So, Cassie and I were thinking about the party for awhile. It's not that easy to have parties for this age group we soon realized. Most places that we could book, were for younger kids, and the standard "girl-night-sleepover" didn't work either as she wanted to invite the group of friends with boys and girls.
We have wonderful options here with pool party and beach party, but in the end of March/beginning of April, the pools are still closed here and the beaches barely open, and still too cold/and weather not to be trusted so those options fell through. Just have a movie night, was boring, as taking the kids to the movie and then eat wasn't that much fun as she wanted to have fun together with them.
So, we came up with having a party at home, have some activities, make some memories, eat dinner and cake at home, and then finish up the night at the bowling alley! Fun for everyone!
One thing that Cassandra really wanted was to do a
Photo Booth. That's something that nobody else had had for a party that she had been too and she thought though that it would be a fun thing to do! I was spending hours on Pinterest and other pages to get ideas and print out props, cut and glue sticks to cardboard. What teen doesn't use a lot of
emojis? That seemed to be a given prop. I originally wanted to make a big frame and put it together like an Instagram post, but time ran away from me and even if I was running around in stores to try to find supplies, as we don't have a Target, Walmart or Staples around it made it a bit harder to get what I wanted. Made another frame for the pictures, and made a backdrop with white sheer curtains in front of lots of stringed Christmas lights.
The guests started arriving at 3pm and while waiting for everyone to arrive, listening to music and
the photo booth was a success to say the least!! It took some convincing first to get the kids going, but then they played along and had fun with it!! Only fail was that I had wanted to have a photo booth picture of the whole family surrounding Cassie in the frame, but Chris had taken Ben out to play some football for a while there when I was taking pictures, and then we got busy with dinner and moving on the party, so it got forgotten.
Here is a photo bomb with pictures from the party. Some from my camera, some from my phone and some that Cassie took with her phone.
Atleast I got one of the sisters!
Sweet hearts!
After all the photo booth fun, they were hanging out in Cassandra's room getting ready for the next part of the party - the
Scavenger Hunt!
Cassie had invited five boys and four girls, but two girls were no shows and one boy couldn't come, so the teams had to be mixed up a bit. Here they were going over the things that they had to do in ONE HOUR.
I forgot to take a picture of the list, but after having to change a few things, there were
15 things on the list that they had to do/find/make and take a picture of within that hour.
1. Take a picture with the team in front of a car in Cassandra's favorite color.
2. Take a picture with the team doing a handstand.
3. Take a picture with everyone in the team wearing sunglasses.
4. Take a picture of the team with a stranger wearing flipflops.
5. Take a picture of the team made into a pyramid.
6. Take a picture of the team in a reflection.
7. Take a picture of the team by the "Camp Courtney" sign.
8. Take a picture of one in the team doing pull ups.
9. Take a picture of the team with a stranger.
10. Take a picture of the team writing "Happy Birthday Cassandra" with things that they find.
11. Take a picture of the team in a small space.
12. Take a picture with the team on a slide.
13. A video of the team singing/acting out a scene of a favorite Disney Movie.
14. A video of the team jumping mid air.
15. Take a picture of the team posing with twins!
I had to include the twins somewhere, as they weren't running around for the fun outside this hour. It turned out that an hour was just about right amount of time for the kids to get this done, some teams came back to the apartment to borrow sunglasses and all of them of course needed to pose with the twins!
There were lots of laughing, giggling and comparing pictures and ideas when they came back, so it was a lot of fun to see and hear. They made some memories for sure!
Cassie and Zach posing with a set of twins!
Posing as a pyramid!
Posing in a tight space.
While the kids were running around the neighborhood outside to get the pictures for the Scavenger Hunt, Chris and I had some time to prepare and get the dinner ready. Instead of ordering the standard Pizza, that most people do, we decided to go for home made grilled burgers and hotdogs with french fries and chips. That was very much appreciated by all, and they had worked up an appetite for sure!
Just because you are having burgers and hotdogs, it doesn't mean you can't set the table nice..
Benjamin & Isabella had to sit by the coffee table and they weren't too excited about that!
Cassie holding a "thank you for coming speech"
"Happy Birthday to Yooooou...."
And we did get one picture of the whole family!
Ice cream cake "Cookies & Cream"
After the cake, we had to rush to get everyone ready and then still have time for Cassandra to open presents. We had to be at the bowling alley at 6pm and they would only hold the reservation of the lanes for 15 minutes, as Saturday night is very busy.
A friend of ours Jacob came by too for some burgers and to hang out, and he also brought a beautiful Kokeshi Doll for Cassandra. So thoughtful!
So many thoughtful and sweet gifts and after thank you hugs, it was time to rush to the Bowling Alley. As three didn't come, we were able to get everyone into our two cars and drive there and we were there right on time!
For the pictures from this part of the evening, I'll make a separate post, as there will be too many pictures to share.
