A month ago I had my little boy Lucian's 6th Birthday Party. I am about to have my girl Alessa's 8th Birthday Party in a week, and was planning on posting about some of the planning involved. I then realized I should go ahead and post about both.
I'm not going to lie, I did stress a bit over what to do and how to do it, and this was the first party I threw for him that was with his friends from school and not just our family and close friends. This added to the "it has to be just so" neurosis.
In the end, it was mostly about what made him happy and not about having the perfect party because for him it was just perfect.
The invitations were made at home by my husband. He actually jumped ahead of me and did them himself based on what my son told him he wanted, i.e. Dinosaurs! I probably would have gone crazy with color, but it was a Dad/Son bonding moment so I let them have it.
Good thing to keep in mind is having people reply if attending so you have a better count for food and party favors, as well as planning some of the party games. A map is also very helpful, and a phone number to call in case anyone gets lost.
Then I started with the goodie bags. I wanted to be as eco-friendly as possible, so instead of buying plastic bags I went with paper bags and did some designs at home with stencils we already had. Did I mention my boy loves dinosaurs?!
Then we went on to do some party games and some cute cupcake containers. Remember that game where you balance a lime or an egg on a spoon and race to the finish line without dropping it? I forget the name, but you get the idea. Since we had a dinosaur theme going, we switched the lime for an empty egg shell in fun colors. These kindergardeners had a ton of fun doing this, but even more fun cracking the egg shells afterward. I also baked some cupcakes in them. Please note I washed the shells and boiled them for 15 minutes to make sure they were safe. The kiddo's loved peeling their egg to get to the chocolate cupcake inside.
Then the piñata. No, I didn't make it, although my husband was willing to try. We actually went down to the nearest party supply store and bought one. They didn't have a T-Rex, and my boy was dead set on one, so he convinced me to buy a dragon (which according to him is related to dinosaurs, just that it has wings and breathes fire, but we can discuss that at a later time). He also suggested I make the necessary changes to make it look like a dinosaur, like clip the wings (which I then put on the new dinosaur's back). I wonder were he gets his creativity from?!
And then we filled both goodie bags and piñata with treats, sugary and not. Some chocolates, lollipops, fruit snacks, and raisins, among others. I also threw in the goodie bags some miniature dinosaur toys and stamps, which even the girls loved when they opened their bags.
Then, the part I was most afraid of, the cake. I have baked cakes my whole life and they are very good, but I've never really decorated them. I had the tools for some time now, but never really used them. So I gave it a whirl, and I think it didn't end up half bad.
Added some of my boy's dinosaur toys (washed beforehand, of course), and 6 candles, and we were set.
Got some pizza, juice boxes and water bottles, some fruit to slice (apples and oranges), the cake and cupcakes I already mentioned. 2 hours for the party, set at our local park/playground, the race, a "pin the pterodactyl on the Jurassic park" (bought at the party supply store, a "pin the tale on the donkey" type game), and piñata cracking at the end and everyone was happy to go home with their goodie bags.
Lucian was happy to take home his presents. Not the point of this whole endeavor, but nice to see a big smile on his face because most all of his friends made it to the party.
Nice sunny day, and over 26 kids attended, but we did have some party fouls, like having the cake almost melt because of how sunny it was. Since I covered it up in my cake carrier to put it in the shade, a 2 year old guest found it irresistible to look at the green stuff inside and knocked it over. We had 20 kids RSVP (16 friends and 4 of their siblings), but 6 came with siblings they did not count when replying. Not the end of the world because "Mom" always plans for worst case scenarios and made extra of everything. In the end, whatever wasn't perfect didn't matter when hearing my boy say "This was the best party. Ever!!!" And that made it So Perf for me!!
What makes a birthday party special for you?
FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.
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