Finally, Happy Birthday Elora! We are only over a month late in posting it, but here it is. Elora wanted to have a big birthday party, so we invited tons of kids, and prepped ourself for the chaos that would follow!
Her party had a knight theme, so I decided to get ambitious and make a castle cake. It turned out pretty well I think. I usually don’t attempt to make shaped cakes, so this is my first attempt at anything this fancy. Chris helped think up all the designs on the front, and I especially love that the front gate has the Eiffel Tower on it. Ha ha, next time I will look for chocolate biscuits with a castle on them….
As the kids were arriving, we had them paint their knight banners. We made little stencils and flags for them to paint, and Chris found awesome huge sticks that we tied the finished flags onto. He said he got some weird looks as he was carrying his armful of huge sticks home. Here is Jewel, Elora and Amy working on some flags.
Oliver was so excited whenever the doorbell rang. He would run to the door, open it, and sit at the top of the stairs to see who was coming up.
Next we had jousting. Amy and Amanda had helped me make the little castle and rig up the system so the knight and horse inside could be attached and not fall to the ground when hit. We ended up tying it to the light fixture to play the game, which was a little scary as we set the four year olds loose with the big long jousting stick. It was a fun game though.
Oliver laughed hysterically every time someone hit the knight with the joust. It looks like we will have another child who loves knights, swords, and medieval festivals.
Here is Oliver trying out the jousting. I have so many awesome pics of all the kids playing the games, so sad I can’t just post them all!
Next we played pin the knight on the gigantic horse. We didn’t really draw them to scale, but we figured the kids would have a bigger target to aim for that way. I love that Elora is clapping for herself after pinning up her knight.
Here is beautiful princess Mia who pinned her knight in just the right place, I think she won this game!
Next the kids all got some legos to build towers. This is prepping for the crossbow, which is usually the favorite activity when we have a party at our house!
Oliver opted for a story from Heidi instead. He loves Heidi!
Here are all the kids getting ready to shoot the crossbow: Charlie and Mia in the back. Left to right in front: Jewel, Benjamin, Spencer, Elora in her knight costume, Ellie, Oliver, Sarah, Zach. It was kind of an eye opener when I was getting ready for the party and counting in my head how many people we ended up inviting, but Elora really wanted to invite Everyone. We were even missing a couple and still had ten kids.
Shooting the crossbow. I think this was Sarah’s favorite game, she looks so excited!
We thought this one was funny because it looks like Mia is about to shoot Zach. But Chris is a very responsible father in charge of crossbow shooting, and kept all the kids safe. There is a reason I let him lead this activity though…
After lunch, but before the kids were allowed to eat cake, we all learned a little medieval dance. It was so fun. We weren’t sure how well the kids would participate, but we showed them a little video and told them they had to dance if they wanted a piece of cake, and they all had a great time. The adults had fun too!
If it looks like Elora’s mouth is full, that is because she was sticking her fingers in the back of the cake the entire time we were singing to her! I guess she liked the frosting!
I love how all little kids like to help blow out the candles! With the help of her friends, all the candles got blown out (and the cake got blown on from all sides. Excellent.)
Also cute is that all the kids love to help Elora open presents. The funny part is, she doesn’t mind at all. She is also odd because Elora always stops to read the cards before opening the gifts. She really likes to know where each present came from! Our favorite part of her knight costume is her new hello kitty headband she wore over the chain mail. We don’t know who gave it to her though, she fished it out of one of the gift bags at the very beginning of the party.
I included this one because look above Elora’s head – a cannonball in midair! Who was shooting the toy cannon? I didn’t even notice this the first few times I looked at the pics.
I think we found the culprit. Here is Om shooting the cannon with Oliver and Zach.
After Elora opened her presents, all the girls gathered around the table to color with Elora’s new coloring books and markers.
Meanwhile all the boys ended up playing with the cannon and cannonballs. Funny stuff.
Elora really wanted us to include this pic of two of her new books. She loves to read and was so excited to get new books! She would rather get books than toys any day. Her other favorite gift was a pretty pink skirt that her Aunt Sharon got her. What kind of four year old prefers books and clothes to toys? I love it! Happy Birthday to our very unique and imaginative baby girl – who likes to inform me that she is not a baby, but a big girl and a ski princess. and a knight.
Sweet party! 🙂