Railey's 7th Birthday - The Year of the Dolphin

Planning birthday parties are never easy, and since I have a newborn, I decided that this was my year to simplify.  Railey said she wanted a dolphin party.  In the past, I would have combed Pinterest for every great idea in the book, and stayed up late weeks before the party in preparation.  Not this year, no way.

Since Railey wanted to invite some boys to her party (most of her neighborhood friends are boys) I knew that a small sleepover was out of the question.  So we came up with the idea of a dolphin party at  the Groovy Little Art Place.

Railey, Ella and Maysie patiently waiting for Mrs. Terri to arrive and open the doors!

We gave the kids a choice to paint a dolphin or a shark.  And no surprise that the party was divided into the boys (sharks) on one side and the girls (dolphins) on the other.

Now when I say simple, I mean simple.  I bought a box of Goldfish, a bag of Pirate's Booty, small water bottles, juice boxes, and made fruit skewers. Paul made a point to tell me at the end of the party that skewers might not have been the best idea.  Turns out that some of the boys decided to use them as weapons…sigh.

For the dolphin themed cake, I had Publix make a cake with blue water icing then ordered these adorable dolphin cake toppers.  Can't get any easier than that!

While the kids were waiting for everyone to arrive, they played in the back of the studio.  No surprise that six of the kids from the Blackland Ridge Brat Pack were right in the middle of everything.

Baby Ansley slept through most of the chaos.  And I couldn't help but post this picture that shows off her ADORABLE headband bow from Peanut Gallery Art.

Finally it was time to paint!

I had to put Paul in charge of helping Maysie…3 might have been a little to young for this party!

Mrs. Terri's daughters weren't able to come so I was luck to have some people there to assist in the fun!  When Ms. King walked in the door, you should have heard the squeals from the kids.  Priceless.

And Aunt Jenn was a huge help with baby Ansley

And even though I don't have a picture of her in action, Auntie Amanda took most of these pictures and was there to help with EVERYTHING!

Railey had SUCH a great time and my favorite part of her simple dolphin party…the kids made their own party favors!