How did this little one get to be 5 years old already?

I love this child.

Planning a birthday party on a budget can be a challenge in the Summer desert heat. Lucky for us some good friends came to the rescue and offered to host at their neighborhood pool. It was so awesome. This pool has sand and palm trees. We all played for hours.

For party favors we decided to make our own felt crowns and magic wands. Now that the kids are getting older, I was a little worried the favors would be ignored. But the kids grabbed them up before I had time to display them. It was lovely to see all those magical beings flitting about.

For a full tutorial on how to make the Crowns and Wands, click on the links.

Here is our early morning breakfast. The birthday breakfast request was Dutch Baby Pancakes.

Opening gifts before daddy leaves for work. For years we have used silks and blankets to wrap the kids birthday gifts. I looks so cozy to me and I appreciate not wasting all that paper.

Healthy kid-friendly snacks

These rainbow kabobs went fast, but I managed to get a photo before they were all eaten 🙂

This mushroom garden cake is hands down my favorite way to decorate. It honestly takes me about 5 minutes to throw together and the kids are impressed every time! I just frost the cake with chocolate frosting and put mini marshmallows and the tips of strawberries onto toothpicks. Then some green sprinkles do wonderfully as moss and you are done! If I am feeling extra fancy, I will use a little of the extra cake as dirt crumbs here and there with moss on top. You can also paint some marshmallows a gray or brown color with food coloring to make rocks -But I’ve only done that once.

One last note. If you do try this for a kids party, be sure to have enough mushrooms for everyone! I promise they will all want one.