Christmas in July = Best. Playdate. Ever.

What's sweaty, red and green, sticky, and squealing with delight?  A bunch of kids wearing Santa hats in the middle of summer, that's what.  

I've always wanted to have a "Christmas in July" Party and it wasn't until this year that I had the motivation to do it. (Acquiring the bouncy castle might have been the push I needed - I just really wanted to share that blessing with our littlest friends!)

It was a perfect playdate.  And so easy to pull off!  All I did was make homemade playdough and colored rice.  And I set them up at different stations outside so there was hardly any mess to clean up inside!

The Moms (and non-moms, thanks for coming Kirsten!) just got to sit around and chat and drink iced coffee while listening to Christmas music!  And if any kids got cranky we just shoved another cookie or cupcake in their mouths. It was brilliant!

We also met some new friends!  (Hi, Carrie and co!)

The rice and play dough got EVERYWHERE and it was awesome and okay because the best part about Christmas in July is that it's OUTSIDE! :o)

The only real mistake I made was putting glass Christmas tree bulbs in the rice sensory bin with metal utensils.  Don't be like me.  Or else you'll spend a little while picking broken glass out of the bin so no one has to go to the ER on Christmas in July.  My bad.

Food?  Oh the food was heavenly!  Peanut butter blossoms and cake and snowball cupcakes - OH MY!  We definitely had enough sugar.

I made the green-peanut-butter-Christmas-tree-open-faced-sandwiches.  Which really need an easier name.  But we topped them with star fruit and used pull 'n peel licorice and gold sprinkles to decorate - so cute!  Rachael made avocado, turkey, and cranberry sauce sandwiches, which was a very good thing or else we might have all slipped into a sugar coma.  A delightful sugar coma.

It was fantastic fun and so easy to plan and pull off.  I'm totally putting Christmas in July on next year's calendar... you should, too!