So I found some fun ideas online for the party. I made pillowcase birthday invitations out of fabric and stuffed them with bubble wrap. They were fun and easy to make.
Knowing a slumber party was probably not appropriate for their age, we decided to have her party Saturday morning. We had all the children come dressed in their pajamas, it worked out great since they were in their pj's already. We provided a hot breakfast. We had waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, O.J., juice boxes, etc.
Derek had a great idea to set-up the basement with some bed mattresses and extra pillows and blankets. The kids LOVED jumping on the mattresses and snuggling up with their blankets/pillows.
Some of the activities at the party included: decorating pillowcases with fabric paint using their hand prints and sponge shapes, playing musical pillows, pin the pj's on Boo (Boo from Monster's Inc), story-time given by my wonderful husband, pillow fights, and of course cake and ice cream.
For the party bags to take home I filled them with a toothbrush, a story book, and goodies to go along with the theme. It was nice to have some extra pair of hands to help out at the party. Thank you Eve and Camille we couldn't have done it without you!
Yummy Chocolate Cake with fresh strawberries in the middle
A cheesy smile after blowing out the candles, she couldn't let go of her juice box and her precious DOLLY
Giving kisses to Daddy with a chocolate ice cream face!
My sweet 4 year old!
This is how we found Daddy after all our guests went home
Right after the earthquake in Haiti, we wanted to take the time to teach Cassidy about others around the world and their needs. Cassidy had many questions about it and asked us what an earthquake was. Derek used Cassidy's wooden blocks and started stacking them on top of each other like houses in Haiti on a chair. Then he rocked the chair as the wooden blocks fell. I think she had a better understanding on how devastating an earthquake can be. Right after that demonstration she ran to the bathroom and brought us something. Cassidy wanted to give all her Scooby-Doo bandaids to the kids in Haiti.
Since her birthday was coming up we thought why not do something different. Instead of birthday gifts from her friends we had the idea to instead ask her friends to bring a pair of pajamas that we were collecting to donate to a family shelter here in town. It was another great opportunity to teach our daughter it's more fun to give than to get. We have been blessed to provide our daughter with so many things and after we explained to Cassidy that some children have nothing, including a mommy and daddy, she wanted to give more. Our friends were very gracious in giving too and we were able to collect 20 sets of pajamas.
That following week Cassidy and I invited some friends and we took a trip to the shelter to drop off the pajamas. The staff at the shelter were very grateful! Children are an example to all of us.
Pajama Success!
