Candy Land Birthday Party

Hazel's been talking about how she's from Candy Land for quite some time now. A lot of times its when she's mad at us, she'll usually say something along the lines of, "This is NOT how my Candy Land family is. I am going back to Candy Land!" But she also talks about it and how normal life is there as well. She loves to look at the board like it's a book. Her candy land mom is the ice cream queen, her dad is the licorice guy, and she's the lolly pop princess, of course. But in Candy Land she doesn't have any sisters. 😆 Also worth noting, she thinks life would be perfect if she could eat candy for every meal.  

A Candy Land party for her birthday seemed like the obvious choice. 

So Monday was Hazel's birthday! And it was also President's day so a lot of people had school and work off- what luck!  She woke up to super fun (if I do say so myself) Candy land decorations and rainbow cereal and presents on the table. She had a great morning opening those and playing with the new stuff. Buck made her coffee cake and she blew out a candle.

Then it was time for her party! We used a room in our church building. And we made that room into a giant candy land game board. Decorations all around, colorful squares snaking across the floor as a game board. Buck's family all dressed up as different characters of the game and stood on their special squares. The kids came and took turns flipping over a card and moving spaces and getting a treat from each character that they passed by, ending with a candy bag from the king at the end. It was a little chaotic with all the kids but over all it went really well, thanks to everyone's help.

Buck's sister, Jade, made this amazing cake!!!!

Right to left, top to bottom:

Gumdrop, candy cane guy, licorice guy

Queen Frostine, Gramma Nut, King Kandy
(and somehow got out of getting a picture: The chocolate gloppy guy and gingerbread tree.)

And the Lolly pop princess herself:

After the game was played and candy was eaten for a time, Hazel opened her presents in the most excited way. She was thrilled for each and every toy and would spring up to go hug the friend that gave it to her. It was so cute. Then she got to blow out her candles and then all the kids got a small cupcake. It was a success!

After the party Hazel got to skip her nap and watch a movie instead. Then she had pancakes for dinner and got to blow out her candles again and this time we cut the cake. (note: only the top tier was cake, the other two were Styrofoam.)

 On a personal note: Some people pour over pinterest and do crafty things. (I'm jealous of these people and their skills.) And then some people (me) browse Amazon and buy inflatable ice cream cones, balloons, and a cheap back drop (and then spends a whole evening regretting those choices as she has to blow up all of those inflatable things.) Some people are also lucky as have an amazing sister in law who makes amazing cakes! Some people also continue their in-law luck and have amazing in-laws who ALL come and spend their day dressed up, passing out candy at their granddaughter/niece's birthday party. So thank you online shopping and thank you family (all of you, Idaho family also sent super thoughtful and wonderful gifts that made Hazel's day as well!) for making our girls always feel so loved! 

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS HAZEL!