The Nature Party

This year Brenna had her very first birthday party with friends. Now that it's over, I'm not so intimidated by the idea. I've picked her up from a few wild and crazies over the last few years and I had no intention of recreating one of those scenes in my house!

Keeping it simple, we invited three girls over on Friday afternoon. One couldn't make it so here's a picture we took as the girls arrived.


Last spring I showed Brenna a post Ginger had written about her daughter's nature party. She really liked the idea and decided that she'd like to do something similar. I contacted Ginger and she shared all sorts of party ideas and worksheets with me! Such a blessing and so much fun - sharing birthday party ideas from one coast to the other!

For Brenna's party we decided to make Nature Journals so the girls could draw pictures of things they see outside. Here the girls are making front covers for their Nature Journals.





Once they finished their covers, I sent them outside on a scavenger hunt. I was surprised how many of the items they were able to find. After dinner, which was pepperoni roll, they worked on a picture/word puzzle. The little girl on the right side of this picture was a puzzle whiz! She had that thing solved in no time.


Instead of making a whole cake for three little girls, I ordered cupcakes from a local bakery. They were strawberry and I decorated the tops with a small wooden butterfly.


Just before Brenna opened her gifts, her friends decided she needed a good tickle!




This was my lastest pillow case dress/nightgown. I used fabric from Brenna's scrap bag she bought in Ohio to make the letters of her name. I struggled with the straps on this one and I don't think Brenna has even tried it on yet. Practice, practice, practice.


We still had about 30 minutes left before the parents were due back and if our house wasn't on the market I would have just sent the girls off to play. But since we're trying to keep messes contained, we did one last project together. We gathered acorns, rocks, leaves, sticks, and grass in a brown lunch sack and then dumped it all on the table. I showed the girls how to make little acorn guys and pet rocks. Here are a few of their creative bits:


I enjoyed chatting with the parents at pick up time. The girls had a lot of fun - though one commented that "this sure is the most hand-washing party I've ever been to!" Probably because we were in and out so much!

Don't hold me to it....but I think I could do this again.