Emma's 4th Birthday party: The party

The forecast leading up to the weekend of Emma’s birthday party was looking not-so-good for an outdoor party.  I started looking for backup indoor options, but nothing was available on the day of her party.  It was looking to be a very cold, and possibly rainy, day.  My plans for the party turned to more backup planning.  1) I wanted to try to get the first come, first serve shelter, which was bigger (and would provide better shelter from rain and wind than the one I had reserved), 2) I decided to also bring hot cocoa to serve as a warm beverage, which meant I needed to bring our electric kettle and have access to an outlet, 3) I picked up some extra backup games that we could play under the shelter if it was raining.  Things like pin the tail on the donkey and a bean bag toss into buckets game.  I also printed off some Trolls coloring sheets and brought crayons.  Lastly, we also brought our Amazon Echo to play music on, in case we wanted to let the kids have a dance party under the shelter.

The good news is that I did get the bigger shelter, and that it wasn’t raining at the time of Emma’s party!!  Therefore, we were able to do everything in the party we had planned and didn’t need the backup games.  However, the coloring sheets were still a hit for some of the kids.  However, it was quite cold, so the hot cocoa went over very well also! And it was pretty breezy, so I’m glad I got the bigger shelter because it’s one wall really helped keep the wind from blowing our party all over the place and helped keep us warmer.  The music was a nice touch for background music, as we played the Trolls soundtrack on repeat. J

The kids loved the Troll hair headbands, as most of them wore them throughout the whole party and were excited they got to take them home.  Emma, on the other hand, was the only one who wore hers temporarily and then decided she didn’t want to wear it anymore.  She put another one on later, but she never ran around with one on like the other kids.  Oh well, she’s the birthday girl! 

I had to partake in the fun too!

Trolls climbing walls

Look at all those cute Trolls!

When it was time for snacks and cake, I called them all back by ringing the triangle.  And then I would ding it and say “hug time!”  At one point later in the party, one of the kids asked if it could be hug time again, and why of course it could!  I loved that the kids enjoyed that too.

Trolls running in for snacks and cake!

Hug time!

Happy Birthday dear Emma...

I had told Emma the day before that we weren’t sure what the weather would be like at her party and what all we’d get to do.  She asked if everyone would sing Happy Birthday to her and she’d get to blow out the candle, which I told her of course, and so it was clear she wanted that more than anything else at her party.  I figured as long as we did that she’d be happy, and she was.  She also loved opening her presents.  She got so excited over everything she got!  She’s at such a great age to buy gifts for, because she pretty much loves everything!

Even though I hadn’t coordinated this with John, he ended up chasing the kids all around and being the “Bergen”!  It was perfect, and the kids loved it!  By the end of the party they all found their way into the adjacent skate park, and pretended to be doing American Ninja Warrier “warped wall” climbing training.  They’d slide down the sides of what looked like empty swimming pools, and then run and climb up the sides again.  Several of the kids (Evan included) ended up wearing holes in the back of their pants from sliding down the concrete!

By the end of the party, cheeks and noses were quite cold (and rosy), but I think everyone had a good time.  As we packed up, it started to drizzle.  We had just made it and missed the rain!  Hooray!  I’m so glad we were able to give Emma a fun, and dry, birthday party, Trolls style!