Best. Idea. Ever.

By the end of July, Maya had been thrown 4 birthday parties. And there was still one more to go. It's not as bad as it sounds, one was at school for all the summer birthdays, one was the giant banana split, and the other two were family parties in completely different states. So that just left a party for the friends. I was kind of over the whole party thing at this point. I was afraid that Maya was going to start expecting cake and presents every other week...or maybe I just didn't want to plan a party.

So I'm lazy. Luckily for my lazy self, Maya's Very Best Friend In The Whole World has a birthday a few weeks after hers and they suggested that we combine parties. Brilliant! By the end of it I didn't feel like I did a thing. I started to suspect that I hadn't actually done anything but I was told that I had, so I won't argue. I strongly encourage combining parties. It's cheaper, easier, and you have more fun. I never would have come up with having a pinata, or water guns:

It was the best way to break the ice with the kids. Maya would rather die than talk to people right away, but this had her running around, laughing, and squirting anyone in her way. By the end of it, all of the kids were soaked and most of the adults had wet shins.

Another perk was cool cupcake ideas, check it out:

It's the beach! You know you love it!

Maya attempting to remove every last bit of icing from her fingers.