Anouk celebrated her 9th birthday in SPA style. After deciding on a theme for her party, Anouk and Mama got busy creating eye mask invitations and a relaxing spa setting for the celebration. The first step was: the relaxation zone which was full of pillows, blankets, and all the pre-tween magazines we could get our hands on.
Once that was all done, we organized a beauty zone so Mama and her two teacher buddies could make up each "client." Girls received two beauty treatments. They had an option of a dozen nail colors from which to get their manicure done. This was followed by a "facial" with eye make-up and lip glosses galore.
While girls waited for their spa treatments, they were asked to cut
small spa-themed icons and glue them on to a blank BINGO board. Once all
the boards were created, the girls played RELAX (as opposed to BINGO).Mama's favorite event was hot nail polish. In this game, all the girls sat on a blanket in the garden, each with their own nail polish color in hand. While the music played, they were asked to pass the nail polish to the next person. When the music stopped, they were stuck with the color in their hand and had to paint one of their toes. The game continued in this manner until all 10 toes were pained a variety of colors. It's hilarious how unskilled these girls are at painting their own toenails.
Once everyone's nails dried, it was time to participate in Papa's annual Birthday Scavenger Hunt. This year's scavenger hunt took the girls upstairs, downstairs, outside, in the car, and ultimately, to the Master bedroom, where they found a basket full of terrific spa tools: nail polish, wash clothes, lip gloss, nail files, mints, nail stickers, and hair ties.
The party wrapped up with a heartwarming rendition of Happy Birthday that was sung with incredible enthusiasm! The girls devoured chocolate cupcakes or fruit and custard cake (though most girls tried BOTH!)
To see more pictures of this Spaaaaaaahhhh day, go to our Flickr page. 
