Messy Party

There's nothing my girls love more that getting really dirty (as evidenced by paint-pool photo above). This year I decided to throw a Messy Birthday Party and let them go crazy! I wanted the party to be as homemade and kid-friendly as possible. I am also on a super-tight budget these days, so I made it my personal challenge to keep this party on the cheap. This was the first time I have done a "together party" for both girls. Leila is turning 4 soon, and Norah was 2 at the end of September. Leila was cool with the joint party for a while, but as the date approached she began to question why she had to share her party. You know why? Because I said so.

Invitations

I printed up the simple white invitations and let the girls decorate them, with my guidance. I had to ditch a few that the girls went too crazy with. The invites went out to over 20 kids. 

Painting

The kids made a large mural using colored water spray bottles and throwing koosh balls dipped in paint at a big white sheet. This was a big hit and the final product was pretty cool. I'm trying to think of something to make with the paint-splattered sheet. 

(Reverse) Bobbing for Donuts

They had to eat powdered donuts hanging from a string with no hands. The donuts were gone in about 30 seconds. I think we had some cheaters!

                                       

Shaving Cream

It was just sprayed on the side of our house. Sooooo easy and fun! Added bonus- the kids smelled fresh and clean afterwards!

Face Painting

My dear friend Janna used her mad face-painting skills to make tons of gorgeous butterflies, cats and such. After the party I caught Leila repainting her face and Norah's. 

Pull-Sting Pinatas

Leila, Norah and I made 2 pull string paper mache pinatas. I forgot to take pictures of them, but I followed these directions, so they kinda looked like this. It was really fun to make (very messy!) and the pull strings work much better with this age group than beating the shit out of a pinata with a bat.    That said, the only reason I made these was that Leila drove me crazy wanting a pinata. It really wasn't necessary.

And more!

Silly String Fight- 4 cans went in about 30 seconds. I should have bought 20. 

Goop Painting- I made Goop (cornstartch and water) in a plastic pool, and let the kids paint the fence with it). They liked it, but I think it would have been better to do soapy water to paint the fence, and just have goop to play with on individual plates. 

Food

This was the only non-DIY party of the party. I just didn't want to worry about the food. We had breakfast tacos from Stanley's (best BBQ in town!) and mini-cupcakes (vanilla, red velvet & snickerdoodle) from Ganache. Last year I made the cupcakes and they were crap. I vowed to leave the fancy cupcake decorating to the pros!

                             

Favors

I gave out bags with a bar of soap, colored loofa sponge and little rubber duck with a tag that said "Get Clean!" for the party favors. Norah loves rubber ducks in the tub, and Leila liked putting the bags together for her friends. She really liked passing them out at the end of the party too. 

All in all, it was a big success. The kids seemed to have fun and most importantly Leila and Norah were happy. We had a lot of family come in town from Houston, Austin and San Antonio. We won't be able to have that again next year in DC. Afterwards, Leila asked if we can have a messy party every year. Thank God she doesn't want to go to Chuck-E-Cheese.