Yaya's 5th Birthday ParTea

Yaya turned 5 at the beginning of July and all she wanted was a garden tea party without boys.  

We invited the girls from her preschool class and got to work planning the party. 

(This is the photo I took and made into the invitation.)

We hit the jackpot when a friend of mine loaned me the decorations from her daughter's June wedding.  We hung flower balls, lights and Japanese lanterns all over my parent's yard.

As each girl and her mother arrived we took their picture on Yaya's birthday throne.

(I'm making each of their photos into a personalized Thank You card.)

We played the telephone game where one girl whispered a secret in another's ear and passed it on to another to see if it ended up being the same at the end.  Once the girls got the hang of it they had a blast.  What little girl doesn't love telling secrets?!

 The girls enjoyed garden salad pizza, little smokies in BBQ sauce, peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches and fruit kabobs for dinner.   Raspberry lemonade and sun tea were served in real tea cups with saucers.  I found 2 complete sets of floral tea cups and saucers at local thrift stores for under $18.00.  JACKPOT!  The best part?  I didn't worry if anything got broken because it wasn't a family heirloom. 

Pinkies Up!

Yaya begged me to make her a pretty cake with real flowers on it not frosting flowers.  Upon asking a few more questions as to why she wanted real flowers on her cake she admitted it was so she could lick the frosting off of them.  I swear she cracks me up!  Shhh... she didn't even notice that I cheated and used flowers I bought from Michaels off the clearance racks.  My "little smoochie" couldn't wait to blow out her candles. 

After dinner and cake the girls enjoyed "Freeze Dancing."  My dad downloaded the Freeze Dance song from Choo Choo Soul.  They had fun listening to the words and freezing when the singer said, "FREEZE."  Is there anything more lovely than a group of little girls dancing, spinning, squealing and giggling their hearts out?

The party ended with each girl setting a lantern into the pool.  Yaya explained she wanted to set lanterns free like they did on Rapunzel's birthday in the movie Tangled.   

"Girls Only" 

Each girl went home with a party favor box that held a tea cup, saucer, hand stitched handkerchief,  heartshaped ring and candy bracelet and a tiny flowerpot with lip gloss inside.  The best part of the night was when Yaya came up and hugged me saying, "Momma, that was the best birthday party EVER!  I love you!"  That was all the thanks I needed.