Bridget's Hot Air Balloon Party

We scheduled Bridget's 9th Birthday party in January after everyone settled back into the schedules of school and work. She asked for a sleep over party, her first, so we decided to have it on Friday evening. Bridget had been working through some ideas of how she wanted her party to go and her ideas all went into a vintage transportation direction. Bridget kept mentioning hot air balloons, and toy boats, and paper airplanes. We turned those ideas into a party. (minus the boats, I couldn't make a boat race work inside)

With the help of Pinterest I turned some paper lanterns we have into hot air balloons, then we pulled out our pennant letters and made a banner. Bridget wanted to have a hot air balloon race that went through a course, so she made some store fronts on cereal and game boxes. Then we hung lilac streamers and paper plate hot air balloons to complete the theme.  Sometimes putting on a party feels stressful and this was one of those times. I was working the day of the party and Johanna had a fever. It was day 4 of the fever so it worked out that I left work early and brought Hanna to the doctors. This meant that I had a lot more time to set up and that was a relief. That extra time though didn't set me at ease. The rest of the family is willing to help but I usually still feel like I am hosting the party by myself. I make lists and ask people to do things, they help clean up but usually last minute. It stresses me out. No one else seems to be on my game plan, and they look at me like I am crazy. Maybe I am a little crazy. I want to put on a nice party, they are worth the extra effort, and what I try to do is not extravagant.

An hour before the party, I was explaining to Em and Rae the activities: making hot air balloons, the race and then paper airplane folding and flying. I went over the making of the hot air balloons, which includes tying knots to make a net over the helium balloon and then attaching it to a basket, and Rae said why don't you skip the net and just tie the string to the bottom of the balloon. That would be much easier, I had practiced with Bridget the day before and it didn't go very well, so I scrapped that plan and we simplified the activity.

Bridget was very excited and as her friends arrived she got the sleepover gear settled and showed her friends around. She had invited 6 friends, all that suit her temperament, and the party began. We ate and then we made the hot air balloons. Each girls picked a balloon and a basket and I showed them how to tie it on at 4 points. With a little help they were able to do it. Then they decorated a pop-sickle stick person to ride in the balloon basket. Bridget had plotted a course that began in the basement so they lined up there and then guided their balloons up the stairs around the upstairs and back down the steps. It was the craziest, mad house, hot air balloon race ever but it was fun. Bridget had set up her store fronts and I put power lines (pool noodles) in the office and dining room that they had to avoid. They did the race 2 times, just for fun.

Bridget requested oreo ice cream cake, so we did a quick decoration to make it a hot air balloon ice cream cake. We also had oreos, and jello cloud parfaits for dessert. Bridget put a lot of thought into her menu and made sure her friends would all have something they would like. Everyone was excited to sing Happy Birthday, and Bridget happily soaked up all of the attention. After dessert was paper airplane time. I bought some beautiful papers and had some folding examples and they all folded planes and went downstairs to test them on the runway that Emma had taped to the carpet. Some were great fliers and others were not but they had fun, especially Bridget. After that the girls entertained themselves, organizing games I recognized from scouts, and they played on the piano. Bridget opened gifts and was thrilled with every thing she got.

At 9 they rolled out sleeping bags on the basement floor, got into jammies and voted to watch "The Book of Life" movie. I brought down bowls of cheese-its and popcorn to snack on. When the movie was over it was lights out. They talked for a little while, until I came down again and told them they had to sleep. They fell asleep almost immediately.

Little girls don't sleep in at a sleepover and as soon as the first one is awake they wake the rest up. This happened at 7:00 AM. Bridget picked cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I added sausage. The girls ate and played and packed up. Bridget was a happy girl although exhausted by the time everyone went home. She spent most of the day silently playing with her new toys and she went to bed early but content that night.

I am so glad Bridget is a part of our lives and I am so glad we get the chance to celebrate her.