Annika's rainbow birthday party

This afternoon was Annika's "rainbow" birthday party.  We invited 6 girls from her class, and 4 came, which was just enough (one of the moms also stayed, which was very helpful).  The party was from 1:00-3:00, which was just the perfect amount of time.  I think a good time was had by all.

Annika's rainbow outfit

I didn't get a shot of the kids making their crafts (too busy helping everyone), but they all seemed to have fun making these "treasure chests" with colored craft sticks.  After the glue dried they decorated the lids with stickers, and we put "gold coins" (chocolates) in them.

While we were waiting for the glue to dry, the kids played "Twister" and then we did this "science experiment" - jello powder, baking soda and vinegar.  The kids really enjoyed it.

While I was getting things cleaned up from the "science", Carey played a version of "musical chairs" with the kids on the Twister mat.  They had to dance around while the music played, and then when the music stopped they had to stand on a circle on the mat.  Carey then spun the dial, and whoever was standing on the color it landed on had to sit down.

The decorations and the food.

Rainbows everywhere - white chocolate pretzels with Smarties, fruit tray, layered jello, colored ice in Sprite and the rainbow cake (each layer was also a different flavor, due to being colored with jello).  Too bad the kids barely touched the food.  I guess they were just too excited to eat.

Birthday girl!

And even a little rainbow here!  Just a clip-on, but I thought it was fun.

It was a great party, but I'm so glad it's done now.  I'm just going to ignore the clean-up for a little while longer though...

**edited to add...**

I forgot the picture of the loot bag goodies. Each girl went home with Skittles (taste the rainbow), rainbow licorice, glow bracelets (a favorite of Annika's) and multi-colored bendy sticks.