outdoor party – That Celebration Life

Birthdays, Boys Birthdays, Girls Birthdays, Parties

A Bluey-themed 3rd Birthday

August 17, 2024August 27, 2024by christeenaLeave a Comment

This was probably the most anticipated party I’ve planned yet, only because my older (more experienced) kids seeded the idea in my little one’s head. My youngest is obsessed with Bluey, and maybe only a couple months after she turned two, her siblings said, “You can have a Bluey birthday!” And ever since, she’s been talking about her Bluey birthday, despite not really knowing what a birthday even is. 😆

Thankfully, because she had in mind that it just was going to be what it was, I had plenty of runway to plan, unlike my older ones who often change their mind about what they like on a monthly basis.

I really wanted a character moment at her party, as it was so sweet watching her meet many of the Disney characters when we went to Disneyland last year. Even if it meant my husband would have to dress up himself, we would make it happen. With the growth in popularity of Bluey, I was excited to find that a couple of the character entertainment companies finally added a Bluey to their mix! (It wasn’t available even a year ago).

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Birthdays, Girls Birthdays, Parties

A Winnie-The-Pooh Themed Birthday Picnic

August 25, 2023August 25, 2023by christeenaLeave a Comment

Now that we are two years into it, I’m finding that every milestone with your littlest baby is bittersweet because you’re cognizant it’s the last time you are probably going to go through that experience. I find myself definitely holding on to things more (like hey, she still prefers using her baby bottle before bedtime…I’m completely OK with that!). As she approached her second birthday, I started to think about how we could celebrate meaningfully this year. Though she does attend some enrichment classes outside the home, since they aren’t every day and sometimes the attendance is spotty, her closest “friends” are her siblings and cousins, so I wanted to keep it small. It just so happened that we had a little vacation to Santa Barbara planned with both of my sisters and their families (the first time we’ve done that), so it seemed like the perfect opportunity since she would be together with all of her cousins on my side in one place.

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Birthdays, Girls Birthdays, Parties

A Dolphin Themed 2nd Birthday

August 19, 2023August 23, 2023by christeenaLeave a Comment

We just held my littlest one’s second birthday, but before I get to posting that one, I wanted to make sure I finished posting my older daughter’s 2nd birthday (…five years later!!). When my second child turned two, I reallllly wanted to throw her a Winnie the Pooh party because I personally love Winnie the Pooh. But despite my best efforts – reading Pooh stories, getting her Pooh toys, etc – she wasn’t into it! Instead, my free-spirited nature and animal loving girl was in love with dolphins at that time. I don’t recall if she was intrigued through books and toys first and then saw them at Sea World or the other way around, but either way, that was what she was into, and so it seemed only fitting for that to be her theme.

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Birthdays, Girls Birthdays, Parties, Reflections

“You Are My Sunshine” 1st Birthday For My Little Sunshine

June 23, 2023June 23, 2023by christeenaLeave a Comment

I’ve been wanting to write everything down about this party for a while. This was a special one. Admittedly, it was what many considered over the top. But not only was year one a special milestone in and of itself, but that year in particular was really significant for me in my own healing journey, so I wanted it to represent the love and joy I felt for my daughter.

Some backstory: before I had her, I was terrified of having a girl – to the point that I had to go to therapy during my pregnancy. For most of my adolescence, I didn’t have the best experience with other females. And though I deeply love my mom and have an amazing relationship with her now, it was a rocky relationship growing up. As I got older, it caused me to have a very guarded relationship with other women. I wasn’t fully aware of this until I found out I was having a girl and experienced a fear and anxiety, which is what brought those hidden wounds to light. God is so good though – He knew exactly how to heal my heart.

As soon as she arrived, I saw her beautiful little face, which was an incredible moment in itself (she didn’t come out as an angsty 13-year-old as I irrationally feared!). As incredible as that moment was, I had no idea that such sweet joy lay ahead or even existed. She was such a peaceful, easy baby. I remember feeling like her smile would just light up her nursery as soon as I walked in to wake her up every morning. She truly ushered a sweetness into my life that profoundly changed and healed my heart. Her joyful smiles were so big that even her eyes smiled! They embodied the term “bright eyes”, and she truly shined pure light into each day. And she had such a sweet disposition, one that truly disarmed me and finally allowed my heart to let down its guard. She was truly my sunshine. So when it came time to plan for her first birthday, I couldn’t think of a more perfect theme that would celebrate her and capture who she was: my sweet, pure little sunshine.

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Birthdays, Boys Birthdays, Parties

Our “Dragons Love Tacos” 8th Birthday Party

June 10, 2023June 23, 2023by christeenaLeave a Comment

For my son’s 8th, he chose a dragon theme. However, he also requested that we serve tacos that day. So naturally, to tie it all together, we turned it into a “Dragon Loves Tacos” theme, after the beloved storybook!

Since he wanted to invite his whole class, we held the party at a local park instead of our home. It’s such an expansive area, but we did our best to tie the theme together with the colors while creating separate “spaces” for the various activities.

To establish the theme right off the bat, it started with the party invitation. I created a custom paperless post invitation that leveraged the style and characters from the storybook. I didn’t love the ones I was seeing available, so I created my own.

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Birthdays, Girls Birthdays, Parties

A Unicorn-themed 5th birthday for my unicorn-obsessed girl

September 30, 2021June 23, 2023by christeena2 Comments

I’m not sure what it is about these magical, mystical creatures but sure enough, like so many other little girls out there, my daughter just can’t get enough of them! Unicorn stuffys, unicorn toys, unicorn dresses – she is obsessed. So when it came to picking a theme for her 5th birthday party, it was a no-brainer!

I initially wanted to see if there was any way to bring a unicorn to our home, but it turns out unicorns don’t really come that readily for hire. I found a couple of places that did something like that but they were very far away, extremely expensive, and did not travel to you.

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Birthdays, Boys Birthdays, Parties

“Twinkle Little Rockstar” 1st Birthday Party

April 21, 2021June 23, 2023by christeenaLeave a Comment

For our son’s first birthday, we did a twist on Twinkle Little Star for my music-loving baby!

When my firstborn turned one, I absolutely wanted to make it special. I know it sounds kind of silly, but as a child, I already loved planning birthday parties, and it was always one of the things I was looking forward to be able to do as a parent! And here I was, finally getting to planning my first one!

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