Annika's 10th Birthday Party

We have survived Annika's 10th Birthday Party! Since Annika's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, we were able to have her party on her actual birthday. Annika really, really wanted to have a sleepover party again this year, but we compromised and had a "Pretend Sleepover" at our house from 5 to 9 p.m. instead. I thought that this worked out great because (a) Easter was the next morning and (b) we didn't have to mange the drama of a sleepover. ;) 

First item of business - we picked up Annika's Dragon Cake from the Hy-Vee bakery!! They always do an awesome job. Annika had spent quite a while talking with one of the cake decorators there and getting it personalized like she wanted it. 

Up-close view of the cake. Annika's present from us consisted of all of these dragon figurines, which she had a blast putting on the cake. Oh. And she had a Sponge Bob candle, too. These are very eclectic dragons.

Getting decorated! This was all Annika's idea. The balloons are a homage to her love of cats.

Annika also had a blast putting streamers around everything, including the cats (Half Pint is pictured below).

The whole gang! We took a picture of everyone when they first arrived.

Eating pizza! We decided to go super-easy and just had Little Casesars pizza (cheese only), Goldfish crackers, and flavored water for dinner. Yum, dinner of champions!

Playing in Annika's room. I am not exactly sure what game this was, but most of the night consisted of various imaginative games among the kids.

Next up - watching a movie. The kids watched Despicable Me in the downstairs family room, complete with lots of popcorn.

Cake! Finishing up singing Happy Birthday and waiting for Annika to blow out the candles.

More chaos then followed. This picture does not document it well, but each hour of the night became exponentially louder. So 5 p.m. was very quiet, but by 8 p.m., you could literally hear the kids shrieking when you were outside of our house, across the street. This was, in fact, verified by our friend Abby when she arrived. ;)

Oh yes, there were now many battles. The very clear spot in the living room where we still have not put back our furniture is an excellent location for battles.

Getting ready to open presents! Annika was spoiled rotten by her super generous and sweet friends.

Gathering in the living room. There was lots of movement. And noise.

Sweet friends Ella and Rachael. Annika's friend Ella also went to the Warriors party at the library on Friday, and she wore her Warriors headband, too.

Emma, Annika, and Karmina.

We realized at, like, 4 p.m. that we had no party favors for our guests, and after some failed ideas, we decided on a Slinky and a framed picture of the party guests for everyone. We uploaded the picture to the Walgreens website and ordered a copy for everyone, which we picked up about an hour later. Last minute planning to the rescue!

Happy 10th Birthday, Annika! We had a wonderful time celebrating wonderful you. Here's to an awesome pretend sleepover party!