11th Birthday Party!

Kelsey turned eleven and had a ...

She had a lot of fun picking and choosing games and checking out Pinterest for ideas :).
After much thought, the invitations...

it was between this one, one that looked like a tickets and a message in a balloon.
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For games, we decided on Duck Wars, Plinko, Car Race, Ball Toss, and a couple of others.

We played "Guess how many gummy bears are in the jar?"....

...which Kelsey ended up winning!

Seventy-one gummy bears,if you wondered :). She guessed sixty-five. Most kids guessed around fifty.

Brooklin guessed three :).

As people arrived, they picked up a bag which contained one ticket for each game, plus two extras, so they could replay their favorites.

They made their guess for the candy jar, then went downstairs

 to start the games! At each game, each girl could win a number of tickets.



The ball toss was pretty popular. The top row was worth ten tickets, with various values for green, purple, and sides, down to one ticket for the bottom row.

 







The cars were powered by balloons, which Caitlyn repeatedly inflated :). Unfortunately, one car fizzled out about halfway through the games, so we substituted an extra game of Duck Wars for some guests.


 

High five!

We had fun making the Plinko board! It was peppered with golf tees to make the discs' descents unpredictable.

 

 

In Duck Wars, two people each had a squirt bottle. The goal was to move the duck to the other end of the container. Whoever got the duck to touch the other end won that round.



After all these tickets had been played, we had one final game - starring Sweetie The Birthday Dog. We adapted this idea from a book we had read. Each person chose a dog treat and placed it on the floor next to a ticket with her name on it.

 Then I brought down Sweetie (who had been in a bedroom to prevent her from getting too excited,) turned her in a circle, then let her go. The girls whose treats she ate first won tickets.

 

Sweetie thought this was a great game!

 

Then it was time to count and redeem tickets!

 

 

 

 

Finally, we ate...

 

 

 

....and opened presents!

 

Kelsey is always so appreciative and gives everyone hugs :).

 

This picture is missing Brooklin, Elayna, and Olivia, but I love it, anyway.
Such a great group of girls!

I am so thankful for the good friends Kelsey has and for everyone who made her birthday so much fun.

 

Happy birthday, Kelse!