Go home already!

I hope Hannah enjoyed her birthday. We had her favorite dinner: fettuccine alfredo, corn, broccoli, and garlic bread, followed by cupcakes. For her present we gave her a bicycle.

On Saturday she had her birthday party. We decided to keep it pretty simple. We had the girls make necklaces and bracelets while watching Harry Potter IV and pigging out on candy. For the jewelry I just used memory wire and seed beads, it was pretty simple and I didn't have to attach any clasps.

They also played Apples to Apples and Uno. Afterwards we opened presents.

Then we ate cake and ice cream. For those of you who don't know, Hannah's favorite color is brown. So we did chocolate cake, with a chocolate pudding filling, with chocolate frosting, and chocolate ice cream.

I did not give out goody bags. I've decided that I don't like them and I'm not going to do them anymore. After all you've already entertained the kids and fed them cake/ice cream and given the parents free time. Do you really need to give them more candy and trinkets when they go home?

When the party was over the girls didn't go home, they stayed here and played hide and seek. I don't exactly understand this. The kids will stay and play for hours unless you physically make them call their mothers to come and get them. Didn't I state an ending time for the party on the invitation? Don't you think I might want to clean up and to take a nap when the party is over? The party was from 2-4. I had one mother call at 6 to ask if it was ok that her daughter was still there, shouldn't she have called before? Like at 4 when the party ended? I'm just saying. The last guest didn't leave until 8pm! And that was because I made her call her mother to come and get her. If you can't tell, this is one of my pet peeves. When the party is over -- come and get your child and take her home! Does it strike any of the rest of you as rude?

Anyway...(calming breaths) I thought I'd show you a few of the cakes I've made this year. I thought they turned out pretty well, of course they don't compare to Jim's. I tend to make the cake myself when I feel either broke or ambitious -- mainly because it takes forever and I make a huge mess in the process...

This one is the one I made for Hannah's birthday. (Big, brown, swirly thing)

And this one was for Emma's family party this year. (Giant cupcake)

And this one was for Emma's princess party. (Castle)

So, now the birthday is over and I don't have to do it again for 2 months!