Hailey's 3rd Birthday - A Luau Party

So our princess turned three at the beginning of Aug. We did a simple Luau themed party for her. We all had a blast! It was so cute to see her really be old enough to "get" that it was her birthday and we were celebrating her birth. Of course she ate up all the attention and was just so cute the whole day. It was so neat to have her finally as excited as I am about her birthday, LOL! We were on a tight budget, so I borrowed some decorations and utilized our local dollar store to put on a fun party for her. Above is the princess in all her Luau glory.We were blessed with this long collapsible table. It is coming in handy with all the parties we have around here. I utilized sand buckets for straws and utensil holders, borrowed the tablecloth from my mom and used some baskets we already had around the place to hold the treat bags. I used mismatched plates and cups because I'm realizing, kids just don't care! I also made watermelon limeade and used my big silver mixing bowl as a punch bowl.  I bought a cheap "Hula Till You Drop" cake (we only buy store bought cakes for my kids' birthdays - it is a very special treat for them). I just can't make a cake look that pretty. This is a picture of my step-dad, Larry, Mom, me, Hailey, my grandma, Mary, and my dear friend, Kay. Everyone wore Luau gear. If you've followed my blog for long, you'll know I love any excuse to dress up. I've never really done games before because I thought they were too much work. This time, I searched on-line and got a few Luau games for kids that involved water, but not where kids were getting completely soaked. I didn't have to buy prizes for these games. It was hot that day, so a little cooling off was welcome. The first game we did (I forgot to get a picture) was a "Seashell" hunt. We hid seashells all over the yard and let the kids find them. The second game involved a bucket and a couple of dollar store fishing poles. They got to "fish" for plastic sea creatures with their magnet poles.  Of course we had to do a water balloon toss.  There were enough water balloons left for everyone (even the adults) to have a final water balloon fight. Fun!I thought this was a clever game. We created a "Shooting Gallery" with squirt guns. My SIL took the time to draw targets on some plastic cups. It was really cute.Hailey scored in the gift department. She got all kinds of Princess stuff, neat pens, water play items and books. My grandma made her some pretty butterflies to "fly" in her bedroom windows. Hailey loves them! I thought this was a sweet picture of her and her great grandmother (GG Mary). 

We were blessed to have so many friends and family there for Hailey's birthday party. It was a perfect day. A big thanks to my MIL and SIL for all their help with pre-party preparations! 

Blessings,

Jackie