THE COLORFUL HOTEL BIRTHDAY BONANZA

For her 6th birthday, she made a request to stay at a hotel. This idea of hers was inspired by her favorite book character Eloise, who is 6, and lives at the Plaza Hotel. We also asked her if she wanted a party and she said, "Yes, just the six of us." Other requests she had were swimming, watching My Little Pony in the room, and a vegetable cake. You shake up all the little requests she had in a box and this is what we came up with. 

I did show her a picture of the hotel once and she was quickly smitten with it. When it finally came time to figure out her birthday plans, I knew The Saguaro was a must, especially a room with pink. We started the adventure off with a stop for lunch and pick up some date shakes at Hadley Nut Farm (thanks to Heather's recommendation) and then we were off to the hotel. 

Once there, we gave her the suitcase, which pretty much contained all her birthday goodies, but we slowly revealed each item to her through the course of two days. That first afternoon there, they relaxed in the room watching My Little Pony, then we went to dinner at Tinto, which was pretty good. We had never tried tapas before and we like it, though I don't think it is something we will crave. After that, the girls went for a night swim and then that was that for the first day.

The second day, was her actual birthday and because it is tradition, she got her breakfast in bed (don't worry the other girls got breakfast too) and they spent the rest of the morning swimming. I hung out with them for a bit, but most of the morning, I was in the room getting her own little private party set up. Armed with all the goodies in the suitcase, I set out to prep her mini party. 

I knew a rainbow cake would be perfect the celebration, and I thought she would like that more than her request for a vegetable cake (what's that?). I baked the cake the night before we left home, using this recipe (this for the frosting) and wrapped each layer in saran wrap separately and froze it all. Then, when it was time to put it together it was easy peasy. This was all a surprise to her, so you should have seen her face when she came back to the room. My heart swelled knowing that her little heart was full of joy for her birthday surprises. She was so excited for everything! 

After the party, we wrapped up and checked out and then had a late lunch at El Jefe (yum!), stopped by Ace for some photo booth action, and then headed home. As soon as we got home, True started crying because she missed the hotel so much. It was real sweet. I'm thinking now her next request will be two nights at the hotel for her 7th birthday! 

I can hardly believe we have a 6 year old, but we were so happy to be able to oblige some of this sweet girl's wishes. Now, if she starts asking for us to buy a hotel, well, that just ain't gonna happen. Just to be clear. This little girl of ours has Ben's mischief, it's in the eyes, and my bossiness. She is also hilariously funny and a good big sister, when she isn't manipulating Brave. We love her so much and I think I forget she is still a baby, though she is also becoming a big girl. By golly, time just goes too fast. We love you True! 

See True's past birthdays... 5, 4, 3, and 2.

p.s. cause you're probably wondering... yes, i taped crepe paper streamers up to the wall for her mini party and tore it all down before we checked out and her birthday dress is from misha lulu.