A Unicorn Party

This past weekend, my little baby girl turned FOUR.  FOUR!  Where did the time go?  It has been a long four years filled with laughter, tears, screaming and smiles…and wine.  Lots of wine.  For the last few months, she has been requesting a “Unicorn Party” to celebrate her big day.  Pinterest supplied me with so many amazing ideas, but let’s be real.  There was not a lot of time to go completely unicorn crazy.  We also kept the party small…because I have been known to go a bit out of control with party planning.

THE CAKE
For most, one of the most important party elements is the cake.  There are a few local bakeries we usually order from, and for a last minute cake we usually treat ourselves with the Wegman’s Ultimate Chocolate Cake.  Have you tried it?  SO GOOD!  This year, we decided to use a baker literally down the road.  Peri, from Brooklyn Girl Bakery, was so responsive when I got in touch with her not even a week before the big day.  To make a long story short, my regular baker’s voicemail came on about 10 times when I called over  a 2 day period (supposedly they were open), so my options were limited.  I needed a Unicorn cake, fast.  Her Facebook page showed a pictured of a beautiful Unicorn cake….it was fate!  Peri was able to make the cake in time for the birthday.  The cake was absolutely delicious and she couldn’t have been nicer.  Also, it turned out that her son is in my son’s first grade class.  What are the odds of that?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ACTIVITIES

We kept it simple.  Our house is not huge, so we ended up renting a Castle bounce house with a slide from JAMB Party Rentals.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.     Also, since Easter is around the corner, we decided to have an Egg Hunt instead of giving out party favors.   I made bags for all of the kids, and they had an awesome time hunting for eggs all around the yard.

THE DECOR
The decorations were limited.  Pink table cloths, fun napkins, and a cute sign from the Etsy Shop INVITEDbyAudriana.  I also got tissue paper hanging Bright Rosettes from Paper Source to make the kitchen a bit more festive.  If I had some more time, I would have liked to make unicorn horns for the kids…but let’s not get TOO carried away.

THE FOOD & BEV
Overboard.  We go overboard when it comes to party food.  Hubs makes a mean roast pork and broccoli rabe, so that was first on the list.  He also makes delicious pepperoni bread (thanks to my mom’s friend Carmella for the recipe)!  My MIL made potato salad, SIL and Mom made spinach dip (you can never have enough spinach dip), and I made a broccoli salad.  We also had some random apps and other things…tomato pie is always a big hit and easy to eat.  In terms of drinks, we kept it simple: beer, wine, juice, water, soda.  Again, if I had time and energy, I would have made Unicorn Punch.  It looks tasty!

THE PLAYLIST
My kids love music, so obviously I had to make a playlist.  Some songs included: Happy by Pharrell, Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake, and I Don’t Care by Icona Pop.  Of course included were some of my song choices as well.

Because our immediate family is so large and there are so many cousins, it is impossible to have a quaint, small gathering.  We are learning as the years go by that our family party planning is never easy, but it always ends up being a fun time.