Happy 4th Birthday Harper

Harper turned the big 4 last week and we had her Olivia themed birthday party this weekend.  Harper is my little bookworm.  All of her interests come from books.  She reads every single day–I read to her, she reads to herself, she reads to the boys, they play library where she read some more and she reads to her dolls and animals…she has done this her whole life.

She simply loves books.  If you are not familiar with the Olivia books by Ian Falconer, then you should be.  They are fantastic and the books are in all black and white and Olivia wears red…so cute.  There is also an Olivia TV show I have heard is super cute, but fun fact about the Kelleys…we don’t have cable and my kids don’t watch much TV.  We did have cable the first year and a half of marriage because we lived in TTU student housing and all TTU housing had cable…those were the days.  When I asked Harper about what kind of birthday party she wanted, she knew without hesitation that she wanted an Olivia party.  I kind of went into this party thinking it would be a bit of a challenge since I like to keep my kids parties sweet, handmade and inexpensive.  Everything I was finding online that was Olivia was pretty expensive and I just can’t go that route, but one trip to the Dollar General changed my outlook.  I found a box of Olivia valentines for .30 cents and basically everything fed off of those little valentines.

We went with all red, black and white colors.  Harper started her birthday off with her decorated door.  She was beyond thrilled in the morning to find Olivia on her door.

We also continued our tradition of cake for breakfast, except this year Harper requested rice krispy treats.  Everyone was very pleased with a sugary breakfast.

For all my kids first birthdays I made them a name banner that I want to use at every one of their parties.  I am aware that the banner will not match every party, but I wanted something to use every year that would have been used since their very 1st birthday…something sentimental.  I cannot wait to see the banners on their 18th birthday.  I hope they are well loved.

And as always, party day chalk art was present…can’t be a party without a chalk decorated sidewalk.

For Harper’s cake she requested Funfetti cupcakes with sprinkles.  We are a Funfetti kind of family.  I kind of think Funfetti will be in heaven.  It’s just delicious.  I used the same Olivia valentines that I used for the invitations to make cupcake toppers and then made little paper pinwheels as well.

I totally lucked up that Harper decided on her party theme right after Valentines was over.  I got red plates, small white plates, red and white polka dot napkins, cupcake papers and a bunch of the treat bag goodies on Valentine clearance.  It made my heart happy.

Along with cupcakes, I also made some yummy Hostess Cupcake cake balls.  OH.MY.WORD. these were delicious and yes there is homemade Hostess cupcake filling in the middle.  They may be in heaven as well.  I got the recipe HERE.  This site is amazing and I’m pretty sure this lady must be a desert goddess.

Every single year, I now look forward to when we sing Happy Birthday to Harper.  She really in truly enjoys it and literally beams with joy.  She can just barely stand the excitement and it is seriously my favorite part of the party.

For treat bags I went with different goodies for girls and boys.  I got a lot of stuff on clearance after Valentines day, so most of it is red.  I also have discovered Party City’s favor bag aisle.  They have lots of individual things you can buy for like 10-25 cents.  This works out well for me since we only do family parties and only have about 10 treat bags to make up for our nieces and nephews.

This year for shirts I made messy flower tees for the girls and classy tie tees for the boys.  I must admit my kids were rockin’ their party tees.

It was really a great day.  Harper had soooo much fun and we loved watching her enjoy every little bit of the party. It was great to celebrate her sweet little life.  We love you Harper, beyond words and we cannot wait to see what God has planned for your life…I know you’re going to change the world.  You have a beautiful heart.  I hope you remain this crazy, fun, artistic, compassionate, generous and tenderhearted girl.  You make us proud!  Happy 4th!