Taylee's Night Owl PJ Party!

And finally we get to the PARTY...

We welcomed all NIGHT OWLS with a sign.

Notice Taylee's new pj pants. They are orange (her new favorite color?) with an owl print. She also received an awesome owl necklace, from one of her Activity Day leaders. So cute!

Friends started arriving around 5pm.
While dinner/breakfast was baking and being prepared, the girls jumped on the trampoline and hung out.

Breakfast for dinner...one of my favorites.

Ham & Cheese Breakfast Casserole, mini muffins, bananas, grapes and orange juice.

Yum!

By this time, almost everyone had arrived.

(Several girls had sports after school, so they came when they could.)

Things were quite calm at first, but then from no where GRAPE GOOFINESS broke out.

Maddie as a bunny rabbit.

Sage as a monkey.

Lauren as.... what do you think?

Next, the girls "hatched" their owlets and started stuffing and decorating.

It surprised me how much they enjoyed stuffing, decorating and sewing their owls.

Every owlet needed a name, so BIRTH CERTIFICATES were filled out.

Rachel and her little owl FREEDOM.

Taylee & Courtney

Bella & Sage

Maddie & Lauren
Check out the "nerd glasses" , sunglasses and guitar. So funny.

Kristin & Brittany

Maddy & Bailey

All the goofy girls and owlets.

Next we played "I have never____" or some call it "Never, have I ever___".

Someone starts out by saying, "Never, have I ever water skiied or gone fishing or seen a buffalo, etc". Then if you HAVE done that thing, you have to put a candy in the bowl. Some girls picked on their friends so they were the only ones putting the candy in the bowl, others said funny/outrageous things no one had ever done. All were good sports and SO fun to be around. Some of these girls are hilarious!

Next, Taylee opened gifts.

She received lots of great things; bottle cap necklace with interchangeable magnet pictures, scrapbook set, bracelet making set, ceramic figurines, purse, lip gloss, candy, gift certificate, and more.

Thanks friends!

Next on the agenda, was the movie "Tangled". The girls each got a bag of popcorn and added candy, pretzels, raisins, chips and cookies for their NIGHT OWL MUNCH MIX.

After the movie, we sang Happy Birthday and had cake/ice cream.

By then it was late and parents were arriving to pick up their girls.

On their way out, they grabbed some COOL silly socks as a favor.

Taylee bought these with her own money and was SO excited to give them out. She loved the neon colors and weird prints.

What a FUN night. Happy 12th Birthday Taylee!!!

More Party Prep

I didn't think that one cake would be enough, so I wanted to make owl cupcakes. This is what I ended up with.

Does it look more like an owl or a Jim Henson Muppet?

For the actual cake, I wanted to make a "log", so I decided to do it jellyroll style. This was my first time ever attempting a jellyroll type cake, so I was a little worried how it would go.

It came out of the pan and rolled up while it was warm, just fine. When it was time to fill, things didn't go as well. As I unrolled the cake, it cracked and broke apart several times. (I think I needed to let it cool more and maybe use a different recipe. I just used a cake mix.) But because it was going to be a "log" I didn't let that stop me. I slathered on the fudge filling, kind of gluing it together, then carefully rolled it up and put it in the freezer.

The morning of the party, I took the log out of the freezer and frosted it with chocolate frosting, going for the bark look. I also used some large stick pretzels covered with frosting for a branch.

Next I stuck wooden skewers into the styrofoam owls and popped them onto their log, along with candles and Taylee's name.
Voila!

Taylee and I made extra owls using the invitation template. I used them to make a banner.

Rylee bought this balloon for Taylee. It was a perfect addition to the party.

This was one of our first ideas when planning the NIGHT OWL party... a bed table.

I like how ours turned out, but check out our inspiration party...amazing!

My "crazy" doesn't even compete with her CRAZY. :)

Night Owl PJ Party

At the end of this month, Taylee will be turning 12... yikes!

She came to me one day and asked if she could have a friend party for her 12th birthday. She even offered to help plan and pay for it. How could I refuse that? So we got on the computer and started sifting through all of my "favorites" in the birthday party category. We finally decided on a "Night Owl PJ Party" theme.

We found an owl template and started tracing, cutting and gluing the invitations using some of my old scrapbook paper and supplies. We used mis-matched (but kind of coordinated) papers for an eclectic, homemade look.... totally Taylee's style. Buttons, were the finishing touch, for the eyes.

We made about 35 total! She's inviting 12 girls and some will be used for decorations too.

Aren't they cute?!

Stay tuned for more party details and planning...