It's A Party!

That time of year for Lily's Birthday Party. And, this has by far been the biggest party yet. Lily invited her entire class and other friends which ended up being a party of 13 kiddos. Not too intimidating until you see everyone pour into the Build-a-Bear store.

Mike and I had a date night a few weeks ago for a quick dinner but we also took the opportunity to do "party logistics" at the mall food court. So, in my head, all the plans were great and all we had to do was carry them out. Thankfully, Uncle Mark came down to help once again and made this part relatively easy. We arrived at the mall about 20 minutes early and claimed a recessed gazebo area in the upstairs food court. Mike printed out "Reserved" signs that looked very official (and fooled everyone), we moved around tables to create one long table for the kids and covered it with pink tablecloths. (Those mall tables are nasty) Mike tied a few balloons everywhere and off we went to greet everyone.

A little after 12, Tommy, our Build-a-Bear party host, took the stage. He was wonderful. He had all the kid's attention, he had the very classic, well used bell for transitions and talked very clearly so that all kids and parents knew what was coming. He made Lily feel very special since she was the Birthday Girl. She led all of the lines, decided whether or not to jump or skip to the next location and got to do everything first. Of course, Emma was right in the mix as well.

One of my favorite parts, for Lily, was the little heart ceremony in the back of the store. Tommy had all of the kids and their unstuffed bears or dogs make a circle. They chose two hearts out of the bin and proceeded to hug them, rub them on their hearts for love, on their bellies so their friends never go hungry and clutched on to them to make a very special wish. Then he helped Lily go around the circle so that her friends could put one of those hearts into Lily's bear. So Lily's bear, Sparkles, has a total of 13 hearts with 13 very special wishes and lots of love from all of her friends.

Then the fun of everyone getting to stuff their own animal friend and naming them. The kids also took it upon themselves to wash their friends and get them all spiffy. As this was going on, Jenna's mom, took Lily shopping for her birthday gift. Sparkles, Lily's new bear, now has a very pretty ballerina outfit. It was very sweet!

Cute and very patient kids while we wait and every one's bear

received either hair bows or bow ties.

Lily also received a group picture in a card-like frame and a bear in which everyone signed! She is loving the bear and looking for every one's names.

This next part of getting pizzas, stuff from the car, keeping everyone entertained, fed and happy was the most tense time of the party at least for me. Everyone made it up to the food court with their bears and took over this gazebo (which was left totally alone, yay!) It seemed really short but in reality it was probably an hour or so that we ate Pizza Hut pizza (yep, we ordered it to have it delivered to the mall haha), a fruit tray and of course cake! Chocolate cake. Not many pictures since we were all pretty busy. As we were cleaning, Amy took our kids to the play area :). Much easier to get things done when you don't have to worry about someone falling down steps.

Thank you Uncle Mark for always making these parties! These two little girls are so lucky to have you! Next visit must be longer though!