Katelyn's Candyland Birthday Bash

I apologize for getting so far behind in blogging but for those that have been waiting so patiently here are the pics from Katelyn's birthday. I lucked out this year in party planning when a friend of mine, Andrea Davis, presented me with the opportunity to purchase supplies that she had made herself for a Candyland themed birthday party. Andrea put so much time and effort into making the decorations and costumes that I was amazed and jumped at the chance to purchase the items! I was so excited to see how fun it would be not only for Katelyn but for all of the kids that were able to come. Thanks to our church we were able to use the gym for the party and were able to invite Katelyn's entire class and all of our friends and family which made for a HUGE party! We normally would not have that large of a party but made an exception this year because we wanted as many people to be able to enjoy Andrea's creations as possible :) Since Katelyn was able to invite so many friends and classmates she agreed to have all of her Messiah friends donate books for the school library in lieu of gifts and donated a total of 24 books to the library. She did not even fight us on the idea and was actually really excited to receive the books at her party.

So, for the party the kids basically got to play a lifesize game of Candyland. They started out by decorating bags with Gingerbread stickers that they would get to fill with treats during the game. Once their bag was complete they were off to see Mr. Mint were they did a candycane relay using candycanes and starburst which turned out to be a bit too tricky. They received a candycane as a treat. Next stop was the gumdrop drop in which they stood on a stool and dropped gum drops into a pot and were then given gum drops as treats (don't worry-we gave them clean gum drops for the treat). Then they got to limbo under the licorice limbo and make their way to the lollipop ring toss where they scored some yummy lollipops. Gramma Nut was patiently awaiting their arrival to assist them in blindly digging for tootsie rolls in a box of peanuts. Gloppy was slacking off (off taking pictures) and forgot to man her own station to hand out the chocolate hearts so Gramma Nut had to pick up her slack too. Next, the kids got to head over to Snowflake lake to make snowflake headbands as a craft which they loved. Even the boys enjoyed it which I was a bit unsure of. The last stop was King Candy's bean bag toss through the castle window where the kids were also given the opportunity to take a picture with King Candy. After all the fun and games we had cake and punch and opened gifts and that was a wrap! The party was a HUGE success but not without the help of all my friends and family who helped set up, tear down, and man the stations so thank you so much to everyone! Lastly, thanks again Andrea for all of your hard work in creating such an AWESOME party! You have brought happiness and smiles to many, many children :)