1/2 party

Riley's 1/2 birthday party went off without a hitch! It was a perfect day. 81 degrees and sunny. The forecast called for cloudy, but it stayed pretty sunny until about 7pm. We had SUCH a wonderful time celebrating her being a half a year old! I will share some photos and since so many of you have asked, I will put the recipes in this blog too! 

I did a trial run on the cake. This is the real deal and I was SO excited it didn't fall over! I made matching mini (1/2) cupcakes to go along with the cake. The cake was funfetti and accidentally dyed pink. (I added extra sprinkles, some of which happened to be dyed pink... therefor causing the cake itself to be pink. oops.)

Trix Pops & Half cookies

Trix Pops

1 box of Trix cereal {10.7 oz.}

1 bag of small marshmallows

1 stick of butter {you won't use it all}

1 pkg of mini jumbo sticks {tongue depressors}

• In a microwave safe bowl, add 1 pkg of small marshmallows and 3 Tbs of butter.
• Cook for 3 minutes on high
• Add about 3/4 of the box of Trix cereal to the bowl of warm marshmallow-e goodness and stir well.
• Let the Trix mix cool for about 10 minutes
• {The balls stick together better when the marshmallow has cooled a bit.}
• While you're waiting, butter a pan to place the finished balls on.
• When you're ready to start, butter your hands so the mixture doesn't stick to you either.
• {**Tip: re-butter your hands after each ball.}

Cookies

1 box vanilla cake mix, 18.25 oz
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C color sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and baking powder. In a small bowl, mix together the eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the sprinkles. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let them sit for about 5 minutes before you take them off the pan because they will be a bit soft. :)

Yes, we got creative. I made place cards (folded in half) ;) 

For favors we gave everyone a 1/2 pint of strawberries to take home and enjoy. They each got a personalized footprint from Riley Q as well. (We attempted hand prints... maybe next year.)

I hot glued the plates together to make "half" plates. (Good thinking ma-lolo!)

We used water balloons and froze them to put in each ice bucket. This is the champagne bucket, but we also had 1/2 water bottles, 1/2 sodas, 1/2 beers and 1/2 juices!

And here is me and my little 1/2 year old in the swimming pool. She absolutely loves the water. (Which is a good thing considering she will be growing up on an island, just like her momma!)

Friends enjoying the party!

1/2 foods :)

We finally got the chance to ask Laurie and Billy to be Riley's God parents. (And of course Julie and Kel get to be part of this too!) We are working on Riley's baptism details and hope to have it scheduled very soon. Laurie and Billy had tears in their eyes as they graciously accepted our request. We couldn't be happier to have someone to be such a big part of Riley Quinn's life. Thank you. Laurie and Billy!

Thanks again to everyone who came out and spent the day with us. We are always looking for a reason to get together with family and friends for a shindig! Happy 1/2 birthday, Riley Quinn. You are mommy and daddy's everything sweet girl.