birthday party ideas – This is my hobby.

The crowd faves at my daughter’s birthday party were Goodwill finds.

As you might have gathered by now, my baby girl is a princess. She wasn’t really given a choice – my husband had it decided long before she was born.

The moment she arrived he stuck a bow on her head – perfectly coordinated with her outfit, of course.

As she grew and became more aware, she leaned right into the princess role with ease and it was reflected in her clothes, accessories, and attitude.

She dresses the part as often as possible and has drawers stuffed full of princess dresses – some passed down from her older cousin, but most found during my thrifting trips to Goodwill.

Elaine’s birthday party wasn’t princess themed, but of course we knew she’d want to wear one of her dresses for the occasion.

We rented out The Schoolhouse Children’s Museum for the party and invited all her preschool classmates.

I decided to bring our collection of thrifted princess gowns, tiaras, and a vase of little wands (also found at Goodwill) so other girlies could be princesses too if they wanted.

We found this gorgeous Belle dress at Goodwill in West Palm Beach

As the kids arrived, before exploring the museum (which is a dream, by the way, Palm Beach County parents — run to take your kiddos if you haven’t been!), they immediately beelined straight to the rack of princess dresses.

It was a blast to watch how much joy this brought to the party — and it was such a simple add-on.

I thrifted the vase of wands and the basket holding the tiaras – don’t tell Elaine I gave most of the wands away to her friends!

When it came time to sing the happy birthday song, in true princess fashion, Elaine interrupted the festivities to announce to the room that she did not want anyone taking the wands home and they all needed to end up back in the vase. lol.

That’s our girl!

Last week’s thrifted ‘fits:

Bag and sunnies from two different Goodwill stores in West Palm Beach; Chintz necklace by Sarah Bray Bermuda

Dress from Poshmark, Kate Spade bag from Goodwill Palm Beach Gardens

Shirt made from a vintage tablecloth; found at the Rust Market in Lake Park; Elaine’s little skort is from Goodwill West Palm Beach

Shirt from Goodwill West Palm Beach, Jeans from Goodwill Boca Raton

Dress and belt from Goodwill West Palm Beach

My baby girl turned four over the weekend and, though I’ve never considered it before, I’m starting to wonder about the meaning of her star sign.

The world of horoscopes has always been beyond me, and I honestly didn’t know where she fell on the zodiac chart until strangers began to inform me.

Elaine is an Aries, a sign associated with traits like boldness, ambition, energy, confidence, and natural leadership.

Apparently a tendency toward firey anger is associated as well.

All traits are extremely spot-on for my little girl.

In fact, when she was born we used to refer to her as “passion baby” because she often became overwhelmingly passionate and insistent on having her way, far before she could even speak.

If she didn’t get her way, she would dramatically throw herself backward, sometimes nearly out of our arms and sometimes hitting her head, which did not stop her from continuing to throw herself in rage, to our dismay.

Vince says we can all find things in each star sign that apply to us and doesn’t give it an ounce of credibility, but I’m wondering if I should start paying attention to astrology.

To celebrate Elaine’s brithday, we took the Brightline to the Aventura Mall with her besties / our neighbors to visit Bluey’s Backyard.

In preparation for the Brightline ride, I took her to the Dollar Store to pick out a few activities to entertain her and her friends, and as we perused the coloring books, this little book popped out at me — coincidence???

There were no other star sign books on the shelves.

How crazy is that?!

Anyway, if you have any insights on Aries, let me know. We’re currently in a screaming phase so, holding on tight as we ride that not-as-fun-as-the-Brightline train.

I think I’ll google some tips for Gemini moms raising Aires daughters as I white knuckle this speedrail. 😉