The Sun Will Come Out

A few years back we decided on a birthday party schedule for our family.
 At ages 5, 8, 10, 12, and apparently 40, you are treated to a party.
 So in the last year I have hosted parties for one kid turning 10, one turning 12, one turning 5, one turning 40, and finally one turning 8. 
At least I won't have to host a party until a year from this July!

A few months ago I introduced my girls to the wonderful world of Annie:

They have been obsessed with it ever since! 

So, naturally, Jane wanted Annie for the theme of her party. 

The big day came yesterday

I searched for some ideas online but Annie isn't a particularly big theme right now so I was on my own. 
Just in case YOU plan on throwing an Annie party anytime soon, I thought I'd share what we did...
Ideas may apply to any party, possibly, so maybe it will be helpful even if you are NOT going to throw an Annie party any time soon...

First I limited the guest list. 
And then I totally got over-ruled so we ended up with 16 fun girls.
 Here is the set up for dessert...more about that later. 
Of course I went with a red and white theme for Annie's iconic dress.  I made red dresses for the invitations but we gave them ALL away!  Not my original plan but what are you going to do.

Before the party started we let Jane open one of her presents.  I think she liked her Annie cd.  It would be better if she showed a little emotion. 

After most of the girls got here I told them the gist of the story, without giving away the end.  Then for the rest of the party we watched a scene then played a related game.  There were a few who had seen the movie but most had not. They LOVED it!
 We started by watching the orphans sing "It's a Hard Knock Life". 

For the related game I told the girls they were going to clean my house.  They were not amused.  Some looked downright scared but cute Shelby spoke up and said, "I'll clean the bathrooms!"  I almost took her up on that. 
Instead, we played a relay game.  I had loaded up two identical sacks with a cleaning brush, paper towels, soap, rag (clean!), and laundry detergent.  They then stood in two lines and passed the items over their heads or under their legs, alternating as they went.  Finally the bag was sent back and the last person loaded up the bags and passed it back down the line.  They were laughing and screaming and jumping around, all signs, I hope, that it was a fun game.

Next we watched Annie's entrance into Daddy Warbuck's home, with the song "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here".  Because this is the scene where Annie is given a load of new clothes and all kinds of fun things, Jane opened presents next.

We took pictures of each girl with the gift they gave which we'll print out later to give with their thank you cards.  These two cute cousins came up for the party.

Next scene..."You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", a phrase I have in vinyl over the girl's bedroom closet. 

Jane wanted a "Pin the _______________ on the ____________" game so we decided to pin the smile on the girl.  I wish the artist had drawn a bit of a nicer picture but as she was also the party planner I can't get too upset.  Jane went first and nailed it.  The other girls did much worse, which made it all the more fun.

Oops!  Didn't get a picture of the next scene...but Annie goes to have lunch with the President of the United States and they sing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow".  Since they ate in that scene we had our treats now as well. 

Printed cup cake toppers that read "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" made decorating so much easier!  Did I mention that I used my Silhouette a ton in the making of this party?

A few days before the party I bought a carton of ice cream, sliced it up and cut flower shapes using a cookie cutter.  They were cute, made serving the ice cream much easier, and I didn't feel like I wasted much.  I should have done two for each girl but oh well. 
And if you decide to do this, don't be afraid to get messy.  After the first batch were cut I just smooshed the ice cream together like left over sugar cookie dough and 'rolled' it out and cut some more.  If it gets soft just stick it in the freezer for a few minutes and get back to work.

Not shown: I colored some water yellow and froze it in flower shaped ice cube trays.  Then the water turned yellow {like the sunshine!} so it was pretty without adding more sugar into the mix.  I also found cheap plastic goblets (8/$1) so plain water suddenly turned into something special!

We watched as Miss Hannigan and her wretched brother, Rooster, and his hussy girlfriend looked through boxes to find the other half of Annie's locket, then watched as they danced through the song "Easy Street". 

For this game I had wrapped a locket inside a small box, then wrapped that box inside another box and so on until I had 10 boxes.  The girls passed a dice around and if they rolled a 1 or a 6 they got to unwrap a box.  They loved finding the smaller and smaller boxes.  No one got to roll the dice after they had unwrapped so while not everyone got a turn at unwrapping, no one had more than their share. 

 

Finally they got to the final one and unwrapped the locket.  The girls were excited when I pulled out a box with a locket for each of them.  I found them for less than $1 a piece at Joann's.  I had to add a jump ring and a necklace chain, found for pretty cheap at Walmart. 

We watched the end of the movie and just finished up as the parents started arriving. 

As each girl left Jane handed them one of these sacks filled with hugs and kisses that had 'thank you' stickers on the bottom.

 

All in all I think everyone had fun. My 13 year old niece, Alyson, came over and helped me run the games and do clean up.  I was so thankful to have her here! All in all, a successful party and you know what? The Sun WILL Come Out Tomorrow!