Bridger's Birthday Party

Bridger decided long ago that he wanted to have his party on St. Patrick's Day and do the whole leprechaun theme and everything.  That worked out perfectly because it was on a Saturday this year.

We took pictures in the back yard for his invitation because I couldn't find a time to take him somewhere fun.

Bridger chose what he wanted his invitations to look like and they turned out really cute. 

I finished his cake the day before and it was a giant leprechaun hat.  (Bridger was VERY excited about his cake!)

We had lots of decorating around the house to do. 

Pretty much everything was GREEN!  

We even made green lemonade for the guests.

Outside we hung some balloons on the lap post and some St. Patrick's banners on the porch so everyone would know they were at the right house.  :)

The kids helped me make some "Leprechaun Bait" as a treat.  (Rice Krispie Treats with Lucky Charms cereal instead.)

We also made some Leprechaun Hats.  (One half of an Oreo, a giant marshmallow, and some green candy coating.)

We threw these into a cupcake tree and had them in the middle of the table for the guests.

We also pre-distributed the ice cream so we wouldn't have to take time to do that during the party.  This was supposed to be green mint brownie ice cream but it was not nearly as green as I had hoped.  I should've stuck with lime sherbet!  :)

We set out some final green and gold treats (Rolos, green M & M's, Andes mints, & our clover pretzels) around the cake and prepared for Bridger's friends to arrive.

Our first party activity was our St. Patrick's matching game and the kids did really well with this. 

Next we went on a leprechaun scavenger hunt where we had to follow the rainbow shamrocks and find the treasure at the end which was bubble necklaces, leprechaun hats, and chocolate gold coins.

Each of the kids got shamrock tattoos as well. 

Our party craft was making Pot of Golds with little pots, pipe cleaners, and gold candy coins.  The kids thought this was really fun and they had something cool to take home with them. 

Pretty soon it was time for cake.

The kids were all so excited for cake and ice cream and they loved Bridger's giant leprechaun hat cake.

We all sang Happy Birthday, Bridger made a wish, and he blew out all of his candles.

The reaction from the kids as we showed them what the cake looked like inside was priceless!  They were all amazed.  ha ha  I guess the effort was worth it.

They also loved that the slices were HUGE.  I'm sure they all went home on a major sugar high!

After Cake it was present time and Bridger was excited about this part too.

He got some great stuff and he was so happy that all of his great friends were there to make it a special day for him.

They each got a leprechaun hat filled with gold coins as a parting gift.

Here's his haul of presents from his 5th birthday.  CRAZY!  We definitely need to go through some old toys now and purge!

Happy Birthday Bridger Bear!