Ella's 6th Rainbow and Hot Air Balloon Birthday Party

invites from tinyprints.com

ella is all about anything and everything rainbow. and she also has a thing for hot air balloons since we used to pass them in the mornings on the way to school. so, we combined both to create her party. that along with several other favorite things (bubbles, hula hoops, crafts, etc). this party was definitely all things ella.;) she has been so excited for it and to celebrate with her friends. i just loved doing it for her. she just turned 6 and it really is such a fun age. 

here is a little glimpse at her special day.

ella loves anything craft and creating. so, naturally i had to incorporate that into the party.

i layered several different colored table clothes to get the rainbow effect. each girl had a foam placemat to craft on. ella did the honors of starting each girl off with beads and string to make a necklace.

 they each also had their own wood initial to paint and decorate.

the bags draped over the seats and bench were also to decorate with paint and puff paint. it was then used to collect all of their goodies from the party.

debran made this adorable headband...

and rachelle made the cute necklace!

 her friends went right to work as soon as they got there!;)

i just loved these hot air balloon lanterns i found on karaspartyideas.com. they came in 3 different colors and i just painted them. ella's favorite balloon she used to see is the moon with stars or rainbow one. i did my best to replicate them;)

a lot of the decor you see is from karaspartyideas.com. such a fun and cute site!! one stop party shopping!:)

and some of the other things (bags, aprons, favors) i got on orientaltrading.com.

and most of the craft supplies were from hobby lobby.

and then i bought a few things off of etsy.com.

i got several ideas off of pinterest.com...feel free to look at ella's party board for all of the links. you can find me under jessicafanzo.:)

 ella and i had painted these little vases at paint a dream a little while ago for her party.

 rainbow twirl wands...

which worked great since our house always has a breeze.

i bought all of the hot air balloon images off of etsy.

 ella's cute little vase.

 she also painted a little canvas...

 basket of prizes..and tulle to hang their letters...

one of the games (i found on pinterest) was toss the hula hoop around the balloon. they all were marked with different points. but, we ended up just playing whoever got the most around the balloons;)

i love that ella had her little touches all around...

she painted this frame..which we'll hang in her room afterwards.

 my attempt at a hot air balloon;)

 i took ella's pictures up in big bear, where we stayed recently...

as seen with almost every bday party..i love displaying the kids pics all around. just one big celebration of them! i just want them to feel special!:)

can you get any cheerier than gerber daisies?

 i had found this old piece of wood in big bear as well. she ended up painting it up there for her party.

i love it. we will also be hanging that up. ;)

these were the girls cups. i added rainbow tape so they could write their names on them.

yummy summer drinks.

 sno cones...another request by ella...which we didn't quite get to! haha. 

i was trying to go for a rainbow in the sky/clouds with a sun effect here. haha.

 couldn't forget the aprons;)

 the girls had fun doing bubbles and chalk too!

big bubble pool!

 i saw this idea on pinterest. you create your own bubble solution and then place a hula hoop around one or two people, dip it and lift it up to create a big ol bubble around them. we did not account for wind..haha..so, it popped a lot before getting all the way up. but, this was by far the highlight of the party for the girls. they loved it. each girl got like 3 turns and then they doubled up on some. ;)

 yay!;)

you get the idea;)

ella loves to hula hoop..and as you see, they were incorporated a lot into the party;)

 she can literally go forever with a hula hoop..haha! she stops when she is too tired to go any longer. she definitely didn't get that talent from me. haha!

 so, another game was a hula hoop contest.

they all wanted to go first ;)

they competed in groups of 3.

 and her adorable cake was made by maria of course!

 i bet you can guess what's in the middle;)

happy birthday to you...

 maria also made these cute oreo pops...

 and rainbow cupcakes:)

 melissa made this cute rainbow cake!

 lunch consisted of a big 6ft sandwich from a local deli (ella's pick) and then i made a couple of different salads...

 and rainbow fruit skewers

strawberry salad with candied pecans

 rainbow!;)

the kids were delighted to have huge slices of cake! and ice cream!

ella was spoiled by her friends and family! so much fun stuff!

they played non stop all day long...and even ended up with a little water fight at the end. i say little. haha. they were all drenched! gotta love it. 

 perfect summer ending!

on the way out, the girls picked up a few more treats.

i loved these rainbow crayons..they make perfect little rainbows on paper.

ella thanked her guests for coming to celebrate with her.;)

i'm pretty sure she had a really fun birthday, surrounded by friends and family, and everything her.

she was all smiles and laughs the whole day. which made every bit of planning and prepping worth it!

happy birthday my little ella bella! i love you!! xo