J Cooper Photography

I love parties.  My Mom gave me that passion I think…she was the ultimate party planner.  She loved to plan out all the little details to make our birthdays extra special.  And who doesn’t love a party, really?  Especially when ponies are involved!

My girl A…seven.

The day started with a soccer game for the birthday girl.  Mr. P called me on the way home from the game…our birthday girl had SCORED A GOAL!  She was on cloud 9.  Mr. P gets the gold medal for taking all three kids with him to the game so that I could get the party set up and ready for all the little guests.  They walked in about 5 minutes before the party…perfect timing!  We ripped off A’s soccer uniform and threw on her party duds.  This may have been the first birthday I didn’t make her a special outfit to wear.  We compromised on the pony themed Littlest Pet Shop tee (found that on the Walmart clearance rack for $5) and a pink tutu from my prop closet.  When she picked it out I distinctly remember saying, “Really?  A tutu to ride ponies?”  But the birthday girl wanted fluff…and who am I to deny that really?

A wanted a pink and brown color scheme so we went with pretty pink plates and napkins (from The Dollar Tree).  Early this summer I found these Ty Beanie horses for a STEAL at a local department store that was clearancing them out.  I picked them up for under $2 a piece!  So each guest got a little brown sack with a horse beanie, pink bandana, and little plastic horse toy.  The horse toys came from The Dollar Tree as well…they came in a pack of two with a mommy horse and baby horse…the mommies went inside each bag…and the babies graced the top of the cupcakes   On the back of each of their chairs was a cute pink cowgirl hat (got those at…yep…you guessed it…The Dollar Tree).

I couldn’t find a cute horse cake at any of the local bakeries that I liked.  I even priced out cupcakes from a local cupcakery…but when they quoted me THREE DOLLARS per cupcake I about passed out.  Heck…I can make 24 cupcakes for that price with good ‘ol Betty Crocker!  So that’s what I did…I don’t think the kids would have even noticed the difference!

After a pizza lunch we got down to business making our craft:  HOBBY HORSES!  I found this article in M Magazine and showed it to A several months ago.  She is a complete CRAFTING NUT so of course she went pony wild when she saw it!  The girls had so much fun making these…they turned out adorable!  I was SO THANKFUL to my sweet friend who stayed at the party to help me with craft time…we definitely needed the extra set of hands!

After we took a gallop through the yard on our new ponies…we had to stop for a quick group photo!

Then we headed back inside for some fun opening presents.  A has the sweetest friends who put so much thought into her gifts:  craft kits, pony sets, books…she is in heaven!  She is such a fortunate little girl to have so many sweet little friends!

The girls were getting antsy at this point…they knew what was coming next!  And they could hardly wait!

We had THREE live ponies!  Since A was the birthday girl she got to ride one of the ponies the entire time.  I even tried to coax her down off of it so that her friends could get some more pony time…but was quickly reprimanded by Kathy of “Kathy’s Custom Parties”.  So I kept my mouth shut and let the resident pony princess ride to her heart’s content.

We have a nature trail that winds back behind our house and throughout the subdivision.  It made the perfect spot for pony rides!  And of course J and my little man took a couple of turns as well!

I took pictures of all the guests…but I’m saving those for their thank you cards   And I know a few of the moms will be checking out the  blog…don’t want to ruin the surprise!  After all the rides we gobbled up the cupcakes and stopped to open just a few more presents.

And then it was time to wrap up the afternoon!  THANK YOU to all of our friends who helped to make A’s birthday a super fun day!  We are SO blessed to have so many wonderful friends that are always there to help us celebrate!  Here are my girls with their best buddies…we take this picture every year together…so special!  Here they are at 8, 7, 5, 4, and 3.

To my spunky new SEVEN year old…Hope your day was PONY PERFECT!!  We love you!