30.6.12

He is (almost) SEVEN.

Last night we celebrated Mason's 7th birthday with a shark themed party.  This was actually his idea.  I had the cutest baseball party all planned out (and was most excited about the party favors), but he is absolutely fascinated with sharks and requested a shark party.  So what's a Mama to do?

The best place for a shark party is at the pool so that's what we did.  Here are some of the sharks.  

Decorating for this party was super easy.  Besides, Mason could care less about decorations anyway.  But that's my favorite part.  We decided to have a fish fry and use the fish we caught on our recent fishing trip.

And here's the fruit tray!  Don't worry.  None of these ideas are original.  You can find anything and everything on Pinterest and Google.  When I first saw this watermelon shark, I quickly dismissed the idea.  But a few days ago, my bestie texted me a picture of another watermelon shark and convinced me to go for it.  Besides, Mason absolutely loves watermelon.  I wish bestie would've been here to help me, but I was rather proud of the results myself, and it didn't take very long to do.  Besides watermelon, we had strawberries and grapes.

And here are the shark fin cupcakes.  Hannah Kate was very concerned about these cupcakes because the fins weren't edible.  I cut them out of blue foam sheets.  I thought that would hold up better than card stock, and I was not about to attempt fins from fondant.  So foam sheets it was.  But I assured her that it was fine, that she could pull the fin out before she ate the cupcake.  She was quick to let everyone who got a cupcake know that they couldn't eat the fin.

Thanks to my husband, the fish were so yummy!  Gavin even had a piece that looked like a shark!

And, as usual, we have our own special theme balloons, too.  Mason loved these sharks!  The "ocean punch" (or "shark juice") was blue kool-aid mixed with sprite.

And I got these gummy sharks at a local candy store.  The kids really enjoyed these, too.

Mason's face lit up when he saw the gift table.  I've always tried to remind him and Hannah Kate that birthdays are not about gifts.  At one point this week, Mason told me that his birthday would be fun because family and friends would be there and not because he was getting presents.  Yeah, I didn't believe that for a minute.

He has been playing all day with his new Legos and cars.  He, Seth and Hannah Kate are currently having some kind of battle with the Nerf guns.

And then came THE BOX.  Mimi sure outdid herself this year.  Mason could hardly take it in.  He got a new backpack with sharks on it, shark bed sheets (which he wanted me to promptly put on his bed at 10:00 last night when we got home), shark towel, shark pajamas, shark goggles . . .

The only thing he specifically requested (besides a shark party and swimming) was a cookie cake.

Hannah Kate got a little happy from Mimi, too.  Her towel has a mermaid on it.  I thought she would never put it down.

And, so, I think it was a really fun evening.  In the meantime, I can not believe my first-born is (almost) SEVEN years old!