On August 6th Samantha had her 4th Birthday. I can't believe my little, baby girl is 4 years old already! The time has flown by so fast! I actually had a little bit of a hard time with this birthday, because I realized how much of a little girl she is, and not a baby. I wanted to make this birthday special for her because it seems like her birthdays have been a bit over looked in the past. Her 1st birthday was on the same day as her cousins blessing, on her 2nd birthday we were moving to Vegas, and last year we didn't do anything exciting... so this year, I decided was party year! Samantha chose completely on her own to have a Teddy Bear party. I have no idea where that came from, but that is what she wanted, and that is what I did.
I decided to do a Teddy Bear Picnic at the park. The kids each had a sack lunch that contained a peanut butter and honey sandwich shaped like a Teddy Bear face, Teddy Bear crackers, and grapes. I made labels for the water bottles that had bears on them and a space for the kids to write their names so that they could keep track of their own. I had a macaroni salad and chips for the moms.
After everyone was finished eating, I gave each of the kids a bear mask that I had made. They had fun coloring them with markers and wearing them everywhere. Next, we played Stick the Heart on the Bear. I drew a bear on a poster board, and had heart cut-outs for each of them. There ended up being 4 winners, and they each received a Teddy Bear coloring book.
After the game, I had the kids put their masks on and follow me on a "bear hunt". They hunted for a basket with a bear on it. There were little treat bags for each of them in it. The treat bags contained gummy bears, and bear shaped rice crispy treats that I had made.
We then went back to the tables where everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and Samantha blew out her #4 candle. It was so cute to watch Samantha while everyone was singing, she was acting so shy and embarrassed, I think it was all a bit overwhelming to her.
*Just a little bit about the cake.... I attempted for the first time, to make a cake that wasn't just in a 9x13 pan. I made a little sitting up Teddy Bear. A friend of mine loaned me the pan and all of the decorating tips. I stayed up until 2:00 AM doing it, but I think it ended up being worth it. It turned out pretty cute for my first try. And just a funny sidenote: My friend Tara and I started a cake decorating on Thursday, the day after the party. Man, that class sure would have come in handy when I was making that cake!
Samantha's shyness passed quickly as she realized that it was PRESENT time! I wanted to do something a little different with the gift giving thing. I always feel like that part of birthday parties is so chaotic and rushed. So, I set up two chairs, one for Samantha, and one for the child giving the gift. The child giving the gift got to sit on the chair next to Samantha and hand her the gift and watch her open it. This gave Samantha the chance to acknowledge and thank the child giving her the gift. It worked very well and all of the kids were excited to get to sit in the gift giving chair.
I was really happy with how the party turned out, and I think that everyone had a lot of fun. I have to thank my friends Tara Reynolds, and Taren Morris for helping me pull it off. Thank heavens I have friends here that are always so willing to help me.
Happy Birthday my little Samantha, I hope you enjoyed your day...!
