You all know that birthday parties are my love language and I was so excited to celebrate my sweet Ella a few weeks ago. Although her birthday is in September, every few years she gets the itch for a pool party, so we back the celebration up a few weeks and celebrate in August. She didn’t have much in the way of requests this year — swimming, leopard print and mint chocolate chip. We debated a jungle-themed soiree, but ended up having a repeat of our favorite ice cream sundae bar with some animal print thrown in. The pink and brown was perfect and there is nothing like drippy ice cream cones after a swim!
We used fabric flags that my mom sewed for Ella’s first birthday party and I added a few pink leopard print ribbons in between to make it fit the theme a little better. At Hobby Lobby a few days before the party, we spotted some animal print tissue paper and decided to make these fun crinkle tassels to hang over the dessert bar.
We filled the table (made from our old diving board) with chocolate dipped cones, syrups and every sundae topping we could think of!
Can we just pause for a minute and take in this view?! The party barn has made such a huge difference in how the pool looks and even after a year, we are still pretty giddy. Every time I catch it from this vantage point I sigh a little. Can you tell I’m so ready for this to be my yard?
This adorable chick is Angela. Her daughter is a year older than Ella and they have danced together since the beginning. Birthday parties are not complete without her and Kynnedi and she even volunteered to help scoop the ice cream while I chased little people and kept an eye on the pool.
When you add dance friends and school friends and life friends, you end up with a pretty long guest list. I think we counted 26 girls in the pool at one time. There are almost 20 girls on her team, so making sure she visited with everyone and introduced them to the few girls from school was quite a feat. I was so proud of how she took care of everyone and made sure they all felt welcome.
My favorite part of the day was watching them all jump in the deepest part of the pool. They lined up and each did a trick (aerial, cartwheel, dance leap, cannon ball) and everyone else cheered their name as they jumped into the water. I am so thrilled that K caught these action shots.
This one of Ella is my favorite!
We realized a little late that without a cake there wasn’t anything to stick her candles in. Ooops! We had her all set to hold them until Poppy freaked her out and told her that wax might drip on her legs. In the end, we didn’t even light them, she just pretended to blow them out. At least we have a funny story, right?
Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following section. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might contribute to an amazing party for one of my little ones. Your support of my obsession is always appreciated!
1. Paper Products | 2. Leopard Napkins | 3. Tiered Cupcake Stand | 4. Straws & Favor Sacks | 5. Leopard Balloons
6. Mylar Number Balloons | 7. Waffle Cones | 8. Tissue Tassel Garland
Click Below to Pin our Leopard Ice Cream Party!
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