Spooky & Pink 4th Birthday Party
I saw so much of this pink/pastel Halloween party décor and wanted so badly to have a kiddie Halloween party at some point. I have never really been into Halloween and for sure never threw a Halloween party. Carli, however, my fun loving now 4-year-old LOVES Halloween. Year-round this kid plays “Halloween”. Once she saw the orange pumpkin trick or treat bucket in the garage and asked me to get it down for her. She would turn off all the lights in her room, close the blackout curtains and say she was playing “trick or treat” and go around her room putting toys in her bucket!! She would play make believe about scary witches and spooky monsters! When I realized that this girl has an OCTOBER birthday and a love for Halloween, I knew it would be perfect to have her party be pink Halloween themed. On one hand I knew that as she is getting older, these themes will be more her decision than mine- so I better have this cute party while I can! But then on the other hand- Carli being almost 4 she was old enough now and really interested in helping me plan which was so much fun! I would show her every step of the way when I found some decorations or picked out the cake – she helped pick out and plan the details.
I always start planning these parties MONTHS in advance and people sometimes laugh at me… but then the day sneaks up on me and I end up not doing as much the few weeks before because #MOMLIFE and so I end up being grateful that I had already ordered décor, planned out food and drink details ahead of time. These days shipping/cargo/ship canal issues/supply chain issues pop up out of nowhere!! So – you never know how long it can take to order even the most random things! During the start of COVID I remember asking my husband to get me parchment paper, but it was when we were at a shortage of toilet paper and so I heard something about the conveyor belts that make parchment paper stopped and switched to TP!? Don’t quote me on that but if issues like that can possibly occur than who is to say that things like balloons, wrapping paper and certain birthday toys won’t be challenging to get. Anyways, my point is, I will always plan ahead when I can and get things ordered in advance. Often times the colors of balloons aren’t exactly what you expect them to be. The colors on your phone or computer screen can be off… just like ordering anything basically. So, if you are planning to making a balloon garland or even just have balloons at your party, it is a good tip to order those ahead of time and blow a few up to be sure you got the colors you were envisioning.
We made this party a costume party, giving all the kiddos another chance to wear those Halloween costumes. The number of people who showed up in costumes they hand made for our party was so awesome! I am always so concerned with what the kids will DO at the party that I tend to go overboard trying to plan activities when the kids end up playing with playroom toys, party favor toys and just running around being kids the whole time, that orchestrating and corralling them to the planned activities can be more difficult than not! But still here I am… making Pin the Spider on the web games! It was fun for about 5 minutes.
The week before this party, my 15-month-old, Tomi, came down with a fever. We brought her in to the doctor on day two when the fever reached 103. They checked for COVID and RSV and we were sent home with instructions to monitor for wet diapers and hope the fever breaks in a few days. She didn’t improve over the weekend so we brought her back in and they did a urine sample and blood work. After failing to collect enough urine to do an in office rapid test, they sent it off to the lab (which takes days). So- they got the blood work results first, and called me saying there were signs of infection and that we needed to get her right to Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Obviously in a panic and feeling all the mom guilt for not bringing her in sooner, we rush down. We were luckily able to get a direct admit since my doctors sent the lab results and called the hospital ahead of time, so we did not have to go through the ER. There was still a wait time for available rooms and by 7 pm that night we get her admitted and within a few hours and a successful urine catheter, we found out it was a Urinary Tract Infection. It also spread to her Kidneys and we ended up being stuck in the Hospital for 4 days. Carli’s actual birthday was on a Saturday and her party was planned for the Sunday after. Despite Tomi improving and doctors having a clear idea of what was going on with her- the culture lab for the UTI takes several days to come back and with that they can see the specific type of infection and what type of antibiotic will treat it. So, before they could switch her over to an oral antibiotic and of the general IV antibiotic, we had to wait for that lab result…. This meant that Saturday morning rolled around, with me in the hospital, waking up on the most uncomfortable chair bed, and not at home, waking my FOUR-year-old baby girl up with balloons and birthday cake pancakes. I laid there sobbing and feeling all the mom feelings when your baby is another year older, but this time I wasn’t even there to hug her. Everyone said it was a good thing she’s only 4 and doesn’t really know when her birthday is… but her dad and grandma waking her up to say happy birthday with me not there – I was a mess! Luckily, she had a distraction because today was her best friend Kellen’s birthday who shares a birthday with her. My amazing friends had a second cake and candle and after Kellen was sung too, they all san to Carli as well! Another example of why my Mom friends are so amazing. I wrote a post about how I met them all through the Peanut App here.
A miracle happened and I was able to bust Tomi out of there that same afternoon. We got her switched over to oral antibiotic and after a few hours of observation to clear her of any allergic reactions, she was discharged and I got to bring my poor little baby home to her own bed to recover. At home I had my mom who had just moved in, cleaning my house and holding down the fort. She helped me grocery shop for the party. My husband worked on cleaning up the yard and doing a few other things I added to his to do list. THIS is why I will continue to plan these things months in advance!! I had already though every detail of this party. I had already ordered decorations, presents, gift wrap, and all the details that made this party super fun for the kids, and allowed all my party planning dreams to come true! It didn’t matter that a lot of things didnt come together, and it didn’t matter that we ended up throwing it all together the day of and it didn’t matter that my costume DIDN’t come together and that instead of a mummy I looked like a balled-up piece of toilet paper! It didn’t matter at all because besides the fact that none of that really matters… I took care of so much of the planning ahead of time.
Carli and her friends had so much fun celebrating her 4th birthday Halloween style! I would love to redo this party them for another birthday or another Halloween Party. So much of the décor is reusable and so fun for all Halloween Season long.
Here are the links to the products that brought this party to LIFE! Or should I say DEATH!!! (too much??)
(links coming soon)
Balloons
Foil Balloons
Wrapping Paper
Party Bags
Party Favors
Skeleton
Small Skeletons
Party Hats
Ring Toss Game
Bowls, Cauldrons
Trick or Treat Buckets
Witch Costume
Bat Costume
Candle Sticks
Candle Holders
Spider Web Table Runner
Ghost banner
Bats
Cake and Cupcakes
Cake Toppers
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