Sydney's 8th Birthday Halloween Party

After much procrastination, we finally had Sydney's 8th birthday party.  With the baptism shortly after her birthday, it just had to wait.   Sydney's guest list consisted of about 12 girls.  Each day leading up to the party, she would come home from school stating that she had invited another friend, and so I would send out another invitation.  After inviting 8 additional girls I had to put my foot down.  I expected about 1/2 to come due to family activities or sports on Saturday.  Well I was getting a good turn out a couple days before the party.  With bad weather on Saturday, we had 4 more kids RSVP the day before.  After getting about 5 hours sleep prepping the house and doing decorations, I headed to Bel Air and Target to get more items and goody bag fillers for the party.  On my way home early Saturday morning Jeff calls me.  His father who normally works Saturday's was coming up to do "stuff" around the house.  I made it perfectly clear that we were going to have a party and I needed his help.  His sister came with her girls for the party and thankfully helped out for part of it, but I was pretty much on my own.  I must admit that he did pick up the pizza's which was a big help, but he was pretty much MIA during the party.

I wanted to capture the house before the chaos started. I printed up two 8x10 Halloween prints and put them in frames I already had.

 The dining table is already set up for the girls to paint their pumpkins

 I printed up labels to put on the punch. 

 I made a spider-web cake.  Sydney loved it.  Inside is a black and orange checkerboard pattern.

Sydney ready to blow out her candle

Here are some of the great costumes that the girls wore.

 Sydney smiling as the girls await her to blow the candle out.

More great costumes

I made a game out of two large poster boards.  I blew up balloons with a candy inside.  I placed them on the board to look like a pumpkin.  The girls were blindfolded and they popped a balloon and received a yummy treat.

In teams of two, the girls wrapped each other like a mummy.  Afterwards they cleaned all it up....amazing!

After the party was over, I could still hear 19 screaming girls in my ears.  I am so glad it's over and I don't have to do another party like this again for 2 years.  I was thoroughly exhausted that I had to take a nap that afternoon, to work that night...but that nap was still not enough.  I'm so glad Sydney had a great time.  As some of the girls were leaving, I heard them say, "That was the best party ever."  That made me feel really good.  I hope Sydney enjoyed it and was thankful for all the hard work and effort put into it.