Lola's 11th Birthday

A few weekends back we celebrated Lola's 11th birthday with a small Animal Crossing themed party. If you've been following along on Instagram you've likely already seen it, but as always, I love to share our parties on the blog too.

As with last year, we kept Lola's birthday party pretty small due to the pandemic, so we celebrated with neighbors and friends who we actually had not seen since Lola's 9th birthday party. Keeping the party small seems like it would mean less work for me, but there was still a piñata to make, a cake to decorate and themed party bags to put together. I love preparing everything for parties though, so I'm totally in my element when it comes to this sort of stuff. It's the only time I really get to do something creative (apart from Halloween) so I really enjoy it.

Let's take a look Lola's party...

We were lucky to have a lovely sunny day for Lola's party, so the kids spent quite some time just playing in the backyard. It was even warm enough for water play - which meant a change of clothes for Mathilde before too long! 

Our first party activity was the piñata. This time we hung it on our pergola instead of a tree and it was much easier for all the kids seeing as the ground was flat and not covered in rough bark like around our trees. As usual, the piñata outlasted the string holding it up so the kids ended up smashing it on the lawn to break it open. I really need to invest in some stronger string!

Then it was onto the cake which I made to resemble a bell bag from Animal Crossing. I made the cake using this ball cake tin, hollowed the center out, filled it with "bells" (yellow candy covered chocolates), and decorate it with yellow fondant. It wasn't perfect, but the kids loved it. 

When it was time for Lola's guests to leave we handed out bell bag gift bags. I made these from round pieces of yellow fabric tied with red yarn. I filled each bag with treats that resembled Animal Crossing "bells": Gold Lindor balls, Ferrero Rochers, little bags of cheese balls and mini Reeses peanut butter cups. Basically, anything gold colored and round that I could find! 

I'll be sharing a tutorial for the Tom Nook piñata soon, so make sure to stay tuned for that one.