American Girl Doll Birthday Party

I admit I titled this post for those who might be searching for ideas. I was in those shoes a few weeks back, when my daughter decided on her birthday theme. There was nothing out there! I phoned a friend who I knew hosted one several years back and she was just as surprised that AG doesn't carry party supplies anymore. Being the resourceful person that she is, though, she called the company and found a perfect fit for us: The Molly Mystery Party Game. (You can't even find that on the AG site anymore; I got it clearanced out for $4. But you can buy it at Amazon). It's a Halloween themed mystery so it worked perfectly for my October girl.

The girls arrived in costume, based on the character their invitation described (these are included in the game). This itself was loads of fun for Bobo's circle of friends - all sweet girls who know each other from both our church and our science group.

Lots of giggling went on during the actual reading of the script and the acting out of the various scenes. This was right up my dramatist's daughter's alley.

Happy Birthday, Bobo! We're can't wait to see what your ninth year will bring...

Liberty Girls Club: Felicity

We hosted another American Girl Doll book club meeting Friday afternoon, this time focusing on the second book in the Felicity series. The girls made apple sauce (Felicity makes apple butter in the book, but that takes an extra step, and we wanted to serve the apple sauce for a snack at the end of the book discussion).

We also made card stock models of the Brig Beaver, the infamous ship of the Boston Tea Party. 

I love hosting this group because it forces me to do the hands-on stuff that often gets passed over around here.

Liberty Girls Club, Meeting 2

I completely forgot to post about our last book club meeting. (Not that anyone minds, but this blog is also my record of our lives as home schoolers, so I've got to keep on top of it!)

The chosen book was Addy's Surprise: A Christmas Story. The girls and I read the whole series because we had never read any of the Addy books. While it is definitely the saddest of the American Girl Doll series, it's become my favorite by far. I think we read the all six books in two days because the girls never wanted to stop. 

The hosting mom and daughter had all the girls to their home the week before our club meeting to practice a shadow play of the Christmas story, just like Addy and her friends do in the book. They performed it for us at the actual meeting. The play turned out beautifully - they used a large sheet and lighting to achieve the right effect. One girl read the Christmas story from Luke while the others, in costume, acted it out. 

The girls also made little rolled fabric dolls for their American Girl dolls. 

We're already looking forward to our the next meeting in January.

Liberty Girls Club

The first meeting of our brand new American Girl Doll book club was a big success! There's nothing cuter than a gaggle of girls carrying dolls to a party.  We discussed Meet Samantha and the historical time surrounding the story, made gingerbread (Samantha and Nellie's favorite treat), worked on samplers, and had a prim and proper tea party on my grandmother's china.

My mom was with us over the weekend (and then, surprise! so was my dad)* so she got to join in the fun as master gingerbread baker.  

The rest of the weekend was a blur: a great mother-daughter bonding time for me and my mom and a not-so-great-no-holds-barred-weekend-long-tantrum by one of my dear children (who of course will remain anonymous).  Just keeping it real.

*My dad is famous for his surprise visits. When I played hockey for Dartmouth, he'd just magically appear at various games all over the East Coast.  He hid behind a newspaper during warm-ups at Harvard my freshman year, popping out just in time to see the first goal of my college career.