My Wonderful Girl and Her Wonderland Party

It was supposed to rain. In fact it had been a very wet week. The ominous clouds loomed over the green grass, their haunting presence a reminder of the cold downpour that was sure to come. Then, something beautiful happened. The sun's gorgeous rays began burrowing holes through those dark clouds just in time to warm the wet earth beneath our feet.



And I cried. Happy tears because it was perfect. Because even the sky participated in the celebration of my fabulous firstborn, my girl. Because our yard quickly filled with littles and bright happy faces. Because her face lit up with a crooked smile knowing that this was all in celebration of her, of her life... and there's nothing bigger to celebrate than life. Than birth. And we celebrate big.

This overly sappy mama could wax on about the beauty of life and love, how mine has taken on completely new meaning with my sweet girl in my life. How she's stretched me and taught me so much in the last four years, things I never knew about myself. With eyes full of welled tears I think about the day she made me a mama, how her tiny little body was placed in my arms and my heart found a whole new rhythm. But I've gone that route before, and this post is all about something that I look forward to planning every year, because I just like to throw parties, I thrive on it. And what offers up a better reason to party than birth? So... here is her party.



This time with our backyard being transported to Wonderland and full of sweet things, of pink things, of bouncy things, of sticky cotton candy things, of cute little bunnies and a visit from Alice who just happens to love to paint little faces.










Oh, how I loved watching the littles arrive, the girls diving into the piles of hats and bows and tutus waiting to adorn their little bodies... and their smiles. Once they'd pranced in and out of outfits until they arrived at the perfect combination, they would find their way through the doors to this magical place and make their way straight to the bunnies.









The birthday girl herself became a wonderful hostess, welcoming her friends and searching out each one that brought a gift to offer a Thank You and a hug, shy smiling Alice, announcing whose key had been drawn from the treasure box and making sure they chose a great gift from the treasure chest.







We had a tea party, Alice in Wonderland style, with paper lanterns and colorful tissue flowers sprinkling the sky above and fun little tea pots peppered across a flowery table of pink.



Nana outdid herself as she scoured every nearby resale and antique store to help find enough gorgeous tea cups for each little girl to use and take home with her.




And as the littles scrambled to find their seats marked by the personalized sack lunches, us mamas and daddies smiled big smiles as we read Eat Me and Drink Me over and over again to curious little minds.









And there's something amazing about answering a phone call the night before the party and hearing I've found something that we should do!  Then having a couple of friends show up at the door with stacks of ribbon in hand and we rifle through my stash of lace, fabric and flowers to stay up late into the night and come up with this amazing transformation for a plain, overwhealmingly yellow, school chair.




We are so blessed and honored to know all these sweet souls and have them be a part of our lives and this very special day. They made it special.

I was aching from smiles just watching Aliyah demurely stroll from station to station and friend to friend, taking it all in. She knew they were here for her and her big heart wanted to give back, to make sure each one was having the time of their life and in doing so, she was having the time of her life. Each time I watched her my sentimental heart just caved at the beauty of her and her day.




And at the end of the day... when the last bit of pink was cleared to reveal yet again the green of our grass, the rain drops fell. Like it was cued perfectly by God himself, a perfect ending to a perfect day. And it was all so immensely worth it. Every trip to the antique store, every burn from the hot glue gun (thanks mama for bearing most of those), every time there was another chair to decorate, every month spent planning, everything fell into place more beautifully than I could have imagined, and I was overcome with joy for my girl.



It was wonderland, I say... and heaven.



For the details on how to plan a DIY Wonderland party, click HERE!!

{A look at the past... Year Three Party, Year Two Party, Year One Party}