Ariel in Wonderland!

Well I am sitting her on Sunday night pretty darn exhausted from a crazy party weekend for our little 'Alice'. We held Ariel's Alice in Wonderland party at our place on Saturday afternoon. It was the first time we have ever held our own party in our own place! Kinda a big event for us. Ariel was so excited to have her friends come over and play in her own room with her toys. Very special indeed!

Anyhoo, the week started back on Monday with me altering Ariel's costume. I was going to make a dress but was running short on time and found an amazing deal online for $20 for a costume that was so well made for the price I couldn't pass it up. The catch, only came left in the small size, and Ariel needed an extra small. So I had to do some alterations, and took off 6-7 inches off the hem of the dress and apron! Yes the dress was down to her ankles and lost the 'Alice' look and was more 'little house on the prairies', which is cute but not what Ariel wanted. So after one evening of measuring, cutting and sewing, we had a fitting dress, yay!

The following evening I took Ariel to the park for a photo shoot to capture some pictures to use at the party for gift bags etc. It was so much fun as she was totally in character, catching her bunny, acting like a curious Alice. We attracted an audience and a few cars driving by stopped to tell us how cute she was. In the end I captured some great shots that I love!

She makes a perfect Alice!

Wednesday was another photo night, only with Kara! She wanted some fun ballet around town shots, and we went out for a few hours and had a blast... nothing boring about laying in the middle of the road. Haha.

Kara in her tutu and pointe shoes got some interesting glances from people. Never a dull moment, hee.

Thursday started the baking and decorating of the cake and prepping the house. I had picked up lots of dollar store goodies to pull off the look. A package of over-sized playing cards strung up with some paper lanterns looked super cute. I had a black table cloth but wanted a bright blue and found an end of the bolt deal on some satin at the fabric store that was perfect. With some pins and ribbon, it was super cute!

The cake was done! Yay, loved it! Ariel refused to look at it until Saturday morning, haha.

Our goody bags were awesome. I found Alice in Wonderland coloring books at the dollar store along with giant lollipops, woot! I also had cute bendy flamingos I found in the clearance bin at Save On. Then my FAV find, I got each girl a cupcake necklace for a $1.50 from Forever 21! Seriously, love that store, cheaper jewelry than those 'kid' jewelry places, and they are so sweet!

Saturday morning Ariel was up at 630am... yeah. She was dressed and ready for her friends. We had her watch some tv and try to rest. I feared the worst... but thankfully she calmed down and was good to go. No tears this year and very sweet and polite which was awesome!

I made up the sandwiches while Ariel watched... sampling now and again. Love that my girl is a tea sandwich fan like Mommy. The setting was done, and with that the girls started to arrive! Ariel was so excited and the girls were sweet and adorable. Including Ariel we had nine girls running around on the HOTTEST day of the year! Yikes!

We painted the roses red...

... played some croquet with flamingos and a hedgehog...

and lots fun at the tea party with our own Mad Hatter 'Daddy'.

Ariel and her friends loved the cake... can't believe this girl is turning 6 so soon!

The girls watched the 'photo' video 3 times so they could sing along with the song.

Present time came and Ariel loved the treats her friends picked for her. Lots of crafty stuff, some acrylic paint sent with canvas (loved that one), some princess lip gloss (she loved that haha), early reader books, Princess Yahtzee, hair clips, alice figurines and a cute top from Peak a boo beans. Then she got her gift, surprise! Its Mckenna! She died... seriously, she died!  Then the other girls started hugging her in excitement haha. They all headed upstairs to play with the new doll and her clothes and pet dog. The girl loves those dolls.

 Once her friends had left, we went and relaxed at Dad and Rita's with dinner and lounging in the little pool.

Xander and Mckenna hanging out... a date maybe?

Xander finally gave into the heat and went in... he hates water generally.

We are now looking forward to our family party for her with dinner and dessert. Until then, I am back to work this week with 6 orders... yep, jumping in both feet.