ohhhhhh olive’s birthday.

first off…it’s always around thanksgiving and that makes it difficult to plan anything as it’s a major holiday and many people travel. so, i always try to plan a party for her a weekend ahead of her birthday.

well then there’s covid. ohhhhhhh the rona. always getting in people’s way. it first started with a great idea. olive recently became interested in american girl dolls {hello…her friends influenced her LOL} and i thought…’oh! let’s host an american girl doll party at the american girl place in chicago!’. totally a great idea! i told hc that it’d be ideal to host a party there because it would be cheaper than what it would cost for me to host one. LOL #truth i buy that much decor for every party and it’s so much!

we thought, let’s invite a small group of girls, rent a limo, and go to the city to have lunch, explore, and then come home. a quick 2 ish hour party and it would be so much fun!

i have always committed to throwing parties for the girls at home, with only family, up until the age of 5. after that…i’m like…nope. that’s where friends become involved and i’d rather rent a space to host than to hold that in my own home. i don’t want to clean, worry about the food, create all the decor, and honestly…fret over the mess.

so with that in mind, i called american girl place to secure a reservation. first problem…with the pandemic, they didn’t take any reservations more than 30 days out. okuuuurrrr, if anyone knows me, they know i plan parties 4 month in advance. LOL having to deal with 30 days out was annoying but not so bad as i didn’t have to take care of much since i wasn’t hosting it at our house. so, with that…i have to wait a couple months until i could actually make a reservation!

it was finally near the end of october and i could, at last, secure a date and time with AGP. yahoo! i then sped through the motions and ordered invites, bought favors, and ordered all the extra jazz that i possibly could! i didn’t want to do any of that until i could confirm with AGP!

well, the bad news started rolling in. the week i made the reservations, our county and surrounding counties shut down indoor dining. not chicago yet but i was like ohhhhhh noooooooo! i only hoped chicago would stay open. as the weeks rolled by…it was looking dismal. covid infection rates were not looking good everywhere and i was stuck. what do i do??!!

i decided to just throw the party at our house. at that point, chicago had shut down and i didn’t know when it’d open up again. what i didn’t want to do but c’est la vie, non? so last minute, i started organizing and planning for a fete at our place. i ordered a cake, ordered games, ordered decorations, and so on. i was ready! a quick party turnaround and we were set to go!

then the covid struck again. the damn virus entered our household. ughhhhhhhhh. just days before the party. oh my goodness. i was at a loss. what to do?!! what to do?!!! oh olive! i wanted to celebrate her and make it special! so once again, i recalculated.

i decided to throw a zoom party. i put together party bags for all the girls. i brush lettered each of their names onto white bags. i put favor bags {full of AG themed goodies and treats!}, i put games that we were going to play, a craft project, and AG themed plates, cups, and napkins so they all could have lunch together. last but not least, i tied balloons to each bag to create the party ambience!

i porch dropped off all the bags the day of the party and we were ready to go! i picked up olive’s cake on the way back, got her ready in her sparkly AG dress, made her star filled lunch and logged in.

first on the agenda was all the girls having lunch together with their AG dolls and on their AG themed plates and cups. once they all ate, i started the games. we did a ‘do you know the birthday girl?’. all the girls had to answer questions pertaining to olive and at the end, olive said all the answers and whoever got the most right won! second, we played bingo. that was a lot of fun. the girls wanted to play several games and each time we had a different winner. we then did a scavenger hunt. the girls got to run around their house to find all the objects listed on the sheet. it was so fun! after that, the girls grabbed the craft project i placed in the bag and created the cutest paper butterflies.

the party lasted a little over an hour. exactly how long i wanted it to go for. it was soo much fun! what i loved most was that olive had so much fun and she had fun with her friends, zoom and all

her birthday celebration plans were all over the place but in the end, it turned out perfect. she was able to celebrate it with her friends, i was super happy to see her happy, and it felt like a somewhat normal birthday!

happy birthday my dear olive. you mean the world to us. we love you so much. you’re growing into the most beautiful girl and your soul is beyond kind. we are so proud of who you already are and can’t wait to see what you will become. thank you for being you. sweet, kind, loving, thoughtful, sensitive, practical, inquisitive, hard working, and responsible. we love you to the infinity and beyond.

xoxo