Garrison's 7th Birthday Party

Garrison's 7th birthday party turned out perfect and was a huge success!! This was our biggest party ever, our craziest party ever, and possibly our most fun party ever. It was wild time for everyone (especially mama and daddy!) just like the invite said. =)

Garrison decided on an animal explorer/ranger/safari/wildlife theme almost right away and Megan designed the perfect invitation for us! This was definitely the most unique party theme I've ever planned for but Megan captured it amazingly with the invitation she designed. She is the BEST at what she does.

Traditional family pic before the party!

Layton wasn't feeling the family picture at first so I love this one of us looking at each other and sharing a moment. Our big boys on the other hand were overcome with excitement. Overcome. Saturday morning we turned a movie on for them to calm them down and occupy them for over an hour so they wouldn't lose their minds. Ha.

We had a beautiful day for the party. We couldn't have asked for better weather in January for a mainly outdoor party. 

The cake turned out adorable and delicious!! We gave our cake lady the animals and jeep to go on the cake and they were all a perfect fit. Garrison picked this cake out himself and I think it was my favorite of all the ones he considered. 

The favor table! We went with dollar flashlights from Walmart and packs of animal crackers. And the big boys wanted to decorate with some of their stuffed animals, hence "Slider" and "Tall Legs" making a party appearance, plus I grabbed a pair of their binoculars and framed Garrison's invite. 

My Uncle Terry let us borrow his bobcat and badger for some party decor. Ummm, these were a little too real for me. Haha. I have to say the kids LOVED them though. I'm talking hugs, kisses, and even cleaning their little faces and noses. Hahahaha. 

Before the party, a real live ranger/game warden came to visit Garrison and loaned us some more mounted animals. We went to high school with him and his wife and this visit was super special for our birthday boy. I think all the mounted animals he got to see, inspect, and have displayed at his party just made it that much more fun for him. 

I used the mounted hawk and alligator head as centerpieces. Who would have ever thought? Haha!

This was our very first party ever to have every single person we invited able to come. Garrison was thrilled and had the best time ever. I think all of the kids had a ball. But of course having that many kiddos running wild made for some craziness. Thankfully it turned out to be fun and safe craziness. Phew!

We pulled out all of our riding toys plus asked my parents to bring over the two they had and those riding toys turned out to be a huge hit. I'm talking most popular thing ever. I wish I had gotten more pictures but while most of the riding shenanigans were going on, I was busy inside. 

Notice the wrestlers in the background? Haha. Boys. 

3 best friends plus one little brother. =)

After tons of playtime outside, a pizza picnic lunch for the kiddos on the deck, and more playtime outside we finally got around to doing the cake! This is the best picture Terrell got of everybody singing Happy Birthday to him and he's actually looking over at me smiling. Melt my heart. It was the sweetest. 

Later we rounded everybody up again for presents. And this was possibly the wildest part of the party. Just one big mob of kiddos making their way around our living room with each present opened. 

After finishing up with presents we rounded everybody up for one last little adventure. We took all the kiddos on the nature trail in our neighborhood that's right down the street from our house. It's just a short trail, affectionately named Wildlife Sanctuary, that leads to a bridge and little "overlook" of a marshy, creek area. It fit with our party theme perfectly. =)

Before hitting the trail! So thankful for these sweet friends and their parents!!

Celebrating Garrison's 7th birthday party with all of his friends and our families was just the best. We had a full house, kids overflowing everywhere, yummy party food, lots of craziness, and tons of fun. At least I know the kids had fun and the birthday boy had a BLAST. =) 

We are so thankful to everyone who came to celebrate with us and especially to Garrison's grandparents who did so much to help us prepare for the party and made sure things went smoothly during the party. We are extremely blessed and so thankful for them!!

 And now we're officially on 7th birthday countdown. Friday is the big day we'll wake up with a 7 year old!!