Birthday HAPPY Party

We celebrated The Chief’s 4th birthday with a *HAPPY* Party!
Our backyard was filled with 30 wet and happy 3-4 year olds!
Planning this was super fun. Although, I can’t believe it’s the first party where I did NOT decorate with balloons. Instead, I used pennant strings and I absolutely LOVE them!
These are 60ft strings of happy faces in the backyard and 120ft strings of black & yellow triangles in the front yard.
Yeah, seriously, I may never decorate with balloons again!
High quality pennant strings give the same visual impact but without the work. They’re cheaper, re-usable, durable for outdoor weather, come in any color combo you want, and are ready to hang right out of the box. Oh yeah, and WAY more portable! Think how fast and easy I could spruce up a picnic or playdate at the park!
I got mine from HiTex Flags but you can also find them on eBay and probably any local sign/flag shop. These are the same pennants you’d see at a car dealership or a festival.
Wind streamers!
I love decorations that move. I got this idea from the Time To Grill article on Everyday Celebrating. They’re just crepe streamers tied to bamboo stakes. I picked up the stakes at Home Depot… $2 for a package of 6.
I painted the front glass door with washable acrylic paint. The same paint I used for our Spring Party seen–> HERE.
I scored 2 happy face flags on eBay for $4 and put them on our flagpoles in the front and back yards.
The Hubsicle painted the back door.
Yeah, he’s a better artist than I am :/
Giant Happy Water Bag!
 This was a big hit. It’s just a big bag of water with a happy face on it. Perfect for playing, wrestling, jumping and rolling around… just like a big wavy waterbed. I made this the same way I made our Giant Squishy Sensory Bag seen–> HERE… except this time I used black sheeting instead of clear.
I, originally, was going to use clear sheeting, black tape for the happy face, and yellow food color inside but Hubby said… “Ewe! Please don’t… it’ll look like pee!”  Hahaha, good point, Hubs! So glad I found black sheeting and yellow duct tape :)
Happy Cakes!
I like to keep the cake part of birthdays simple for me and simple for kids. Cupcakes are perfect because they’re easy for me to make & decorate and easy for kids to grab & eat. No forks, plates, or cake-cutting knife needed.
I made and arranged these mini cupcakes in the shape of a 4 and topped them with Nilla Wafers on buttercream frosting. The happy faces are dark chocolate frosting piped on with a ziploc bag.
I didn’t put a wafer on all the cupcakes because I wanted lots of candles so The Chief and all his friends could blow them out together. 
I couldn’t find swimming trunks with a happy face but I found these hilariously happy Spongebob trunks… PERFECT!
The hubsicle happy’d up these yellow T-shirts with a Sharpie. I didn’t get a pic of The Chief’s big sister. Her T-shirt had LoL with an emoticon happy face :)
For the inside, we decorated the walls with our DIY Wall Decals of happy faces seen–> HERE.
I got this vinyl banner 4 years ago (for his 1st birthday party) custom made for $15 from a professional sign shop on eBay. It just has the words Happy Birthday and his name on it with space on each side of his name so I can stick on any decoration to go with any party theme. It’s durable, waterproof, and we can hang it every year… indoors and out.
We also put our DIY Happy Decals on the floor.
Streamer swirlie!
I was inspired to do this after seeing Color Wheel Deconstruction on Housing A Forest.
It’s just curling ribbon taped to the blades of our ceiling fan. I tried crepe streamers first but they were to noisy. Ribbon works best. I turned on the fan (slow speed) and it made a really cool cyclone of swirling colors in the air. 
Everyone went home with a Mr Happy thank you card with happy face stickers inside.
These were the party favors everyone took home… Happy Hammer and Happy Man. I totally love these giant inflatable toys! The 38inch hammer was my favorite because it squeaks when you whack it, heehee :)  Happy Man is 18 inches and so darn huggable :)
Here’s Hubby after the party, crashed on the Giant Happy Water Bag. Poor dude was exhausted. Hmm, should I tell him now or wait ’til later to let him know what I have planned for The Chief’s 5th birthday? Hahahaha!!