penelope's fifth birthday party.

i am not an imaginative party-thrower.  i have thrown together fifteen birthday parties in the last six years, and i've been pregnant at eight of them.  i resultingly don't usually have a ton of energy for it, though i have put a bit of effort into a few of those parties.  (and, now that i do the math, i realize most of the parties i actually worked at a little were ones that happened in a weird non-pregnant lull in life.  also not surprising.)  

there was that one year i was pregnant and we were moving and finneas turned one, and i really wanted to put a bit of effort in, but it was really only because i wanted to send out cards that said, 'finn-eas is one-eas, it's time to have some fun-eas' because when you say it out loud, it's pretty funny. but then it ended up reading more awkwardly than it was worth (and kind of looks like bad words for some reason), so i just made him a cake in a bread pan and called it good, and he LOVED it.

exhibit A:

so i realized that the age-old party formula, while not as photogenic as the circus of pinterest options, is still a hit with kids.  so i busted it out again for penelope's party, and - shocker - it was good enough for a five-year-old.  five-year-olds are much more forgiving (and honestly, more fun at the actual party) than pinteresty adults.  my two cents.

so here you have it:  balloons in at least two colors + streamers in at least two colors + letting the kid choose the kind of cake and ice cream + the right number of candles = BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVAR.

i also go the extra mile and make sure to provide a sandwich buffet, so i guess you could say i'm an over-achiever.  but if you were to say that, you would just be flattering me.

now, on to photos of the party!

high fives for the five-year-old.

and high-fives for the non-five-year-olds.

kisses, too, while we're at it.

a word about the cake:  both layers fell.  it was so dense, i could barely push the candles in.  we called it cookie-cake, the kids loved it, and i moved on with life.  pinterest can shove it where the sun don't shine.

and that was penelope's party!  it closely resembles many (most) other birthday parties we've had around here, but why mess with a good thing?