Ella's Presidential Birthday

On my tenth birthday, I distinctly remember my dad praying for his daughter who had now lived a decade.  It made my age seem so important!  It's a very strong memory, one that I cherish, which made me want to make Ella's tenth birthday very special.  Last time we did a tea party.  I loved it and was looking forward to seeing what she would want to do this year.  

In the Fall, she took a class that taught how the election process works.  She was fascinated, always coming home with new information.  I could not believe how much she loved it!

She decided then, in the Fall, that she wanted her birthday, in the Spring, to be a Presidential one.  

I nodded sagely and waited for her to change her mind.  This was not the girly party I had in mind and I was sure this was just a phase.  I had six months to show her the light.

She held strong, coming up with idea after idea for what her Presidential party should be like.  She presented pages of notes at a time.

Like, Pin the Tie on the President.  Or playing Pence, Pence, Trump {a la Duck, Duck, Goose}.

She also wanted to have all the girls dress up like past presidents and have a lunch where they pretended to like each other, just like real presidents do.  Except that they really would like each other, so they'd have to pretend that they were pretending that they liked each other.  My head hurt.

We now break from our regularly scheduled programming for a Public Service Announcement to inform the public that this was in no way in support of or protesting our new president.  It was the process we were celebrating {in a birthday kind of way}.  We will now return to our show.

It says Ballot for birthday girl 2017.  She was running unopposed {wink, wink}.

For all my inner griping, I really loved this party!  She knew what she wanted and she didn't waver.  I did steer her away from some of her proposed activites, like when she wanted to make Presidential wigs out of swim caps and cotton balls.

I had planned to have the party on the deck, but it was really overcast and chilly, so we used the sunroom.

Naturally, the sun came out and warmed everything up right before the party.  But the sunroom is truly the best room in the world for a party.

I found patriotic wind catchers on clearance somewhere, and figured we could use them again for quick July 4th decorations.  A three dollar investment in streamers was also well worth it. 

We had white paper lanterns left over from something else, so we added a few patriotic ones and the table became more special.  I really like hanging things from the ceiling at parties on 3M ceiling hooks.  Very little work for a lot of impact.  Your table can also be a lot simpler this way.

Ella put flags in vases, which I loved, and I already had the silver star.  We used disposable bamboo plates and paper napkins and mason jars for glasses.  It was casual and easy.

The clean up for this party definitely beat the clean up for the tea party where everything had to be hand washed!

The food was very simple, and mostly made a couple of days ahead. Her cake was angel food cake with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream for the red, white, and blue theme.

We dipped marshmallows in colored candy melts and topped them with sprinkles and m&m's.  What was that? You want to know where the other m&m colors went?  ...Oh, um, well, moving right along....

I used the leftover candy and dipped long pretzels into it.  So simple.

My favorite part of the entire party, bar none, no exclusions, was our very own secret service agent.

It looks like he's just about to drawl "Mr. Anderson."  {Please tell me you remember the Matrix?}  He stood watch at the front.

Then he walked around the whole time talking into one of my teal ear buds, muttering security-ish-sounding-type things.  He didn't break character once, not even when I needed help with an apron.  He checked it for weapons before he gave it back.

We made pies {a step up from wigs, wouldn't you say?} and these sweet girls were so good at it!

I had a pie pan for each one, a selection of rolling pins {I borrowed from their moms} and we got to work rolling out the dough, patting it into the pans, and topping them.

They could choose cherry or apple pie filling.  Get it?  They could be as american as apple pie, or choose cherry because of ole' George and his cherry tree.  I'm so clever.

 That's my sweet friend, Brittany, helping out.

The extra dough was a hit.

Then the pies went in the oven while the girls went out and played for a few minutes until it was time for treats.  They took them home at the end of the party as favors.  When I looked at my pictures after the party, I was so disappointed that I didn't get a single shot of the finished pies!  They were so pretty.

The boys were here the whole time and I was one proud mama.  We had planned for Handsome Hero to take the boys out during the party like he did last time, but Ella really wanted him there, playing the role of secret service agent and just being present.  I hadn't planned for this and didn't have enough dough for them to make a pie, but there was not one complaint.  They also didn't complain about not going anywhere.  They just played with the girls and the girls completely accepted them being there.  I was as amazed as I was thrilled with it all!

Can she really be TEN!!!!???

Happy birthday to my sweet Ella.  You are so kind, always rooting for the underdog, always wanting to help those in need, tenderhearted, enthusiastic, friend to all you meet.  I love you more than m&m's, and that's saying something.

Sorry for the blurry pictures.  I'm really trying to learn to take pictures in Manual, and I clearly {pun intended} don't have it down.  Anyone want to teach this novice?