Back to School {Birthday} Bash...

We celebrated two of the cutest 7-year-olds I know this weekend. Radley has a built-in birthday buddy with Kayla and they once again requested to have a joint party. We had taken off a couple of years and I guess they missed it. We set some ground rules: it had to be low key and no gifts allowed and you know what... they were just as excited!

Krista and I got the idea to have a "back to school" theme and since we said no gifts, we decided to ask guests to bring school supplies for Still Creek Ranch, a local non-profit. We also pledged to keep it low-key, so we rented a local pool for the location. I have to admit, I'm pretty in-love with the invite I made using PicMonkey. 

We did not buy ONE thing for decorations. We used things that we already owned... down to the white plastic table cloths that I refuse to throw away. Even the "happy birthday" banner was old (and used at 2 previous birthday parties!) We bought cute sparkly pencils as the party favor and the birthday girl requested snow cones and we were happy to oblige. On the way out the door I decided to bring Radley's globe (that is geographically incorrect) and it was the perfect addition. 

I made a fun sign for the donation station and thought these antique drawers would be a perfect spot to drop the school supplies. The kids' friends were AMAZING and brought so many goodies to give away - I was so proud of everyone!

And since no party is complete without cake, Krista went above and beyond and made apple cupcakes and an adorable pencil cake. 

We had everything set up in about 15 minutes which meant that everyone could start enjoying the party right away. 

Every time I looked up, I saw splashing kiddos with huge smiles on their faces. 

Even the big kids were having fun and they weren't even in the water! :)

Ryan and Pete were nominated as tackling buddies and had at least one kid on their shoulders at all times. 

Pops hangs out with a tamer crowd these days.

The kids stayed in the water until we forced them out for cake and ice cream.

And a big group picture of course. 

We had a great morning celebrating the best kid with our best pals.

And we even managed to get one picture of We 5 Kings at the end (because I totally almost forgot!)

And the best part was this... they are so excited to be able to bring so many awesome supplies to Still Creek!

And we can't thank their friends enough for supplying all the fun at their back to school birthday bash!