Cora Jane picked a Rainbow Unicorn themed party.

Because of course she did.

(see last year’s Rainbow Puppy party here)

This theme was a lot of fun, and lo and behold, they actually make rainbow unicorn stuff!

The Birthday Outfit: Cora Jane’s outfit was completely handmade with a lot of love by our good friend Patti. Wow, are we blessed! Floor length rainbow tutu, beaded rainbow heart tee, rainbow headband, rainbow bracelets, AND cloud/rainbow wand.

Décor: Rainbow flowers from Sam’s Club, rainbow lanterns and poofs from Party City to hang in the trees, rainbow chevron fabric with colored glass lanterns for each table. I have no pix of the tables. They were adorable!!! I used a rainbow fabric strip bunting (my friend Kyla and I made together) behind the cake table and other random stuff from Cora Jane’s Rainbow Room too.

Menu: The boyz barbecued chicken and we had loads of fruit, chips, salsa, rainbow gold fish (Eli’s idea) and macaroni salad. Water and pink lemonade in rainbow unicorn cups with rainbow curly straws. (Easy and CHEAP… I used to do pizza or Subway with juice boxes, but doing chicken and having a drink dispenser really really cuts the cost… a lot!)

Cake: I got the cake and cupcakes at Sam’s Club then added the sparkle candles, rainbow unicorn toppers. and put them on the rainbow unicorn cake stand.

She loved them!

Entertainment: Unicorn stickers on a table with paper and crayons, bubbles, chalk, a mini bounce house my in-laws brought, and a piñata!

The piñata was decapitated after the 5ish kid. It looked pretty darn morbid hanging there while children picked up the candy that had poured out of his flying carcass.

Why do I love piñatas so much? I have no idea.

But I do.

The rainbow birthday hat was made by my friend Cheri at Sweet Lily Tutus!. Cora Jane LOVES it and it’s now a decoration in her rainbow room

Favors: The favors were adorable! But would you believe I don’t have any pictures!?!? Otter pops with a unicorn horn lollipop tied with curly ribbon. It was super super super cute (and inexpensive and fun).

Cora’s expression here kills me…

Reason #346 Aunties are better than mommies…

It was a good day.

And a sad day.

The first birthday party without my mom. The first birthday party Cora Jane didn’t get a custom Nannie-made-pillowcase. But we are blessed. We were surrounded by people who love us and who we love. My grandmom made Cora Jane a special rainbow pillowcase. She was overjoyed!

It was a good day.

Having 4 kids means I’m at the doctor’s office 4 times as much as someone with one child.

Having a child like Cyrus, means I’m at the doctor’s office 10 times as often… that kid!!

Anyway, at our last sickie appointment (Cy, two weeks ago) the doctor told me to get the whole family on probiotics. I had two thoughts: 1. Why am I just hearing about this now? 2. When, where and how much?

A couple of days later I was asked to to a little posty-post about Lifeway’s Frozen Kefir Pops. A lil’ ice-creamy-ish product with 12 probiotics (seven to ten billion CFU’s of 10 strains of bacteria plus ProBoost).

Um… OK! Just what the doctor ordered!

The “bug pops,” as my children call them, are tasty and healthy. If you are looking to get some probiotic action in your kids during Summer pool time, then pick some up at Whole Foods Market ($5.99 for a box of 6). They are in the freezer section… I’m telling you because no one knew where they were. I kept getting directed to the regular ProBugs in the yogurt section. (Which also looks tasty and it’s in those squeezy packs that are soooo easy for babies to suck down… you know what I’m talking about, right?)

After you finish your frozen ProBugs use the box (or any lightweight cardboard box… or 2 layers of felt) to make superhero masks with this great Superhero Mask Template I made for ya.

You’ll need:

Frozen ProBugs box

Superhero Mask Template

Dark marker

Glue (I only use hot glue… dangerous, yes. But also strong and fast drying.)

Random kid crafty stuff. I had buttons, pipe cleaners and sparkle tape. Markers, rhinestones and stickers would be great too.

Hole punch

Yarn

I ended up making a template because it’s a lot harder than it looks to eyeball a mask shape.

True story.

I made 3 different mask styles – traditional, cat-eye and crown.

Cut out, then punch a hole on each end of the mask level with the eye holes.

Decorate, then tie the yarn to create the band. (If you are using felt then you can sew on elastic.)

Easy and fun.

Find Lifeway Kefir on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

All of Lifeway’s products are gluten free and 99% lactose free.

Random side note: The Lifeway brand has a sweet lil’ backstory, a real American Dream!

Disclosure, yo: This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Lifeway Kefir but all my opinions are my own. And I made up the craft and template myself and used my own supplies. What else can I disclose?… um… I never do posts about something I don’t like… ever. Oh and I cuss at my kids. Hope that covers all my bases. Blarg.