot at the doll table. The first acitivity was making play food out of model magic to go into mini picnic baskets. The girls had a lot of fun with this, and I finally had to tell them to clean up so we could fit some games in. I had printed out a short bio and pictures of each of the American Girls, and I had found games that might have been played in each time period. Starting with Kaya, I read about her and then we played the "Moccasin Game". The girls took off their shoes and left the room while I hid a bead in one of the shoes. The girls then took turns guessing which shoe I put the bead in. I then split them up into partners, and had them take turns hiding and guessing. Next in line was Felicity's "Ring" game. The girls sat in a circle with one girl in the middle. I then had the girls on the outside pass a ring around while the one who was "It" closed her eyes. When I said,"Stop", the girls all put their hands behind their backs and then the one who was "It" had to guess who had the ring. Once she guessed correctly, the two girls switched places and we continued playing until every girl had a chance. For Josefina, we played a variation of "La Loteria". I had made up a matching set of cards with a different American Girl on each one. I dealt out one card to each girl, and then laid the matching set face down on the carpet. I then picked up a card and asked the girls to raise their hand if they thought I had picked up their card. If they raised their hand, and I was holding their card, they got a bead. They also got a bead if they had left their hands down and I hadn't picked their card (so either way, if they guessed correctly, they got a bead). We played 4 rounds, with me increasing the amount of cards I turned over by one each time. We then counted the beads at the end to see who was the best guesser (It ended up being N since he never raised his hand, and the odds were in his favor for most of the game). Although I had planned on one game for each American Girl, time was running out so I skipped to Kit's "Hobo" game. I had found images of Hobo signs online, so I copied them onto paper. I then gave the girls two options of what the sign could mean, and they had to guess which it was. Sometimes I switched it up and asked them what they thought the sign might mean. By the time this game was over, I decided we needed to do the cake.

The cake had a picture of the American Girls on it, which was fun because everyone got to pick a piece with a different girl to eat. Ellie decided on eating her name, since she doesn't like to eat anything with a face :)

After cake, Ellie opened her presents and then I passed out the matching fleece ponchos that Ellie, Ed's mom and I had made. They were really cute, and not too hard (although I can't sew, so Ed's mom did sew the necks for us). There were 3 different patterned fleeces. I had planned to get a picture of all the girls with their dolls in the fleeces, but by this time parents had arrived to pick up, so I didn't get a chance.
It was a really fun party to give, and I felt that I could have let it go another hour, and we still would have had plenty to do. But, I am glad it ended when it did because I was exhausted! I pretty much collapsed after making dinner (Ellie's request of quiche) and went to bed after we put the kids down.