safari pool party

i thought i would post some pictures from the 

birthday party that i threw  my oldest daughter last spring.

she looooooooves animals, and we wanted to have it

at the local rec. center, which has a fabulous indoor pool,

so i came up with "safari pool party".

i knew i wanted to have both a  zebra and a cheetah print,

mixed with a bright color, so when i found some really cute

towels at walmart in two shades of turquoise,  

i knew i had found my color palette.

i bought a few yards of zebra fabric to make a runner 

for the table.

 an easy way to make a big impact with very little cost:

stuff tissue paper into an inexpensive vase 
and put some sticks in!

the sign on the door of the party room.
the balloons were purchased at a local party store.

yes, cake balls again.

i kept the treat relatively simple, since we

also ordered pizza. 

we had all of my daughter favorite cookies:

shortbread, hit cookies, and biscoff.

the banner is tied together with raffia.

i was lucky, and managed to find a zebra pinata online!

i ordered an all-white  cake from the grocery store,

and added the zebra ribbon and the crepe paper flowers 

(made from instructions from marthastewart.com)

 the color scheme came from these towels.

i found the bamboo brads on cleareance at michaels for .25 per pack of 4! 

each girl got one,

along with this goodie bag.

this is the only time they were relatively peaceful.

after this, they went berserk.

(for real, it was like "lord of the flies"...)

the girls had a great time!

 that's my cute 10 year old--
attempting to break the pinata!
each girl got a chance to break it, but it was stubborn!
my husband finally stepped in and broke it open on the first whack.
aren't daddies great?