Adeline's Wizard of Oz party

Addie had her first "friend birthday party" this year.  Although her birthday isn't until September 3rd, she wanted to have her party before school starts next week so she could invite her friends from last year's class.  I was thrilled when she chose a Wizard of Oz theme.  A classic that this mama loves too!

Every good party starts with invitations.  I stole this idea from this website.  Yes, I'll admit it.  I'm an idea thief.  So sue me.

There weren't really smears on the invitations.  That was done for the blog so you creepers (you know who you are) won't come hunt us down.

Addie had fun putting the glitter glue on Dorothy's slippers.

Time to decorate!  We made a birthday banner to match the invitations.  Please excuse the poor lighting.  I'm obviously not the best photographer.

Addie came up with this sign all by herself.  :)

 We turned our front walk into a yellow brick road.  Don't worry, it's washable paint, although after hosing it down this morning, I still have quite a bit of scrubbing left to do...

 Chad made this beautiful balloon arch for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Luckily, our house happened to land on the Wicked Witch of the East before the party started.

 If you haven't seen the movie in awhile, this sign may not make sense to you.  Our bell really does work.

 Millie was Glinda, Tate was the Mayor of Munchkin Land, and of course Adeline was Dorothy (thanks to my friend Abby's $3 find at a garage sale!)

 Our sweet neighbor lady even brought over Toto!

 The birthday girl!

 Chad was a good sport and even made his own Tin man costume.  It was such a huge hit that the girls drew names to take home his hat.  I was Auntie Em (with a huge bosom), and my mom even got into it and made her own lion costume (tail, ears and wig) and let me paint her face.

 The food was straight from the Land of Oz.

"Over the Rainbow" fruit

Emerald City jello

Glinda's Wand-wiches (pb&j)

Totos in a Blanket

 And of course, the cake.  Obviously, I'm not a professional cake-decorator either.

Oh that girl.  She melts my heart.

The coolest part of the cake was definitely the inside.

 I got the directions from this blog.

This is what the batter looks like in the pan.

And this is what the mess looks like.  Lots of bowls, but totally worth it!

And of course we had to have Melting Witch punch!

Complete with dry ice.  (Thanks, Krista, for that idea!)  The kids were mesmerized by the smoke.

Of course we had to have party games too!

This is our homemade version of Pin the Slippers on Dorothy.

 Then we played Musical Chairs with the Wizard of Oz soundtrack.

It came down to these two.

And Adeline won!  (No, I was not biased... I turned my back on them so I wouldn't know who was in front of the chair when I stopped the music!  That girl is just super competitive!)

After that, the girls lined up to play Melt the Witch.

I painted a simple witch on cardboard (obviously, I'm not a professional artist either) with washable paint.

The battle was on between the Wicked Witch and Glinda the Good Witch!

Glinda took her down easy.

She wasn't melting fast enough, so Auntie Em had to get the hose out.  Anything to help her little Dorothy.

The game winners got "Emerald City Putty."

The whole party gang.

Aren't they adorable?

We couldn't send these darlings home empty handed.

So we filled straw baskets with:

* Oz character rings

*Glinda's wands

*Yellow Brick Road chocolates (Hershey's miniatures wrapped with yellow paper and topped with a homemade label.)

*Lollipops from the Munchkin Lollipop Guild

*Homemade coloring books

Complete with free coloring pages found on the internet.

And Auntie Em's homemade strawberry jam.

The last of the partygoers (the three Dorothys, Glinda, and Toto) had a little dance party to Oz music.  :)

It was a lot of work, but it was definitely all worth it.  Adeline has thanked me a bazillion times and even thanked God for me in her prayers last night.  Awww.  :)  The only problem is that I'll probably never be able to top this.  It's all down hill from here...