Another 13th Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Abby's 13th birthday!
She wanted to have a fun party again this year,

but her birthday fell on the exact day my husband and I left

for our couples retreat.

We honored her on the morning of her actual birthday.......

.........but her party was the following weekend.

She helped set everything up the way she wanted it to look,
and planned the whole party down to the minute.

After playing outside together and checking out the sweet

gifts her friends brought for her.....

.....we headed over to CiCi's Pizza for dinner.

......followed by a super fun evening of shopping at our local "shopping village."

Big sisters were home later that night and gave these beauties some makeovers

while watching movies (Moana!)

Even more donuts (obviously her favorite!) to share in the morning before

her friends headed home!
What a great party!

The schedule for a birthday bonanza

Birthday Bonanza Luau Program 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Upon arrival: Bounce House

Snack Shak

Craft Table (For 5 and under)

6: 30 pm – Coconut Stampede (Be the last to get your balloon popped)

7: 00 pm - Limbo Game

7: 30 pm – Eat

7:45 pm – Cakes and ice cream

8:00 pm - Presents at individual tables

8:15 pm – Pass the coconut (Pass it till the music stops)

8: 30pm – Piñata’s (One for 3-6 years old)

( one for 7- 12 years old)

8: 45 pm – Thank you’s

(We couldn't have done all this without the wonderful help of so many of the parents who either volunteered or were willing to do what was needed if we asked!!! Thank you so much!)

A 10th birthday celebration

On Monday before our big birthday bonanza, we were also celebrating our Ashlyn's 10th birthday. It was a busy day, but a fun one!!!

Personalize your own scrapbook

2nd Annual Brough Family Bonanza

This past Friday night, our family hosted the "2nd Annual Brough Family Bonanza." I will be dedicating most of my blog posts this week to this fantastic event. This is an idea that we were exposed to from a couple of different places (one from this family, another from my dearest, long-time friend, Tiffany!), and after our first try at it last year we were HOOKED!!!

Here are a couple reasons why we love doing one big birthday party for all our children at one time:

1. We only have one birthday at the latter part of the year, with all 7 of the rest of us between January and May. We have 3 birthdays within 2 weeks in April. It is exhausting to try to have this amount of birthdays with all the friends, cake, and hoopla in that amount of time.

2. It saves us a tremendous amount of money when you average about $100 per child's birthday (food, decorations, gifts, rentals, game supplies, etc.) times 6, and I daresay that for some families that would be frugal. We save roughly $200 a year or more!!

3. We have so much MORE fun with nearly 40 children at an event than with just 5 -10. The games are better, the bounce house makes more sense, and everyone has SOMEONE to play with.

4. It takes so much pressure off of me to have to plan only one big "friend" party rather than 6.

5. On their actual birth date, we reserve that for family members only. We have a special breakfast in bed, presents from family, and then a fun activity with just our family. The children are learning that their turn is coming, and to treat each other special at least ONCE a year :)!!

6. I LOVE event planning, and have worked as a wedding coordinator in the past, so this kind of thing allows me that creative outlet without burning me out throughout the whole year.

7. This year, my husband took the week off of work, and we took our spring break the week before the party, so it freed up a lot of time for making things, and shopping, and the girls LOVED helping with this.

I could go on and on about how this "system" of birthday celebrations has benefited our family, and how it is now one of the highlights of our year!!

Stay tuned for how we planned our party, and how a little bit of preparation time every day this last week helped us put this together in a very short amount of time!!!