Nature Party

Nora requested a nature party for her 6th birthday, so I figured I could easily make it all rustic and trendy and take advantage of the abundance of online ideas. I think she was slightly disappointed, having pictured more trees and leaves and stuff, but it was much simpler to pull together a theme that was already in the popular consciousness.

I think our favorite treat to eat was the acorns (made with mini-Nutter Butters and Hershey kisses), though I was personally enraptured by the meringue mushrooms.

We stayed pretty simple with games, playing duck duck goose in the front yard, wrapping Nora in a birthday 'cocoon' of toilet paper from which she would then break free, and playing tag wearing woodland-creature headbands that I found on a nice printable site. We pulled out our Milo and Otis movie for a little stretch, as well.

Cocoon video

General notes: despite following an amazing and reputable tutorial, my pinwheels still didn't turn when you blew them, though they looked awfully cute. But they took a long, frustrating time to make. 

Also, I've never made cake balls before, so trying to 'use up' a cake that had gone badly by turning it into hedgehog cake balls was another idea that was cuter in theory than in practice. Someone else could have pulled it off, I'm sure, so if you're a cake ball expert feel free to steal the idea.

Thank goodness I had experience with meringues, because those were so easy to do in advance and really made the whole look.

FYI in terms of budget, as far as I can tell, I spent just under $70 on the party.