Nora's 4th Birthday

*Update:  This post has been awarded the "Best Decorations" badge by PartyPail.com!

It has come to my attention (ahem) that I forgot to post pictures of Nora's birthday party.  Woopsies!  Poor girl.  Her birthday is December 27, so it's right in that crazy Christmas mix.

She really wanted a tea party for her birthday party this year.  We still do family-only parties, and I knew some of the men would not appreciate cucumber sandwiches and tea.  So I decided to make soups and sandwiches and serve all sorts of hot beverages.

Somehow I forgot to take pictures of the actual food.  I made a Crock Pot full (to the tippy top!) of chicken and noodles, which has been a huge hit with my family in the past.  I also made a giant pot of Weight Watchers Cabbage & Vegetable Soup because several people are watching what they eat (and it's warm and delicious).  For sandwiches we just ordered regular gondolas and turkey gondolas from our local LaGondola and cut them into individual sandwiches.  Hey, a girl's gotta take some help where she can.

Nora chose her own outfit for her party:

Then she applied the makeup she received from us for Christmas.  It's the kid stuff that looks colorful and sparkly in the container but goes on practically clear.  She LOVES getting to wear her makeup, and she talks funny when she has lip gloss on.

We set up seating, used colorful tablecloths and decorative napkins, and hung up a girly birthday banner.

Jared's adorable grandma kept me company while I finished setting up.

I ordered the tea party and plates and napkins from Oriental Trading and bought the silver plastic spoons (just to be extra fancy) at a local store.

Dinner plates (and you can barely see the sandwiches on a silver platter)

Dessert plates

We found cute heart candles to go with her desserts.

Nora doesn't really like cake, so I made Tea Cookies (the kind with the thumbprint in the middle filled with frosting).  The purple frosting was almond flavored and the pink was vanilla.  I also made some chocolate chip graham cookie bars and cut them out with a heart cookie cutter (which ended up being a bit of a chocolatey mess).  We also had ice cream (not pictured).

We served several hot beverages.  I had a pot of hot water and a variety of teas.  I made the Duck Dynasty recipe of homemade hot chocolate and served it in my sister-in-law's black carafe.  I also brewed a big pot of coffee and offered a wide variety of creams.  We used a set of tea cups that my mom bought for us as well as some cute clear plastic disposable tea cups that looked fancy (they're hard to see in the picture).

The kids squeezed together at one table.

The adults sat together in the kitchen.

And our niece Addison roamed back and forth between the kids and adults.

Nora sat on Grandpa Dan's lap while we sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Nora and Jared did a pinky cheers with their tiny tea cups.

I love her smile here!

Then we all headed downstairs so Nora could open her presents.

Our niece Layla helped Nora with her presents.  Nora absolutely adores her big girl cousin, and I love watching them together!

My brother was busy playing with the claw machine toy we bought Griffin for Christmas.

Griffin found a snuggly place by Grandpa Dave.

Nora ended the party by trying on her new leotard from Grandpa Dave and new tutu from Uncle Erik and Aunt Bree.

She did some ballet with Layla and played with her new toys.

It was a very fun girly birthday party!

Jessica