Star's 9th Birthday Party

Star's Birthday is this weekend.  At our place we usually only have a family party or a small party with just a few friends.  This year Star is having two friends over for a sleepover.  We printed off some paper invitations and envelopes from DLTK Kids website. (This is a great website for preschoolers and as you can see we continue to use it.)  Star coloured and decorated the invitations.  I am not planning a lot of games and activities as I believe the girls will just have fun playing on their own.  I am hoping the weather is nice so they can play outside a lot.

One of the activities we are doing is a pinata.  The girls and I made it using a balloon and then putting strips of newspaper dipped in flour and water (we used this recipe) and layering them over the balloon.  We did a couple a layers letting it dry in between (If you plan on doing this start a couple weeks in advance so you have plenty of time for it to dry. FYI putting a balloon pinata into a warm oven to speed up the drying process is not a great idea, not that I would know;) ).  I took Star to the dollar store and let her have $5 to spend on stuff to put in the pinata.  We placed her purchases in the pinata, taped it closed, and then the girls painted it.

Star and Sky painting our homemade pinata.

The other activity I am planning is a treasure hunt.  I will set up a bunch of clues that will send them all over the yard (we live on a farm so it is a big yard) and there will be a treasure at the end.  The treasure is a small key ring bead kit so if they desire they can then do that as an activity.

Oh, and instead of a cake we are having cupcakes and I will get the girls to decorate them.  I will also pick up a couple of movies for them to watch before bed.  With only a couple of girls coming over I think (hope?) it will be pretty relaxed. 

How do you like to celebrate birthdays? family only? themed party's? small and simple? large and elaborate?