I LOVE the tea party on the front lawn! Must do that in the next few years, how elegant!

What ended up ACTUALLY occuring (as opposed to what i planned):

Pajama Party with about 12 from 4:00 to 7:00:

--Pillow case decorating (got fabric markers at the store, much easier than the fabric crayons, no ironing needed). The kids LOVED this, universally.
--Magic Nuudles craft station
--Groovy Girls and My Little Pony playing (I only allowed everyone to play with the two set of toys--unregulated access to the whole playroom takes three days to clean up.)

At the snack table:

--two different fruit plates and one veggie plate
--a bowl of olives
--a bowl of pomegrante seeds
--orange juice
--water

Around five thirty we opened presents. At around six we started the Pancake Dinner. DH made the pancakes, which the kids loved. He makes great pancakes and he was my savior in the kitchen that night. The kids got to eat as many pancakes as they wanted. Then we cleared the table and served the cake. I made a singing cake, but since I used a sugar substitue (Xylitol) it didn't actually sing. It also didn't taste much like a birthday cake, I don't recommend it for little kids. Then the younger girls and the boys went home and the Sleepover started (around eight girls).

At around seven thiry we descended downstairs to watch a movie. I'd gotten Annora The Last Unicorn for her birthday and we watched that. The flaming bull scenes were a little intense, but there's no real violence, so everyone seemed OK with it. (Ages ranged from five to ten.) By the end of the movie everyone was tired, so we brushed teeth, pottied and went to bed. The girls had laid out their sleeping bags before the movie, everyone was already in their jammies, and we settled down fairly quickly. I sang some lullabies, a few girls told bedtime stories, we sang some more, and after about half an hour all but four of the girls were asleep. I played soft music and by 11:00 the last night owl was down.

The girls got up at 7:30 am and amused themselves nicely with the toys DD'ed gotten the day before. Breakfast was hot and cold cereal. Those who wanted to were able to finish their work on their pillow cases. Getting everyone's gear ready for departure at 10 am was surprisingly easy, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Several mothers have told me that their girls are still talking about the party and what a good time they had.

Everyone went home with a gift bag and their pillowcase. It took me about two days to recover. But we all had a blast.

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Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats.

-- Woody Allen