Busy Hands Blessed Hearts: Happy 3rd Birthday Monkey

So I have been meaning to get around to this post for awhile, but was a bit overwhelmed by the number of pictures I have from the party that I kept putting it off!! Thanks to a beautiful 4 yr old Princess Birthday Party tonight inspiration (or shall we say motivation) has struck!!

So Happy 3 Year Old Birthday to Monkey 1 (from 3 months ago)!! So what kind of birthday party do you want Monkey? "Well for my 3 birthday I will have horses, for my 4 birthday I want penguins, and for my 5 birthday I want dolphins" Haha, I guess she has them all planned out and 5 is as far into the future as she can possibly imagine.

So a HORSIE Party We Had:

We had a large center play area - with the Playmobil horse farm set up on one side and the

water beads with glow sticks and hidden toys on the other side. Was a great "kid coral" (Kept them out of the kitchen!!)

The Birthday Girl!! With Complete Horse Attire, pink cow girl hat, horse boots, and horse shirt!!

We made stick Pony's as party favors:

To make a Pony:

Supplies:

3/5 - 1" wooden dowel

fluffy socks

yarn

ribbon for bridle/halter/reins

stiff felt for ears

batting or stuffing

We made a small groove to start in our dowel where the base of the head would be basically notched it out so the yarn could be tied very tightly around the base of the sock and stay put in the grove... Is this making sense?? I should have taken pictures... oops

Then stuff the sock, push in dowel and form head. Just try it you'll get the hang of it, its very moldable when stuffed full.

Cut yarn to all the same length depending on how long you want the mane.

Then cut very small holes down the top of the neck and tie big groups of yarn through each hole.

Sew on eyes and ears and ribbon.

We finished off the dowels with pink vet wrap (if you know horses, you know what vet wrap is) for the rest of you out there who don't know horses check your local tractor supply store or feed store. They will have it sort of like Coband (if you're a nurse) or sticky stretchy gauze...

Anyways, the result was 7 stick pony's ready to ride.

Also included in the party favor bags (pink and teal handkerchiefs tied up):

cowboy hats pink vs brown

sheriff badges

homemade tutu skirts (the link has great step by step pictures instructions)

candy

slime

hmm what else I don't remember I think it was kind of random at this point

Here are some of our decorations:

Oh Pinterest once again how I LOVE YOU!! Our official sucker tree!! There were about 2 halloween size bags of suckers on here. Just stick them into a styrofoam ball. These sucks were kindly finished off by the nurses and patients on our Pediatric Unit!!

Pretzels dipped in peppermint and cherry flavored candy melts.

Rocking horse suckers (an amazing discovery from Michaels Baby Section!)

Food:

Big Lots Specialty Soda Pops (covered in colored duct tape)

Popcorn from our popcorn makers

Haystacks

Chow mein noodles

Marshmallows

Butterscotch and Chocolate Chips

A Rainbow of Fruit, and candy dipped marshmallow clouds.... Wow at this point all I could think of was sugar overload. I was glad we planned some "active" games.