On April 20th our little “Chiquita” turned six years old! I had originally planned to let her invite a few friends to celebrate this year, but since a couple of her best friends just moved far far away, and since it ended up being during Holy Week this year, I decided to perhaps put her “friends” party off until her 7th birthday. However, after seeing how cute everything was coming together, and not knowing what next year will be like, I decided to just go for it and called up a few of her friends at the last minute. It ended up being such a fun little party!
My girls’ first introduction to Nesting Dolls was this past Christmas when we received
the cutest measuring cups ever
from a
friend. They just loved them and Chiquita decided that this had to be the theme for her next
birthday.
I looked for some ideas online, but my inspiration ended up coming from the sweet little book The Littlest Matryoshka
with its matching set of dolls, and from the Cricut Cartridge, Paisley
(which has four different templates for Nesting Dolls). I had also purchased another book called The Magic Nesting Doll
(which is a Sleeping Beauty in reverse type fairy tale – the girl wakes the prince), but I decided to save that to use as a Christmas gift and perhaps order the dolls
to go along with it as well!
.: A Nesting Doll Happy Birthday Banner :.
I created this banner using my Cricut
with the Paisley (Shapes and Dolls) and Winter Woodland
(Font) Cartridges. I also created some of my own paper (with the tiny black nesting dolls, using copyright free images online and printing it in grayscale – my document can be found here) and tied it all together with some red and white gingham ribbon.
.: The Littlest Matryoshka Coloring Pages :.
We started the party with reading The Littlest Matryoshka and then coloring pictures of the six sisters (nesting dolls) from the story: Anna, Olga, Varka, Vanda, Nadia, and Nina. You can check out the website for other fun online activities! (Originally I had planned to give those super cute Babushkups to my daughter as a gift, but after seeing how fragile they are, I opted to just use them as a decoration!)
Other coloring page options include this Nesting Doll Dot-to-Dot, a set of Three Nesting Dolls from Outside the Lines, and these printable Russian Dolls from Activity Village.
.: Decorating Matryoshka Doll Cookies :.
These little cookies turned out so cute. I didn’t have time to order a cookie cutter, so I made a couple paper templates along with a small batch of sugar cookie dough. (It was Holy Week after all, and I really didn’t want to have any leftovers!)
I had white frosting, a variety of cookie icings, sparkle gel frosting and sprinkles for the children to use for decorating.
.: Nesting Doll Memory Match :.
.: Place the Littlest Matryoshka inside the Babushka :.
After creating the banner the weekend before her birthday, I stayed up late making this game as well. I used a dinner plate to trace a circle for the head and then drew one side of the body of the nesting doll, cutting it out and then using what I had cut off as a guide for the other side, making sure it was symmetrical. I then painted on a scarf and the hair with acrylic paints, and then cut the rest our of paper.
I just loved how it turned out, and it ended up inspiring me on how I would decorate her cake!
Using a variety of paper colors along with the four different designs provided on the Paisley Cartridge, I made small nesting dolls for each of the children to place inside the large nesting doll for a “Pin the…” type game!
I even made a couple for the boys! 😉
We used the girls
play silks, to match the scarves on the nesting dolls, as blindfolds!
.: The Littlest Matryoshka Nesting Doll Birthday Cake :.
I posted about her birthday cake on her birthday, but I’ll include the pictures here anyways, for those of you that missed it. . . I made the cake by cutting off one end of a 13″ oval pan
(the body) and cutting out part of a 8″ round pan
(the head) so they would fit together nicely. After frosting it with white buttercream, I outlined the face (using the rim of a 6″ round cake pan), cheeks (using a small cup), and the rest freehand with a toothpick, before decorating it with the various color icings.
.: Birthday Gifts :.
In addition to her new nesting doll and book, Chiquita received a stack of six gifts from her family, and a couple other darling gifts from her friends!
.: Party Favors – Nesting Doll Lollipops :.
