A Shark 5th Brithday

In June, Gabriel turned 5 and I chose a shark party, and then convinced him to go along.  I admit, his parties are a little about him spending time with his friends and a lot about a fun creative outlet for me.  I like planning them.  And the best part about this one, the youth at our church had a service auction and I won 3 wonderful girls to plan games and then come play with the kids for 2 hours.  So I really got to do only the fun stuff.

 Grandpa built the fabulous shark cut-out and then Nanna and I painted it and the kids had to toss wet sponges through it.

 It also make for really cute pictures.

 We had it at the park in front of our house and I stuck signs all over the grass.

 Gabe is taking a creak from all the fun.

 I packed them little "shark snack" bags so I didn't have to deal with serving food and plates for a bunch of 5 year olds. They had blue jello cups with gummy fish in them (alongwith other, more healthy food).

 We love Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Map, as the kids call him.

 I wanted to do cute cupcakes, but Gabe INSISTED on having a cake.  So a cake of shark infested waters is what he got.  And then Mario proceeded to tell me that sharks don't swim that close to shore.  Whatever.

 Lucia waiting for her cake.

 We invited all of the primary kids and a dozen kids from his school, but hardly anyone from school showed up. That's the bummer of a summer birthday I suppose.

I also made all the kids shark fins to wear during the party.  They looked adorable running around with their shark fins, sliding on the water slides, etc. It was a very fun party and a great way for Gabe to form stronger friendships with the kids from church since he doesn't go to school with them.