You go to Kid A's birthday and they have a Jumpy Castle. Then, at Kid B's party, they have pony rides. At Kid C's birthday, they're scheduling rides on the Space Shuttle.
Not being a part of the Crazy Party Circuit, we like our parties low key. Perhaps you'd recognize how we party from your childhood?
Take 2 additional kids, add to your almost 7 year old*. Add tent,
The tent. Turns out they didn't sleep outdoors. Not really surprised. They stayed up until around 11:30 pm in it, then came inside and slept on the livingroom floor. Then they "slept in" until 7:30 am.a BBQ, liberal amounts of screaming,
She who screams.
They who scream and make funny faces.
Fun in the hammock.
possibly a movie and chocolate strawberry shortcake (Instead of a traditional cake, strawberry shortcake, where the shortcake is chocolate. It's too hot to get into serious cake baking.),
They who scream and make funny faces.
Fun in the hammock.
Mmmm! Shortcake! Chocolate! Strawberries! Whipped cream!have sleepover and swirl.
For the adults, grilled steaks, salads and Mojitos.
Mojitos
Fresh mint leaves (As many as you want - we like LOTS.)
1/4 tsp turbinado sugar (Regular granulated works just fine, I just like the larger granules.)
Juice of one lime
1 oz simple sugar solution (1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup boiling water, let cool. No, really, it's worth the trouble.)
2 oz Bacardi (Or other light rum.)
Ice
Club soda
- Pour sugar into the bottom of a tall glass.
- Toss mint leaves on top. Using a long handled utensil with a flat bottom, muddle the sugar and mint leaves together to release the oils in the leaf.
- Add simple solution and lime juice and stir.
- Add ice and club soda to fill. Stir once again and enjoy!
Prior to singing.Hey, if you get to spend the night at my house, eating burgers, salad, and chocolate strawberry shortcake, watching movies and sleeping in a tent in the yard, you don't need a goodie bag. In the morning we'll have blueberry pancakes (Wholesome!) and call it a day.
So low key we didn't even have candles! Note the lighter used in place of candles to blow out. The billowy clouds of cream wouldn't have held a candle up, anyway.
Caitlin didn't seem to mind either the lack of a candle or the lack of layer cake.Yeah, you can tooooootally trust me with your kid. Hic!
C'est moi!* Technically her birthday is next Saturday. We're celebrating twice: once here at home with her girlfriends and then the second one will be in the mountains at Grammy's house with family. Grammy, you see, is taking Caitlin for three weeks**. We'll be bringing the party there.
** OMG! YES!
9 comments:
Adorable kids! And I am totally going to take your lead when my daughter is old enough to be into birthday parties. We live in LA where the whole gift bag/status party this is out of control. Won't do it. But I will have a fun party like the one you threw...the kids look like they were loving it!
Does Grammy want to take my girl for three weeks?
I love how you celebrated her birthday. I don't buy into the Birthday Extravaganza either. The simple stuff is more memorable (not to mention in line with balanced view of life). And far less stressful for everyone, including the birthday child.
Great pictures, too!
Hey Mike! Thanks! BTW, your blog? Hilarious! Thanks for dropping by.
Jennifer H: well, Grammy DOES keep saying how easy multiple kids are (she's got my nephew with her as well this week). Mayyyybe!
Happy pre-birthday Caitlin!!
It sounds about as simple as the one we are planning for Monkey, which will include tea... with Caitlin, assuming of course, she is available.
I think your party sounds awesome. Chocolate? Yes! Strawberries? Yes! Cream? Yes! Mojitos? Yes, yes, yes!
We've kept our b'day parties pretty low key so far too (at our house, just close friends/family, old fashioned games). I am planning my nearly 5-year-old's "princess tea" for August, but even that will be nothing compared to some of the extravaganzas we've been to.
Simple is better and most often, also cheaper. Or, at the very least, you can switch your time and energy from spending money on the place and the bag of cheap plastic toys to spending money on better food and a better environment.
Misty: when? Caitlin will be VERY excited.
Happy Birthday, Caitlin. :)
When Matt & Jade were little, (now 21 & 25) I always did a simple party but always did some kind of craft. One year HUGE collages - I had a table piled with all sorts of fun things & everyone had a sheet of oaktag & glue, & it was really fun. One year every kid got a white T-shirt & we painted T-shirts. Stuff like that.....much more fun than the parents who took everyone to SportTime USA & gave endless quarters for video games. Oh & we always had great food too, & a pinata. Caitlin's party sounds wonderful & we out East so enjoyed the pictures of our precious little (big) cousin. I mailed her card & present to Grammy's house. Love to you all
Janet
That strawberry shortcake looks yummmy.
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