Our sweet McKinlee Harper Horschig is FOUR.  Four years old.  Four meaning that she is no longer a toddler and most definitely not a baby, but four years old and a beautiful little girl.  She continually stretches my heart daily to more love than I can imagine.  She is so smart it’s borderline scary.  She has a heart for people and already an even deeper love for the Lord.  She is a whole lot of sugar AND buckets full of spice along with princess things, dance, imagination, singing, coloring and adventure.  All of it.  I can remember being beyond petrified that God brought me into motherhood early, but every day she makes being a mama the highest honor and the last four years of watching her grow have most definitely been an indescribable gift.  Due to previously attending friend birthday parties there, we fulfilled her initial birthday request with an “on her actual birthday” family celebration at Chuck E Cheese.  We went, we played and we ate the sub par pizza all within an hour.  We most definitely conquered and her face made it all worth it.

Then, for the first time ever, I followed through with my longing to throw a ridiculously extra, ALL OUT, birthday party.  McKinlee hinted and sparked the idea of the ever so popular unicorn donut party and with a little help from my friends I let my mind leap off into a creative abyss and I began preparing and running full force into the extraness that became her fourth birthday party.  My family and friends continually deal with all of my crazy and this weekend was no different.  The planning process was super fun and I maybe would have not completely pulled the trigger on going big if it weren’t for the encouragement of my party queen friend Emily who gladly made Mac’s name banner and a ridiculously cute pom pom banner.

Pops was the undercover MVP of all the party prep, he was the hands behind that amazing balloon arch and if you need someone to hot glue pieces for unicorn wands or spray paint cones or pallets, HE IS YOUR GUY.  I cannot forget to mention my framily sister Kalyn who also loves to celebrate people and took the time to help cut ribbon and created the most adorable magic wands.  Lola made the table flower arrangements, helped with the unicorn name tags, tied together the ribbon details, SWEPT THE HOUSE and trusted my vision.  Poppy, Grammy and Aunt G blew up balloons, helped run errands, cut fruit, separated and poured candy into bowl, set up and broke down.  Last but certainly not least, J, the greatest Daddy in the world.  He shopped with me, drove all over town to pick up late minute things, finally found people actually willing to give pallets away, totally buckled up the cake in the passenger seat and ROCKED wrangling 10 little girls for different party game shenanigans.  No one complained, they just helped in too many ways to count; I really am extra thankful for their willingness to help tackle the magical dream of celebrating McKinlee with all of her friends a family affair.  I’d be completely lost without them and they were in all the details below along with a little help from the Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby and all of my hoarded crafts/party things.  Here are two things about me you may or may not know; I am that mama who is a perfectionist and I care about what people think way more than is healthy.  Sometimes after a big weekend my body gives me a physical stop sign which leaves me where I was Monday, at home with a migraine not feeling well and pretty tapped out.  I am the queen of stress, anxiety and worry (not something I’m proud of whatsoever) which rises to the surface like clockwork when anyone out of the ordinary is going to be at my house.  I probably went over the top for a four year old birthday party. Was it full of a million different things that she won’t remember, absolutely, but I’m proud of all the things that happened this weekend. Every. little. thing and if anyone else suffers from being super extra then questioning if you did too much or if it was worth it, I’m here to say DONUT EVEN do it. Don’t let the enemy spoil the beauty of all the hard work you put in and if you’re anything like me scrolling through the millions of pictures you took helps cure the post game sickness.

ALSO I was absolutely amazed and grateful that every sweet little girl made it to the party and I managed to get a picture of Mac with 8 out of 9 of them.  I’m calling it a miracle and if you’re wondering about everything else that took place… happy scrolling!

Unicorn name tags | Names made from their First letter of their first name + Birth month

Unicorn headbands

Donut + Unicorn magic wands

Goodie Bags | Donut skewers, unicorn fruit snacks, and all the above to take home

Unicorn horn decorating | basic cones sprayed with adhesive + different little poms and stickers to stick on them

Unicorn wrangling | spray painted gold cones + rings

Unicorn races | the best dollar store find, two stick horses!

Fruit donut decorating | sliced apples like donuts covered with nutella + sliced bananas to place on top (the one detail I did not get a picture of!)

Unicorn feed | different candy separated into different bowls and let the girls fill their bags with candy!

Pallets – Neighbors down the street | Unicorn Plastic Headbands – Amazon | Balloon Arch Tutorial @emilyspeir , Balloon Strip + All Balloons | Greenery , Unicorn Horns (Decorate) Poms, Stickers, Unicorn Pillow + Unicorn Art | Stick Unicorn Horses + Pillows| Cake – Shelby Lynn Cakes

Disclaimer: As extravagant as this all looks, I did not have to buy everything.  I used my previous decorations, blankets, pillows that I own already and the teepee was McKinlee’s first birthday gift! For all the things I did buy from Hobby Lobby I went frequently with my eye on what was 50% off and always used by 40% off coupon each trip I went; I saved a ton of money!