DS1's Birth Day Party

This weekend we celebrated DS1's 4th birthday. We celebrated a touch early, but I wanted his friends to be in town, so it was best to do it this weekend before the holiday break. Last year we had a big party, and I really felt like he understood it was his birthday. This year I let him pick the theme and help with some of the planning. I think he had fun.

Now, remind you I am by nature a planner; parties really bring that skill to task. I have fun searching for decorations, games and then going a bit over the top. This year I was hopping DS1 would choose "pirates", but no, he went abstract with a "Winter Wonder" theme. He stumped me for a while, but it all came together well. The photos tell of the ensuing riots but here are the basic elements:

Decorations:
Winter wonder, not Christmas. Snowflakes, white holiday lights, penguins, glitter, an ice cave (constructed from paper plates), white tree branches with birds and holiday lights, and of course, balloons, with branches and confetti even in the hallway.

Cake:
I love to bake, but when it comes to kids, I'm into cupcakes; easy to serve, great at sending the message of a concept. We did polar bears and penguins, in chocolate and vanilla. I actually had a different penguin idea, but I couldn't find decent donut holes any where in the city. I need the donut holes to construct the penguin heads so I had to make a last minute, morning before the party. However, I was happy with the polar bears.

Food:
Sticking with winter theme, "things a polar bear or penguin would eat"; Fish sticks (with ketchup), goldfish crackers, juice boxes and/or water. This year I made one coffee cake and a bowl of fruit for the adults. But they tend not to eat too much so very little adult food this year. We also had a kettle with apple cider on the stove.

Games:
At 4, simple is better. DH thought some of my ideas were lame (including the fish sticks), but the kids all went for it. They made snowflake ornaments, danced in the living room to Mambo music, had a snow ball fight in the boys' bedroom with 200 ping pong balls, listen to a story read by DH, ate picnic style on the living room floor, and the finally was a penguin pinata (which maybe given our recent vacation influence DS1 kept calling it the pinacolada).

Gift bags:
Simple this year. Snowflake bags with tissue, a kaleidoscope, a bounce ball or bracelet and then a wooden animal puzzle (of about five pieces; either a penguin, walrus or polar bear).

General:
The kids were awesome. The half year of preschool shows, in that the kids follow the routine, listen well and are generally very well behaved. His friends are all good kids and the parents very nice. He received entirely too much loot, but this year he wanted presents were as last year I requested books only. In planning, I invited his "cluster" of kids (12) and siblings as well as just a couple neighborhood friends. I wanted to invite a few more neighborhood friends, but we just didn't have the space.

DS1 also asked if he could invite a couple "big people". I asked, "adults?", he answered, "yes". So when I asked whom, he surprised me with a list of the four young hip doorman which have been teaching him impressive handshake skills and let him hose down the sidewalk. To my surprise, they not only showed up, but pooled their money and bought him an amazing gift (no, the 3 foot long remote control firetruck that shoots water is not allowed to go to bed with you, conversation has occurred). I love the boys, but I'm humbled by just how many people are in their world that treat them with love.