the nutcracker ballet party

yesterday i set the scene for our nutcracker ballet party with those unique invitations.

now come visit the land of sweets and see how we celebrated . . .

the birthday girl in her new play outfit.  since we save her other dance clothes for class, we bought a cheaper play leotard and tights that she can wear whenever and wherever she wants and gave them to her that morning.  the pretty gauzy skirt was made from one of my old nightgowns. 

with a little tweaking each year, i have used this same happy birthday banner for gia's last three birthdays.  i taped a piece of wrapping paper to the buffet mirror as a backdrop and added paper snowflakes and fingerknit garlands.

can you tell these dancing girlies are ballet class friends?

all of the christmas decor pulled double duty, which was part of the brilliant-ness of this theme.  having a birthday the week before christmas can be hard, but we have learned to work with the it, rather than against it. 

our sweet clara and the nutcraker cake.  i bought this doll two years ago at hobby lobby for gia's second birthday.  it has done us well for the $1.99 it cost.  it doesn't have any lower body, so i propped it up on an empty (and clean) spice jar inside the middle of a bundt cake.  then i swirled on lemon cream cheese frosting for a fluffy tulle effect.  the nutcracker is a glass ornament i found at kohls, which has now been added to our family collection.

um, it is really hard to take a group picture of kiddos this age.  and when i forget to take into account the sun shining in their faces, it gets even harder.  my favorite part is jonathan peeking out from under the quilt rack.

decorating cookies was our extra-special and possibly a bit definitely too ambitious activity.  (you basically need one adult for every two children to make this practical.)  but when wrapped up with these nutcracker tags and a set of cookie cutters, they made yummy and fun take-home favors

and that was her nutcracker ballet party.

magical and sweet and all things gia.  just like it should have been.