Selabration number eight!

Our baby girl turns EIGHT today. It has been the fastest eight years of my life. Sela thinks she has waited f-o-r-e-v-e-r to be eight. Like: we started talking about this flamingo party last SPRING. She was already putting in her request for another doll party. And deep inside as much as I love observing her love of all things doll – I did not feel like planning another doll party. So, as we continued to discuss ideas I tried to think of the most pink-girly-things that would intrigue her… sans barbies, etc. – when the flamingo idea came to mind! At this time, I hadn’t seen anything new or trendy with flamingos. And best of all, Sela LOVED the idea! she was CRAZY about the idea!!!

So. We started planning on the down low. Some time the end of May I told my friend Becky and she loved the idea too. Not soon after I received an invite to Alison’s flamingo FEST dance party. And about died of disappointment that a flamingo party was being planned on the social media scene. THEN, before Alison’s party, Silhouette America hosted one of the dinners I went to at Alt. Summit (a blogging conference) and used flamingos for their theme. THEN, I think every clothing line we like – crewcuts, GAP, Target, even my favorite children’s clothing store in the Philippines – Gingersnaps – had flamingos show up in their summer clothing lines. So, maybe it was sub-conscious and I didn’t realize I had already seen flamingos everywhere. But, six months ago, Sela and I thought we were reviving an idea for a party that hadn’t been over-used yet, and obviously, we were not. We are digging on flamingos just like the rest of the world!

The past six months of planning have felt like a lifetime for Sela! She has had a countdown on her bedroom wall till her party – there were weeks of little boxes she’s been checking off day by day. I think it’s safe to say, it runs in our blood to WANT to selabrate. It’s a NEED. So. We partied last Saturday with all of sela’s closest friends and our family. And today – her official birthday – our family has been extra lovin’ on her all day long. Because she’s sooo easy to love.

The day before Sela’s party, I surprised her with these mini mini flamingo’s in her fairy gardens. They are just about the cutest little things I ever have seen – and she flipped out over them!

I had this idea: to have pink hair tips & wear pink eyelashes for the party!!! Sela loved both these ideas, about three weeks ago we tested out the eyelashes and it was really easy to put them on her – and me. She even cut one pair in half and put them on her dolls, it was super cute and fun. THEN, the day of the actual party came, and about thirty minutes before the party, I put my pink eyelashes on, Sela said she changed her mind and didn’t want to wear them. Which was fine.

I walked into our kitchen – where most of our family was and received some raised eyebrows and funny looks.

woah, mom. blank stares.

me: do you guys like my eyelashes?

Dusty Rhodes: Did you look in a mirror?

Needless to say, Sela’s expression above – examining the eye lashes up close – spoke a thousand words. Right after these pictures, I ran to the bathroom and took them off. change of plans. Mom looked ridiculous. we are NOT wearing pink eyelashes for this party, Mom or the girls.

But. one more picture for memory’s sake, I will probably never wear pink lashes again…

The girls all watercolored flamingos – this is the result of the momma planning the party currently taking a watercolor class. I attempted to give them a crash course in about 30 seconds. It took all the energy I had to speed talk as their minds were DYING to rip into those supplies and get started. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them each create their own unique pieces of art.

Sela also had the idea before the party to have the girls have a “flamingo contest” by standing on one leg. It was really fun. They all did so good too! We did about eight rounds, while I was timing them – those that made it to one minute, then I had them raise their arms, at two minutes they had to go on relevé, or in non-ballet terms: their tippy toes! There are some serious little yogi’s at this age, they were good!

It was the funnest, PINKEST day of our lives. We flamingled our little hearts out!

*****

party details: The wildly adorable mini mini fairy garden flamingo’s found here. Yard flamingos here. You can download the free printable flamingo to paint or color here. I found all the watercolor arts supplies we used locally at Hobby Lobby. Download the free adorable “flamingo bingo” here (if you use either of the printables, please give credit and I’d love to see your projects!) – just add numbers with a marker. Make sure to do it correctly! In sporadic order, only 1-5’s in the B column, 6-10’s in the I, 11-14 in the N, 15-20 in the G, and 21-25 in the O! I just kept a list of what I had called and wrote it down. The mini yard flamingos for bingo can be found here. Bamboo plates and utensils found here. Flamingo straws here. Sugar cookies here. Cake ordered locally here. Candles are from here. The flamingo pinatas were from a local party store – Zurchers. We attempted to use hair chalk for our hair tips and it didn’t work well, I also had neon pink hair spray as back-up and it worked so good! Found at a local party store – Partyland. The gold cake topper – was an item I was able to keep after the ‘Silhouette America‘ Alt. Summit dinner party this past June. They used smaller plastic flamingos and spray painted them gold – Thank you, Silhouette!

you can see previous selabrations here: two, three, four, five, six, seven!

Printables designed by lovely Lindsay for seejaneblog. Beautiful event pictures by Becky Kimball photography! xo.