Yes, I know it’s after midnight.

I have been thinking about and planning for Nour’s 5th birthday, which is coming up in February, and I am planning a tea party theme. Of course, I would love it if she had a few little girlfriends to invite to this kind of party, but I’m not totally sure how that would work out, to be honest.

Anyway, since I’m up and caffeinated, I figured I’d share a few of the things that I have planned for her party, particularly if we have a child-centered party or something “ladies only” (we’ll have a family gathering, too.)

1. Dresses. We will have to dress up as if we are going to a fancy tea party, and it will most certainly BE a fancy tea party.

2. Frou-frou table cloths. I will probably find something lacy or flowered to put on the tables for the party.

3. Tea-related snacks that are fit for little girls and adults alike. We got a book awhile back that has a lot of great ideas in it, so I’ll probably be using that as a guide.

4. A “tea-party” cake, which I hope to fix a teddy bear tea party on top of. Teddy bears will have little fancy dresses on, too.

5. I really want it to be something fun for the little girls, so we will have some girly party favors, like iced cookie sticks to take home, and probably bubbles and silly sunglasses for each little girl to wear.

6. I’m also thinking that there will be some crafts involved, like making crowns and decorating paper doll clothes for a special paper doll that each little girl can take home. Also, maybe a wand decorating station.

7. Maybe a game of “pin the tiara on the princess.”

At this point, that’s all I’ve got, but it seems to be a lot, maybe enough. At least it should deter men from wanting to be in on the fun… Again, we’ll still have a family gathering–you only turn 5 once!

As far as my own milestone birthday coming a month later… Pirates or Potter. Or something completely different. I don’t want it to be exactly like Sarah’s party, which was fun to plan, but I don’t want to repeat. I really would love it to be a costume party, but it would have to be a creative costume party, since my birthday’s in March, far removed from Halloween store bought costumes… But I think it would be a real blast to see what creative ideas people could come up with for costumes… Oooh, a Masquerade! Okay, now I’m just being silly. But seriously. I think I would really have fun with a costume party for my birthday. My birthday’s on a Tuesday, so it would have to be the weekend before or after the big day. Either way, I think many people would still have thoughts of leprechauns–be creative people! I don’t want 50 leprechauns when I’m going to dress as…Ha! You thought I was going to tell you.