Sissy's Semi-Homemade Birthday Party - A GIRLY Painting Party!

Y'all.  I have a SIX year old!  Unbelievable...

What's even MORE unbelievable is that she declared, less than one week before this party, that she wanted everything to be "zebra" and "cupcake."  And I was able to indulge her, because - except for the location - I had done NOTHING for the party.  Nothing.  And I thought when that happened last year, it would be a fluke.....sigh.  But isn't that why Our Semi-Homemade Life even exists?  ;)

Theme:  pink.  zebra.  it could have only been more girly if there was some Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez.  (Oh, wait... she got both those cd's as gifts.)  ;)

The fun:  Painting!!!  When Sissy came up with this idea, I thought it was genius!  I did this a couple of summers ago with a girlfriend of mine and we couldn't have had more fun (of course, there was wine involved, but...)   We had Sissy's party at the same type of place (they do kiddo parties AND girls' night outs, etc!)  Basically, you bring the kids and the cake - they do the rest.  That even includes a couple of super fun instructors!

They even customized a current painting in their gallery.... they zebra-fied their cupcake painting!

Here is Sissy, hard at work... :)  (See?  They even include the smocks - everything!!)

A look at the final products..... aren't these kids amazing artists?  And each one is so unique!

We only had one (lucky!!) guy invited.  And the instructors let him pick out ANYTHING he wanted to paint.  He picked this super cool guitar painting, they sketched it up, and away he went!  LOVE IT!

The decor:  Oh, THANK YOU, Michaels and Hobby Lobby!  For making my last second party planning super easy, by having an abundance of hot pink and zebra on almost every aisle!  I started scheming/shopping/crafting on Thursday... the party was Sat.  But look at all this fun stuff:

I HATE throwing parties at locations other than my home.... because it's such a rush to set up!  I knew I'd only have about 20 min for set up before guests would start arriving.  So I mocked it up at home. :)

Oddly enough, this place had some of its OWN zebra decor!  Like this table runner and the seats in the background.  I love the modern look of the invite Sissy picked out, too!  It's by Katherine at Etsy shop Hopscotch Ink - check out all her other cute (modern!) items in her stationary boutique!

The cake:  I tried a friend of a friend of a FRIEND who does cakes - she's the Queen of Cakes, in fact!  And she was just a doll to work with!  (If your local to me and want her info - let me know!)  She whipped up this cuter than cute cake, and it was sooo good... that a self-proclaimed Cake Snob Mom said it was delish!

The sweets:  In my mad dash down the aisles of Michaels, I grabbed some molds for these "pop princess pretzals."  I did chocolate and pink vanilla and the moms couldn't stay out of 'em.  ;)  And look at that picture of Sissy (another masterpiece from Kristie Clark!)  She's just growing up so fast!

Ahhh...... Pinterest.  Because I had such short time to plan this party, I FINALLY GAVE IN.... and activated my Pinterest account.  And thanks to all those creative people, I made these darling marshmallow pops, and these wild pink zebra cookies. 

First off, these marshmallow pops are the easiest thing in the world to do and were snatched up by those kiddos faster than you can say, "sugar high."  You will probably see them at all our parties for the rest of the year.  (And Sissy took them to her Valentine party at school this week!)  I got my directions from The Hostess with the Mostess HERE.

And I had to turn the cookie recipe into something more semi-homemade-approved.... Semi-Homemade Wild Pink Zebra cookies!  So I basically took a sugar cookie mix, added in some bright pink food coloring, baked them, and threw some Hershey Rasberry Hugs on top as they were cooling.  Easy!

Y'all know how much I love printables (they're a lifesaver for moms like me who are perpetually RUNNING BEHIND!)  All You Need Designs on Etsy did these cute custom zebra water bottle wraps - with such a quick turnaround!  The little tents pictured above are from CupcakeCutieesParty on Etsy, too - even MORE cute party stuff!

The favors:  Just a mix of girly stuff!  Cupcake lipgloss, zebra bandaids (for those stylishly injured, ha!), chocolate from Dylan's Candy Bar, Hello Kitty stamps, and an assortment of bracelets, rings, and funky colored hair extension clips! 

The crew:  Here they are!  All but one kiddo was able to make it, and you can tell here how much fun they had!  Starting kindergarten was such a big change this year.... We'd always had relatively the same invitee list - the kids she'd gone to school with since she was a baby.  Only one of these kids was at her party last year... but she's so blessed to have a great, core group of girl friends!

Like this one... her best friend... Giggling together while everyone sings Happy Birthday to her.  (Love this pic!)

See how good the cake was?!  Almost GONE!  2 layers!  lol

And here's the birthday girl with the biggest party favor they got - her final masterpiece!

What a sweet party for such a sweet girl.  I can't believe she's already six... and so smart, independent, confident, friendly, outgoing... 

This is from her actual birthday, back in December.  (We didn't throw her party until January, because of her crazy basketball schedule!!  See what I mean?  Grown up!)  After a day with mom (pedis, lunch, shopping, the merry.go.round at the mall!).... she came home to just ONE birthday gift.  But it was a good one!  I'll never get tired of looking at this picture and remembering that happy day!

xoxo,