Licking the Ponies

This is my favorite picture from my daughter's birthday party! Her cake had ponies on it, and as soon as she blew out the candles, she took off the ponies and started to lick the icing off their feet. I like it because it isn't your generic birthday party picture.

I took a lot of the generic birthday pictures at her party, including the classic "the tired and worn out family AFTER the party" shot. That's always because I don't think if getting a picture of the 3 of us until the last person is just about to leave! That's alright, because after 5 years, it's now a bit of a tradition!

Party picture tips:

I always neglect to get more than one picture with my husband and I in it. (the picture mentioned above) This is because I am too possesive of my camera and want to make sure I get the pictures I want. My husband is always so busy feeding everyone, and that's why he gets left out. Moral: If you can hand over your camera to a friend to take the party pictures, please do!

This year, I waited on the porch for the cake to come out. I had positioned my daughter and her friends at the table and was able to get a shot of them looking for the cake, with happy anticipation on their faces!

We played a couple of games, and a friend of mine took pictures while I supervised. We played a hot potatoe game and I like how she took pictures of the dwindling circle. One of my favorite shots was the kids who had gotten out in the game, watching along the railing of the porch.

To avoid the mayhem of gift opening, I had the kids stay in their circle after the game. Everyone retrieved their own gift for the birthday girl, and they would take turns sitting next to her as she opened their gift. (front row seat of honor) This also helped her to know who the gifts were from, and gave me the perfect opportunity to get a shot of her with each guest.

As you can see in picture #1, this year, I had a 5 candle as well as 5 single candles. This gave her more to blow out, and gave me more chances to get the perfect shot of her blowing the candles out, a shot that I hate to miss, but have missed in the past!

Everyone gets a shot of the birthday cake. I do, too! It's almost always decorated as a reflection of what the guest of honor is into that year.

It was raining a bit at the party. But the kids didn't seem to mind. To remember the kids playing in the rain, I took a picture of my girl and her friend with their hands up, enjoying the warm rain.

I always have one or more of my daughter's albums out at the party and try to get a picture of someone looking at it.

One picture I often find I've forgotten, is a picture of my daughter all by herself! (Even the one above was cropped.) So, this year, at the end of the party, I made sure to get one of her, alone.

Scrap Happy!