Claire's 7th Birthday Party!

I still can't believe Claire is 7 years old. Don't you totally remember being seven? It is the age I can look back on and actually remember things. Before that age it's a bit hazy. Claire had a Luau party. I thought with her birthday being at the end of June we could do some sort of swim/sprinkler/slip and slide Luau thing. Unfortunately it was unusually cold and rainy on the day of her party so we had to change plans. We also decided to invite all of her friends..... I may need to capitalize ALL. We invited 25 people and 20 came. I imagined only half would come so I was surprised. Claire loved it, but I was slightly overwhelmed. Luckily my sister in-law stayed to help me and Shawn!!! So, here are my make shift plans and some pictures-
I love you Claire Bear I hope you had a great birthday!



When the kids arrived we gave them each a lei, and took their picture in a cut out of a surfer and hula dancer.



While we waited for everyone to get there the kids jumped on the tramp and the bounce house.
Then we had a relay race. It was girls against boys. We set two suit cases in the middle of the floor. Each was packed with sunglasses, a hat, flip flops for both, and a Hawaiian shirt for the boys and a grass skirt for the girls. We had a giant blow up palm tree a few feet away from the suitcases, so the object of the game was to run to the suitcases and dress yourself for the trip to Hawaii, then quickly run and touch the palm tree like you actually went to Hawaii, then run back to the suitcase, take everything off and then go and tag the next person in line until everyone had a turn. If I remember correctly I think the girls won! It was so hilarious to see the kids doing this. I loved watching them!




Next we opened presents (which took a mega long time to open all of them) and had cake.

Then we went outside and gave everyone a beach ball. We wrote every ones name on their own beach ball and then played a game. I don't really have a name for it, but we got a big blanket and everyone put their ball in the middle and grabbed a part of the blanket and then they would start throwing the balls in the air until only one remained. The remaining ball/person was the winner! It was pretty fun! We played that a few times and then the kids just played until their parents came to get them.


Claire got a bike for her birthday from us. Here is a picture of her on her birthday. We ended up replacing this with another bike a month later because she blew a tire out one day and it ended up being cheaper to buy a new bike than replace a white tire (did you know they don't sell white tires in the store)- you have to special order them. In the end she did get a better bike (I'll have to take a picture of it).

My cutie pie 7 year old!