Candy Land Birthday Party

On Sunday December 7th we threw Hanna's 3rd birthday party which was a Candy Land themed party. I LOVED planning and decorating for this party SO much because who doesn't love candy. The colors were so vibrant and I lucked out and found a ton of candy-themed items and made a few of my own. The party was so Hanna, as she always says, "I yiiiiike candy." Hanna was so excited for her friends to come and sing happy birthday to her and eat cake. She kept wanting to know what color her cake was going to be. Party-goers included Zach Knight, Nicholas Robinson, Delaney Ewing, Bella Bauer, and Peyton Mudd.

They got to decorate foam trees and stockings and cookies that looked like lollipops. Afterwards, we plated up chicken fingers, sweet potato fries, and mandarin oranges for the kiddos while the adults had calzones. I decided to make the cake myself and used a french vanilla mix and made a cream cheese frosting which I tinted the prettiest shade of pink. My vision was to have the cake look like a swirly lollipop on top but I think it more resembled the greenish eye of a hurricane. You be the judge. At least it tasted pretty good.

After eating cake, we proceeded into the kitchen nook area to open presents. Hanna was spoiled by all her friends with lots of great gifts and she LOVED all of them. We wanted to show her friends how much we appreciate them and sent them home with some goodies of their own. I made personalized place mats for each to keep. I set up a candy buffet with Chinese take-out boxes so everyone could fill up with assorted candies (skittles, runts, m&m's, sour balls, gummie bears, gummie worms, candy necklaces & bracelets, smarties, ring pops, lollipops, chocolate bars wrapped in a special Hanna wrapper) and candy flavored chapsticks and bath gels. They also got a Candy Land game beach towel that came with game pieces, so cute.

Overall, I think the party was a great success, nobody shed any tears during the process (nobody=myself). No, the tears came the next day on Hanna's actual birthday when I was reading her the card my Mom sent. I just got emotional at that very second when the realization hit me that my sweet baby Hanna is a big girl "fwee yeaws old." She was very concerned about my blubbering tears and asked if I was sad. I told her yes a little and then she said a very big girl thing (which made me cry even more), "Oh, Mommy. It'll be awe-white." We love you so much Johanna Cathleen.......Happy 3rd Birthday!!