Build A Bear party

Liz attended two Build-A-Bear parties when she was little, but I had never actually seen a bear made until we took Lainey to spend her Christmas money last month.  Lainey loved the experience so much that I decided to hold her birthday party there.  Also, it was much more affordable than I thought it would be (you only pay for what you make so you could do a party for six kids for as little as $60).

Lainey picked six friends to invite.  One of her picks was Lizzie's friend, Jordan.  Jordan has been so kind and inclusive to Alaina that she considers Jordan to be one of her friends.  At first Liz was bothered ("Lainey, Jordan is my friend"), but she quieted down when I pointed out that it would be fun for her to have a friend at Lainey's party.

The kids picked their animals and named them before they stuffed them.  The names were pretty sweet and girlie: snowy, princess, snowflake, and rose ("because some roses are white").  Ellie named her dog "Doggie Gawgo."

This party was soooo easy for us.  We've done out-of-the-house parties before but they were more work because had to figure out food and party favors.  Not at Build a Bear.  Food is not allowed and the bears are the party favors.  Done.  We provided blueberry muffins and juice boxes for the kids while we waited for everyone to arrive (those we were driving to the party location that is).  We handed the kids a cupcake to take home with them at the end.  Easy Peasy.  The night before I kept telling Drew that I felt like I was forgetting something because it was all too easy.  Really the hardest part was remembering where I had stashed Lainey's birthday girl shirt from the year before. 

The girls got to put one heart in their own bear and then they each added a heart to Lainey's bear.  There was a mad scramble for hearts when the party leader dropped them in the middle of the circle (much like a dash for pinata candy).

 The girls had to warm up the hearts and infuse them with a wish for Lainey.

 

Ellie is adding her heart to Lainey's bear:

 "Washing" the fluff off their bears:

 Picking accessories:

This was supposed to be our silly face group picture, but clearly only three girls made a silly face:

We sang a birthday song to Alaina, then the girls raised their hands and pledged to care for their bears (or love them or be good friends or something like that), the kids got the bear's birth certificates and we were done (we opened presents at home, with just our family--actually Ellie and Emma slept).