Owl About A Girl

It was Shaylyn's 13th birthday. We had discussed different days for her party and it turned out that her actual birthday was also a great day for a party. We then went about trying to find a theme for her birthday. After not too long, she decided she wanted to go with an 'owl' theme. I didn't mind too much as owls seem to be all the rage these days.

She had a great day at school and was ready to party when she got home. I asked Eric if he wanted me to have Shaylyn wait to open her gifts and he didn't mind too much. So I asked Shaylyn what she'd prefer and I can't honestly remember which way she chose. Either way she opened her gifts.

... A Box of Stuff Wrapped by Ailey...

...Princess Peach Amiibo...

...Minion Duct Tape and an album by Lights...

(I was trying to disquise the fact I got her the CD she wanted)

...Strawberry Socks...

We had a quick dinner of pizza and then we prepped for her party. Because Eric wasn't thrilled at the prospect of spending all night around the craziness of teen girls, and I didn't want to run a party and take care of the little kids needing things - Eric took them all to see Big Hero 6. It was nice to have a little bit of time with just Shaylyn to get everything ready.

The day after Shaylyn decided on a theme, I saw something on my Facebook feed that caught my attention. It was a tutorial on creating these cute little owls.

I really don't sew and really don't know much about it, but these were super simple to do and so I made a prototype of sorts to see just how simple it was and if Shaylyn liked the idea. It was super easy and Shaylyn loved the idea. So we bought some gloves and just used fabric remnants that I had for the wings. You can see the full tutorial here.

The only thing Shaylyn really wanted to do was something that took me a bit by surprise. I had taken her with me to The Wood Connection a few weeks earlier to get stuff for me, but she had her eyes on other things. They had a super cute owl set that Shaylyn thought would be a perfect for her friends to make during her party. It wasn't too expensive either and I knew it would take up time, so I was all for it. Thankfully the store had just enough big owls and I grabbed a couple little owls thinking I might make one during the night, or if Ailey was around she could make one.

The girls Shaylyn invited all seemed okay at the thought of doing a craft. It was fun to just hang around them and listen to the conversations they were having.

The 'cake' didn't work so great for me. Shaylyn wanted the ice cream cone looking cupcakes. Well I learned quickly that you DO NOT use waffle cones. I made do the best I could and thankfully, Shaylyn was okay with the overall look. 

Then came present time....

...Yes, they are wearing the same shirt. Yes, they did it on purpose. It's what BBF's do...

...I hate to admit it, but she got that look from me...

While the owls were drying, they decided to play Just Dance 2015. While all of it was fun, the most fun part came when they did the 'Tetris' song on it. If you haven't seen it watch the video below. It is an interesting dance and one I've yet to be able to do all the way through...mostly because you can't help but laugh and after 6 kids moving and laughing don't always go well together.

I wasn't going to take pictures while they danced, but when they were doing this song - it was just too hard to pass up.

And then I tried to get pictures of the completed owls, but with silly teenage girls around I got lots of photobombs instead.

It really was a pretty fun night. Shaylyn invited girls that don't have issues with each other and so there was no drama and these girls all got along really well. It really was fun to just sit back and listen to them and remember when I was young. 

Eric and the kids got home just as the party was ending and so the night was pretty much perfect. Although, I still can't believe I'm old enough to have 2 teenagers!