Using White Candy Melts and this great little Babushka Doll Ice Cube Tray as a mold, I made each girl a Nesting Doll Lollipop as a party favor.
In the end I did need to
“let a couple things go”… Like the
Matryoshka Painted Dolls I had hoped to paint for each girl, the “Nesting Doll Crayons” I had planned on making with my
silicone molds
to go along with the coloring pages, and the
family of nesting dolls I had wanted to
paint
as each of our six children. But I had to save a few ideas for next time, right?!? 😉
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
for the images. It turned out really cute!
Cute, cute party, Jessica! What great memories she'll have.
I LOVE theme birthdays! This is really great. I love that you thought of everything, even the boy figures for the game, which would be important at our house as well. Really cute! Good Job!
What a great and unique party! I love themes too! You did a super job! This one should be in a magazine!!
My 4 year old is almost 5 but keeps changing her themes….we are at "horsey" now. Last week it was "tea party"
Woman, you are absolutely amazing! Praise the good Lord for your gifts and God bless you for how you use them to bring such joy to this world. I 'm so happy that your precious girl had a wonderful and memorable day. Your love for your children, in all of it's details, brings tears to my eyes.
It was a lovely party, the girls all had such a lovely time! Buttercup didn't want to leave, lol!
LOVE everything about this party!! So cute! We do themed parties every year (though taking a break this year in lieu of some little birthday "trips" instead…), so I love seeing others' parties! Every detail was just perfect, and I love how the unique theme made the party even more special! Great job! I only have one daughter so far (6 this year), but you have some great "snitchable" ideas that I may want to borrow for a future party! 🙂
Oh. my. wow! You really outdid yourself on this one, Jessica! Everything is just so fantastic. Amazing really. I love matryoshka nesting dolls and so do my girls. They always beg to play with their grandmother's set when we visit.
And I have to say that the "dolls" you made for your boys gave me the biggest smile. You are so creative!
Thank you everyone! You always leave the sweetest comments, adding a bit more joy to my day! I just love reading them, even if I'm not always the best at responding back. 🙂
It really was such a fun party to plan, and I was wishing I would have had more time and energy to put it all together, but in the end she LOVED her birthday!
When I was trying to decide on ways to paint "my boys" on the wooden nesting dolls, Charlotte emailed me links to a picture of a set of ninja nesting dolls and to a set of soldiers. I never did have the time to paint the dolls, but I sure had fun making the boys Ninjas out of paper. They thought they were hilarious!! 🙂
You never cease to amaze me with your great ideas!
Let a few things go??/ Oh my goodness that was such an adorable, creative party!!!!
Lol! I know! I really had way too many "plans" for this little party! 🙂
Adorable. I love it all. I may put that Circuit on my Christmas wish list. Amazing what it can do.
WOW! After your latest post, would you say your creative juices get flowing when you are creating life ! 🙂
So amazingly creative!!! Love the ninjas! Praying your creativity will inspire me now with our upcoming party.
Can you be my mom?
Do you know of anywhere else to get the ice trays? Amazon is sold out and I NEED these for my baby's first birthday in August!
Oh that is too bad! I'm sorry, I'm not sure where else they can be purchased… If you lived nearby I'd loan you mine! 🙂
Funny question, but would you consider selling your mold to me? I am planning a babushka party, and absolutely adore yours! You can find me at croce emily at gmail dot com. Of course no hard feelings if not but happy to make it worth your while! Thanks and really enjoy your site!
You actually aren't the only person who has asked… In fact, it seems to be a common request this month! I just mailed one of my molds to another woman who wanted to use it for wedding favors. I do have one more extra though. (I originally purchased three, but I do want to keep at least one for my girls.) I will send you an email. 🙂
Love all the ideas but I can't wait to try the cookie idea. Shared here http://siayla.blogspot.ca/2014/02/matryoshka-nesting-doll-crafts-and-more.html