Dayne's Surprise Birthday Party!

Okay, so Dayne's 8th birthday was a month ago ... like usual, I am late! I wanted to make up for her party being a month late (for the record, we were busy in the weeks proceeding her birthday - FL visit, then she went to IA for a week). A few weeks ago I got this crazy idea to plan a surprise spa-themed birthday party for her! In anticipation of "someday" having a birthday party, Dayne had already created a list of friends to invite, so I was set!

The girls started arriving about 1:00 on Saturday. Dayne went to spend the week with Zoe in Joplin so we coordinated our timing to have her arrive home about 2:00. The girls were so anxious while waiting for Dayne to arrive! We went through several scenarios of how to shout 'SURPRISE' when she arrived and agreed to have me yell to her as she came through the door to "come see Mamma!" and on my queue of waving to her, the girls jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!!" It went off without a hitch! Dayne was very, very surprised. Actually, clueless might be a better word. She seemed to have no idea why all her friends were at her house!

After Dayne got a grip on what was happening, I told them all the fun things I had planned for them that day, night and next morning! They didn't understand the value of it, but I even had a matrix of planned events down to the time! It proved to be a wise investment of my time - we didn't have ANY fights or whine fests!

Our first planned event was a trip to the pool! We spent about 2 hours at the pool ... the girls had the pool to themselves fo the first half hour or so, but then only 4 other kids came - it was perfect 'cause then I didn't have to worry about hogging the whole pool!

The girls played chicken, styled their hair like "George Washington's wife" (that's Olivia) and ... made boobs. How do 8 year old girls make boobs? Well, I learned they blow air into their swimsuits and they make boobs. Who knew?

After the pool we had dinner - tacos! The girls ate amazingly good - not the finicky little prissy girls I expected!

Next we went on a neighborhood Scavenger Hunt. We broke up into two groups and each group headed seperate ways to find houses that would be interested in helping the girls collect common household items. Some of the more unique things on the list we were able to collect: a used sock, an old toothbrush and a baby diaper (clean!). The girls - and the neighbors - had a great time on the hunt. All the girls were winners so they were all given a prize of a purse filled with spa themed goodies! Lots of squeels ensued when they saw their goodie handbag!

After the Scavenger Hunt we had cake and ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries - Dayne's favorite! Following cake an ice cream Dayne opened her birthday presents from her friends! She got lots of make up, a High School Musical singing Barbie, Hannah Montana make up and lots of other exciting things!

Next, we headed upstairs to my bathroom and had a foot spa treatment! Each girl had their own foot bath (okay, really it was just a large popcorn bowl!) complete with a bath fizzy and foot mask! Then I walked them through each of the steps for a pedicure - filing nails, filing any rough spots
(they pretended to have some!), trimming their nails and finally, painting their nails! They had nail jewels in their spa-purse so they dazzled their nails with jewels, too!

Following the excitement of spa therapy the girls started to settle down (although they didn't actually go to sleep 'til about 3am!). They watched the video I made of them surprising Dayne, swimming, and all the other events of the day. Then they watched "Firehouse Dog" while they snacked on popcorn and candy! Some time later, they actually fell asleep.

I woke the girls about 8:30 Sunday morning and made them smily face pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast they went back downstairs to watch the new episode of Hannah Montana, then came back up to decorate picture frames to capture their memories from the party!

When they finished their frames they got dressed, brushed their hair and teeth and got ready to have their individual picture taken with Dayne - to put in their new picture frame!

They looooved playing with Oz! And Oz was in heaven - 16 adoring hands petting him!

Dayne and Shay

Dayne and Lauren

Dayne and Olivia

Dayne and Aubrey

Dayne and Jeannine

Dayne and Amanda

Dayne and Parker

The girls plotting out their next activity . . .

After photo time was over, they got their swim suits on and played in the sprinkler (and made boobs!).

The party came to a close around 1:00 when Moms and Grandmas came to pick up their girls! It was a great party and I am glad Dayne has such good friends! They did so well that I told them we might be able to do this again sometime! Most of the girls are going to the new school this year, so this was a nice one-last hoorah for them!

Thank you to Olivia, Aubrey, Parker, Zoe, Amanda, Lauren, Jeannine and Shay for coming to the party! I hope you all had a blast!