“We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun” Pooh Bear

My little girl was certainly having so much fun when she turned 10 a few weeks ago, and decided to celebrate her birthday by having a sleepover party at home with her friends. It ended up more like a ‘stay-up over’ party judging from how late they finally slept!

I helped her to plan the activity for the weekend. She wrote down different activities on several pieces of paper, and inserted each note in a balloon. We had as many balloons as the activities. She popped one balloon according to the time that was tagged on the balloon, then together with her friends they read what activity was in store for them.

We built our big camping tent in the backyard for the girls to sleep that night. They came with their sleeping bags but we provided them with pillows complete with new pillow covers for them to use and to take home the following day as birthday giftaways. The girls had to name and personalise the pillow covers before they could use them. I could say this activity was a hit. Soon enough they were busy chatting, and colouring and laughing while creating such colourful drawings on the covers.

Once they finished, we hung the covers to dry before I ironed them to have the drawings properly set.

The birthday girl led the troops throughout the night activities. We went through dinner, the cake, opening presents and getting ready to bed swimmingly. The planned activities inserted in the balloons had certainly WORKED! It’s cute to see them gather around the balloons and cover their ears before the popping balloon revealed the next thing to do.

Some twinkle lights and glo-sticks illuminated the girls’ faces in the tent as they were all taking their spaces in their sleeping bags and getting ready to wind down for the night. As I mentioned before it took awhile for the tent to go completely quiet, but hey, isn’t that the best thing of a slumber party? To just hang out with your girlfriends talking about nothing until you can’t make sense anymore?

And like Energizer bunnies they were up (too) early and ready to face a new day. It’s go home time after filling their tummy full with delicious Belgian waffles (not in any pictures, since they were gone in record time!).

I am grateful that I could be there to capture my little girl’s special 10th birthday. I may need to recover for two years from this, but it’s all worth it. I’m happy that I can collect moments like this for her. Twenty years from now, she might forget some things about this party, but these photos surely will take her back to this moment. She’s going to appreciate all the details that she can see in the photos, the details she herself made happen.

I will close with this lovely quote from an American photographer Aaron Siskind.

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever…it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.