Ivy turned 9 on Friday, January 19th. Last year for our baby in single digits, yikes! Every birthday is fun but for some reason, this one was extra fun. And I actually do know the reason: it was that Ivy was excited for every, little detail. And her excitement was contagious and spilled over into everyone and the entire two days that we celebrated. We just love this little caboose of ours!
She wanted German Pancakes and strawberries for breakfast. She has chocolate milk every morning and I also got some ready-to-eat bacon because who wants to cook bacon on a busy school morning? I sure don't!
Ivy had been sharing a room with Brynn for a week while Justin worked on her room. They were both good sports about it. Ivy had her outfit picked out days before her birthday and she wore it proudly! Off to school she went! Justin drove her so she didn't have to ride the bus.
She wanted homemade mac and cheese for lunch and that was an easy enough request. I made it that morning, packed it up for her-with more strawberries and salt and vinegar chips-and met her in the school cafeteria for lunch. Always a good time to talk to all the cute kids that she sits by.
 |
me, Ivy, Hannah Reynolds, Mia Phillips
|
Her cake request was chocolate cake with vanilla frosting colored blue. Then she wanted piping bags with pink, purple, and more blue frosting in each of them. I had all of that ready for her when she got home and she decorated her cake and was very happy to do that. She also wanted me to cut a hole in the bottom layer and hide some candies in there so there would be a surprise inside. She decorated it with sugar sticks and lots and lots of sprinkles. She was happy with the result!
Gene, April, and Brett came up to celebrate that night. They gave her a jean jacket, a snuggie, a book, candy, and her 9-year-old birthday doll.
She did a scavenger hunt for her gifts from us. She got her requested treats (sour patch watermelons, watermelon gum, and cotton candy). We got her a fuzzy sweater and some camera film and the main gift, obviously, was her room makeover. Justin did such a good job. He painted the wall by her bed yellow but the rest of the walls he did white. He thought yellow everywhere would be too overpowering and he was right. We already had the canvases (a Christmas gift) but Justin made the vase holders and Molly and I made the wildflower garland behind her bed. We alternated the garlands with fairy lights and it turned out so good. She also got a new bedspread (which came the next day due to a weather delay) and a flower pillow from my mom and dad. And not pictured from us was a fluffy yellow rug which is identical to Brynn's rug (a specific request from Ivy), a new fan light since the old one was gross and ugly, and a nightstand since the old pink handed down one wasn't going to match anymore. Here are some pictures from that night and the next day when the bedspread came. She knew we were doing her room, obviously, but she was so surprised-I think we exceeded her expectations!
My parents also sent her a Fiji sweatshirt which she has worn a lot!
We had dinner next. Ivy wanted spaghetti, of course. We also had caesar salad and April brought homemade breadsticks which my kids went crazy over. We lit candles, sang Happy Birthday, had cake and ice cream, and danced on the counter to the Beatles Happy Birthday song (Brynn and Ivy only). Gene and April stayed for a while longer just visiting-looking at Molly's records, trying to learn all about Spotify from Molly, teaching the girls to dance. It was a fun night. The big kids stayed home and we watched a movie before sending everyone off to bed.
 |
Gene and Brynn
|
 | Ivy, Gene, April, Brynn
|
 |
Molly and Gene
|
 |
| Molly, Gene, April, Brynn, Ruby |
 |
| Gene, April, Brett, Ivy |
It was Ivy's year for a party. Molly put a little idea into her head to have a Taylor Swift party and Ivy didn't look back once that idea was presented. So...Taylor Swift party for a bunch of nine-year-olds was next. She invited 14 girls and 13 came...add Ivy, Brynn, and Brynn's friend and we had a full house with 16 girls! |
| we had three different ticket designs so I had them printed on cardstock then we cut them apart and glued the back to the front |
I had gone to the internet to get ideas and I wrote down a lot of them. Ivy then took my list and narrowed it down and put all the activities into an order and that's the schedule we followed. For decorations we printed all the album covers (10 total) and hung them around the living room with streamers hanging down in the album cover. It was easy. We also splurged and rented the Eras Tour movie on Amazon and had that going in the background during the entire party.
The first thing that was done was to greet the guests. Ivy did this. They were encouraged to wear Eras Tour outfits if they wanted and it was fun to see how they did. Ivy wore an old dance outfit. When the girls arrived they got a red heart painted around their right eye, a nod to the Lover album.
It was a no-brainer to start with friendship bracelets, an iconic Swiftie accessory. Molly has so many I have lost count. The girls loved making the bracelets and could have gone on for a lot longer but I stopped them so we could move onto the next thing.
We had made a giant Polaroid cut-out for a photo shoot. Molly did T.S. 1989 on one side and Ivy did I.G. 2015 on the opposite side. (From the 1989 album.) All the girls got their own photo and then I had them each do one with Ivy as well. I forgot a group photo so good thing I did this!
 |
| Brynn and Oakley Keys |
 |
| Raina Cottle |
 |
Emery Pearson
|
 |
Kaliyah Pili
|
 |
Lydia Evans
|
 |
Blakelee Anderson
|
 |
| Nora Owens |
 |
Gracen Nalette
|
 |
Hannah
|
 |
Harper Christiansen
|
 |
| Gwen Coleman |
 |
London Mathis
|
 |
| Etta Johnson |
 |
| Harper Christiansen |
Pinata was next. Nothing that relates to Taylor Swift here but Ivy wanted a pinata so that's what we did. We found a sparkly star pinata on Amazon-bonus that you pull the ribbon to open the pinata rather than use a bat. I ended up breaking it open at the end so the girls could access the candy.
We had already done birthday cake the night before but we had to do something. Ivy remembers her donut tower cake from two years ago and wanted to do the same thing. She got the sprinkle donut on top and everyone else got plain glazed donuts.
We did a quick dance party. It was so fun to see these girls dance around and break out into song when they recognized the lyrics. Some girls had snuck up to the loft to play with the diner...I was kind of at the "whatever" stage of the party at this point, ha! 
Then presents. Ivy got spoiled! But I guess when you have 13 guests, you're bound to get lots of gifts. This is what she got: bracelet making kits (three different sets of these!), nail polish, window paints, sketchbook, markers, nail art, candy, earrings, hair clips and pins, a Taylor Swift blanket, friendship bracelets, homemade soap kit, wooden stamp set, kinetic sand, puzzle, tie dye kit and a paint by number kit. It has been fun for her to explore all of these fun gifts, especially since she really didn't get many toys for Christmas or from us for her birthday. Just posting a few here.
We finished the party by letting the girls do whatever they wanted-more friendship bracelets, playing in the loft, dancing to the music, etc. We had some snacks set out (popcorn, goldfish, pretzels) and I had made Shirley Temples for a drink. It was a great day and Ivy had a fabulous time at her 9-year-old party! She is a good friend and everyone loves her...but no one more than me! Happy Birthday to our Ivy!
Comments
Post a Comment