Somehow, another year has gone by and my baby girl is yet another year older.

Four.

Almost a whole hand.

While I’ve accepted that millennial technology has failed to deliver a hoover board in the year 2012… really, is a “freeze time” button too much to ask for?

I don’t know.

But you know what definitely isn’t too much to ask for? Parents who do not let the 1st week of school overshadow planning your birthday party.

It was a week before Laina’s birthday and James and I looked at each other on the couch slightly panicked, “What are we doing for Laina’s Birthday next Saturday?

We had discussed this question before and always seemed to come up empty (you know because a 4 year old’s birthday party is a total do or die type of decision). Now a week out, we knew we had to think fast and plan something. Something “small”, but SOMETHING. I mean, for heavens sake, for Ryan’s 4th birthday we had turned our whole house into a Spiderman city!

Laina had been campaigning hard for a sleepover. So we decided to meet her 1/2 way. A pajama party without the actual sleepover.

Laina’s creature comfort is a paisley plush owl that she named “Ella”. So when I came across the “Night Owl” birthday party post on Hostess With The Mostess, this last minute birthday party officially had a theme.

Here’s the thing about me and parties. More specifically, kids parties. I morph into a party planning-DIY-addict. I can’t help it.  Even if we only have a week.

Drives my husband nuts, but you know what? It’s always worth it.

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Night Owl Birthday Party

The Invite

Typically, I’d go all out with handmade invitations, but clearly there was no time for that. That being said, Snowy Bliss made cute ones that you can purchase and download from her Etsy shop.

The Decor

I absolutely fell in love with the bed table ideas I saw online, but the actual headboard? Just wasn’t in the cards. I found a white twin headboard on Craigslist, that I could have purchased for $30… but when we are constantly trying to save this house from ending up on an episode of Hoarders, it seemed a bit counter productive to purchase it.

So we decided to use Pillows to give the illusion of a bed.

I found a lot of the table decorations at Home Goods (God, I love that store!).

The king size pink sheet set was on clearance– and that top sheet with the pattern? It is actually a shower curtain (but shh! don’t tell) … also on clearance for … wait for it… $8!

We used the pink pillow cases to cover the end tables. The book ends were ($15) and I decided to purchase as an added decoration because it actually goes perfectly with Laina’s owl themed bedroom {win, win}.

The tissue paper poms were relatively easy to put together. Martha Stewart has a Tissue Paper Pom kit in AC Moore that you can purchase with everything you need, but if you want to purchase it all separately, here is a tutorial for how to make tissue paper poms.

Activities

• The Owl Adoption Ceremony

After seeing the pillows SnowyBliss’ made for an  OWL Adoption (Um, Cutest idea ever!) It seemed the party would be incomplete without them.

Only problem? This DIY-er doesn’t sew… but she sure as heck knows how to work a glue gun!

I found a template for these no-sew owl pillows that I altered slightly and Following this tutorial for a blanket stitch, I stitched fabric details onto the owl so that they appeared sewn (I’m tricky like that) and carefully hot glued it all together. When the kids saw what I was making, they wanted to help. With 10+ more owls to go, I happily accepted their help!

*If you are planning to make these for a night owl party of your own, stuffing the owls is actually a great activity to incorporate into your party. In our case though we had a handful of kids under 4, so I thought it was best to stuff before hand.

At the party, each child took turns picking an owl (which all had small poems telling a little about them) and took a picture with it.  In the thank you notes, I plan on including an official adoption certificate and the child’s picture.

• Decorate your own pillowcase

• Outdoor Movie showing of The Little Mermaid

We had an outdoor movie projector that my father in law had lent us, but if you are looking to invest in one to do these outdoor movie parties regularly, Discovery Kids also has an outdoor movie projector you can purchase for around $100.

We found movie size candy and popcorn containers at 5 Below. We planned to set up a little concession stand, however it started raining (the kid were under a tent) so the parents and I ended up handing everything out ala baseball game style {Popcorn! Getcha’ popcorn hea!}

The Food

I found this adorable idea for cookies and milk on Pinterest. Each child was greeted with a glass when they arrived.

My mother in law made a bouquet of chocolate covered marshmallow pops that lasted I think 20 minutes before everyone ate them up!

For dinner we went super simple and had the pajama party food of choice: PIZZA.

The Cake

We didn’t go crazy. Mostly because… well.. I was busy making owls! I like making my kids birthday cakes myself though. My mom made my cakes til I got married and I plan to do the same for my kids.

As luck would have it though, while perusing the isles of Home Goods… I also found these cute cupcake toppers and liners.

TJ Maxx and Marshalls also currently carry them and this Etsy shop has a similar design you can purchase.

All in all, I think it was a successful party. The kids (and parents) had a lot of fun!

And when the party was over, Laina got to have her first REAL sleepover with her BFF, which really made her birthday complete!

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