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The other morning I woke up to screaming and loud feet stomping upstairs.  I bolted out of bed and then realized it was the 9 little girls upstairs who slept over for Colleen’s slumber party laughing and playing a game of Hide and Seek.

I remember having slumber parties when I was a little girl.  We played games, tried to stay up all night and watch movies.  Laughed and told stories.  I always had so much fun.

Colleen’s birthday was earlier in the month but we chose to have her party this past Friday night.  Colleen was so excited.  She wanted to spend the day with me at home preparing for the party instead of going to school.  But, I had to be the mean mom and tell her “No, school is too important to miss.”  Finally, the hour of the party arrived and  the girls began to knock at the door.  They were immediately presented with a Lei and ushered to the box that held the grass skirts for them to pick from.  They immediately wanted to go swimming, so outside they went to our transformed backyard oasis. The laughing and splashing and fun had finally begun.  In addition to swimming, the girls made crafts, put on make-up, danced and played games.  I had so much fun putting together Colleen’s party I wanted to share some of the ideas we came up with to make it special.

The theme of the party was a Luau.  My wonderful friend Maryanne, whose daughter is great friends with Colleen sent over a huge box of grass skirts.  I was so grateful.  They were perfect for our theme.  We also picked up other decorations such as tablecloths, plates and napkins at Target and the Dollar Store.

We kept the food simple.  We grilled hamburgers and had pizza.  I arranged colorful fruit on a platter to resemble a rainbow, decorated Nutter-Butter Cookies to look like colorful flip-flops, made cake pops and the highlight was Cake-in-a Jar for each girl.

I got the idea for Cake-In-A Jar from RunningWithGlitter (Instructions Below) .  It was so easy to make and the girls loved the idea of each of them having such a unique dessert.

For a craft idea, I picked up several clay flower pots at Michaels Craft Store and the girls decorated them with pictures cut out from a few Teen Magazines.  They arranged the pictures around their pots and used Modge Podge to seal them to the pot. There were lots of pots featuring Peeta and Gale from The Hunger Games, of course and a few of the pots were covered with pictures of the band, One Direction.  They were all very creative and colorful with inspirational messages and all certainly reflected their personalities.

The girls also decorated flip flops which we purchased for them at Target.  We found some flowers they could attatch to the toes to make them look more “tropical” and keep with our theme..  They went home with a beach bag filled with their flip flops, pot, leis and candy.

All in all, it was a fun time.  The girls even fell asleep, which was quite a happy surprise.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CAKE IN A JAR (from RunWithGlitter.com)

Prepare a white cake mix according to package directions.

Separate the cake batter into 4 small bowls and put a few drops of food coloring in each of the bowls and stir well.

Using large ziplock bags, put the batter from each bowl in separate bags.  Snip off the corner of the bag.

Squeeze some of each of the colored batter into each jar. I used 1/2 pint mason jars.

Only fill jar 1/2 full as the cake will rise.

Place jars on a cookie sheet or baking pan.  Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Scrape off the top of each cake to make room for frosting.