Briar turned five this month and had her party this past weekend. She chose the Nickelodeon show Bubble Guppies as her theme. Picking her party theme is one of her favorite parts. In fact, she is already planning her theme for next year.
For food we chose smoked chicken thighs brushed with barbecue sauce. We smoke these ourselves and it is one of our family’s summer favorites. We did have some hot dogs available for the kids as back up. For side dishes we cut up some fruit and I made my homemade Pico De Gallo. Of course there was cake too. I could not find reasonably priced Bubble Guppies plates and napkins in the number we needed, so instead purchased a waterslide set that included two different plate sizes, napkins and forks.
Why did I settle with waterslide themed dishes? Well, because we rented a waterslide of course! We host all birthday parties at our home so as a little treat this year we had a wet/dry bounce house brought in. The company delivered it to our house, set it up (we had to provide the water hose) and then they left. We had the waterslide from 10:00am to 8:00pm and it only cost $175. Bonus: they came and took it down too. We do not have to dry it or store it! When I told everyone at the party about it they were writing down the company name for themselves. If you are local checkout WHAT A BLAST RENTALS in Johnston, Iowa.
The cake design I did on a whim. I made three cakes with no definite design in mind. Usually I have an inspo picture or something. I did find a Bubble Guppies party kit that included a cake topper and cupcake toppers so I knew I was going to use those and then I had a number “5” candle too. I’ll share my go to frosting recipe from Design Eat Repeat.
The Bubble Guppies cake topper and cupcake toppers came with character balloons, a table cloth, banner and a backdrop.
The Bubble Guppies piñatas I found were what I considered “Pricey,” so Briar and I decorated an ocean piñata I found on Amazon. I thought I purchased Bubble Guppies stickers but turns out they were wall decals so after we decorated both sides of her piñata. I let her decorate the garage fridge with the remaining decals.
The piñata that I purchased included some trinkets to fill the piñata with and then I purchased some candy. Last year I took all the left over July 4th parade candy and put that in the piñata. However, I forgot I did this and because I have been test tasting dye free candies I purchased a few more to try in the piñata this year.
For Briar’s past birthdays I always picked out a cute outfit for her. This year I knew that she would be in her swimsuit from start to finish. I was right she got out of bed put her swimsuit on and waited for the waterslide to arrive. She was out there testing it out before the party started. Good thing Raya was here so I could still pick out something cute for at least one kid to wear. I found an ocean themed romper (trying to stick with the Bubble Guppies theme) that was also 4th of July colors.
I will note that Briar’s swimsuit is the cutest thing ever! If you read what we got for Christmas you might recognize it.
