Garrison's 5th Birthday Party

On Saturday afternoon we celebrated my oldest baby's 5th birthday. Everything went great and he had so much fun. Birthday party success! Yaaaay!!

(His actual birthday isn't until February 5th, but we made the decision to celebrate plenty early just in case baby brother decides to make his debut well before his due date.)

(Some of our pictures turned out a little "grainy". Ugh. The strange thing is that when I previewed them before uploading they were perfect. Hopefully it's not an issue with us or our camera...)

Back to the party~

This party felt like a slow process coming together and a lot of last minute craziness, but in the end it was all worth it and everything turned out pretty perfect. Garrison finally decided on a pirate theme (with Jake and the Neverland Pirates being his inspiration) and he finally decided he was okay with our decision to have the party at "Let's Paint Pottery". This was only our 2nd "on location" party and there just aren't tons of options out there. We needed something age appropriate and fun, something reasonable that wouldn't break the bank, and something inside. Sooo, "Let's Paint Pottery" was the best option. We had a fun time and great experience and are so thankful. For a while there I was nervous about every single party decision we made because everything was such a big decision for Garrison that I didn't want him to be disappointed. Thankfully he was not. =)

My super talented friend Megan designed the invitation and did an amazing job once again. She has us totally spoiled! Her work is THE best.

 

Party location set up. So fun!

 

The cake and favor table, plus Garrison's framed party invitation.

 

The cake turned out so good. This was another big decision for my almost 5 year old. Not only was it super cute, it was super yummy. =) And we did a cookie cake as well, just like last year. Another big hit.

 

The treasure chest held all of the favors. We gave each party guest a little bag of treasure (burlap tied with a leather string)

 

The "treasure" inside was a compass, gold coins, silver and gold necklaces/beads, and silver candy (Hershey's kisses). Plus we added a Jake and the Neverland Pirate pencil.

 

Ready to paint

 

The whole group did a great job and seemd to have fun with painting the little piece of pottery they picked out. Even Austin loved it and was into it. Both my boys chose race cars to paint along with some of the other boys. All the girls chose a cat. We had a couple of boys choose a ninja turtle and one boy chose a pirate skull. I can't wait to see the finished products when I get to pick them up later this week.

 

After everyone finished painting it was time for cake and ice cream. Garrison smiled and beamed at me the entire time we sang Happy Birthday. Melt. My. Heart. It was so precious.

 

The cake and ice cream were loved by all... and so were the treasure map napkins. =)

 

Present time was super fun for my big boy. He loved all his new things. And watching his reaction to everything and the reaction of his friends was pretty priceless. Oh the joy that comes with turning 5.

 

Of course we had to get a family pic before wrapping up the party. The Selph's five. =)

 

After the party when we were walking out to the car Garrison said, Mama, that was fun! I loved my party!! The ultimate indicator of success and approval. I thought my heart would burst I was so grateful and so happy. He even declared he wanted to go back to Let's Paint Pottery when he turned 6. I'm so glad he reeally loved his party. 

 

My parents, Terrell's parents, and AnAn and Frankie came back over to our house after the party to celebrate with Garrison a little more and watch him open presents from them. We typically don't open family gifts at the actual party since it would take forever, plus this gives the grandparents and other family some extra time with the birthday boy... away from 8-10 of his friends. We had a fun afternoon and night and my biggest boy was blessed with lots of fun things. We went out to eat with my family at one of our favorite restaurants before everyone went back home.

 

I am so thankful for a fun party for Garrison and that everything went so smoothly. Hopefully Layton won't come on Garrison's birthday and we can celebrate again on February 5th. For now, he's still 4 and we aren't rushing things. =)

 

Now we're looking forward to a special outing this weekend... we're combining a Happy Birthday Garrison outing (part of his gift from us) with a special Big Brother Day. We're taking the boys bowling for the first time ever. Plus to do a few other special things. Fingers crossed it's fun for them both and that they love the whole day!

 

Thanks to all our family and friends for celebrating Garrison's 5th birthday with us! It was a GREAT day!