When Kiddo told me that the desire of his little heart was to have a birthday party (with a cake and guests and games and favors) for his 5th birthday, my heart was filled with fear and trepidation. I think I've thrown a total of two parties, if you can even call them that, in my whole life and I knew absolutely nothing about parties for little boys. If you've never seen the 1937 movie "Stella Dallas" starring Barbara Stanwyck, you should just so you can fully appreciate what I mean when I say I never throw parties because I am TERRIFIED of having a "Stella Dallas" party. When I was about 14, I watched that movie and it played right into my insecurities. To make a long story short, Stella goes to great effort to have a fabulous Sweet Sixteen party for her beloved daughter, who is over-the-moon excited. Only guess what? NOBODY SHOWS UP. How awful is that? And it's exactly what I thought of immediately.
However, Kiddo is blessed with really sweet Church friends, a kind Gobby & Grandpa Bob, and darling, delightful cousins & aunties. So it all turned out well. The children were sufficiently impressed with my homemade games and decorations, and Kiddo seemed to enjoy himself immensely. BUT, get this: he says next time, he's planning his OWN party. To that I say, if it's not expensive or unreasonable, GO FOR IT. I'd be happy to not stay up all night every year to prepare for a party. Well, if I didn't procrastinate, I guess I wouldn't have to, anyway. :-p
But without further ado, here are the pictures! Enjoy.
The invitations I made-- that would also be the ONE part I didn't approach with dread.
The goody bags that I decorated for the party favors, which were of course, all dinosaur themed.
The Dino Dig Cake-- which would also be the part I agonized over most (other than the no guests scenario). I got this idea from the Family Fun magazine website. They suggest using Chocolate grahams, but Kiddo wanted regular graham crackers, which was fine with me. Their way provides more contrast, but ours was tastier. ;)
The party guests-- at least most of them. For some reason, the adults didn't all jump up to get in the photo. Hmm....??? If you look closely, you will actually find Kiddo in there too. Somehow we didn't get a shot where you could see his face. :( One thing I learned from this is that we really needed someone there JUST taking pictures for us so we parents can actually have good photos AND still participate in the running of the party. Oh well.
At first, everyone just wanted to play with Kiddo's toys, and I wondered if we'd even need to play the games I planned.
However, after playing a bit, we started the games. This was sort of like a cake walk. I played the Laurie Berkner song, "We are the Dinosaurs," and when I stopped the music, I would call out a number. The kidlet on that dino track would get a Dinosaur Silly Band. I totally stole this idea from a party put on by a local library.
Pin the tail on the Dinosaur. I got the dinosaur at the Dollar Tree, and made the tails myself in multiple colors of card stock.
The big kids figured out that I had taped the dinosaur on to posterboard, so if they felt around, they could basically figure out where to stick the tail. But the joke was on the kids, because I actually didn't have a prize for the winner. HA! I am SOOOOOOOO mean. Actually, I just didn't want any broken-hearted toddlers when big kids win all the games.
CUTE party guests. We hid Easter Eggs with tiny dinos inside them, and the kids had to find theirs. To make it slightly more difficult, I mismatched the tops and bottoms of the eggs, and so each child had to find his or her *own* unique egg. They had cards showing what their eggs looked like, so they would know what to look for.
It should be noted that a few months ago, this little darling also gave Little Friend his first kiss from a non-related girl. It's okay because I ♥ her. ;)
It rained all through the party, so it was a good thing that the only game I had planned for outside could be played on the porch. We had two buckets of sand with small dinosaur toys in them. Each child got to dig out two dinosaurs.
Opening presents. Did you notice Kiddo's outfit? YES, he definitely dressed himself. I told him he looked like a Christmas present, and he thought that was just great! :) Gotta love him.
Mommy obviously thought the Dinosaur book and lego set were very cool.
Kiddo decided he should serenade his guests, so he sang "Ye Elders of Israel" for them. Only our Kiddo... ;
Finally, the CAKE! It was chocolate, with chocolate frosting, covered with crumbled graham crackers. The dino bones were made with sugar cookie dough. YUM!
Ready to blow out the candles. I think that cute smirk says it all. Happy 5th Birthday, dear Kiddo! I sure do love you.
However, Kiddo is blessed with really sweet Church friends, a kind Gobby & Grandpa Bob, and darling, delightful cousins & aunties. So it all turned out well. The children were sufficiently impressed with my homemade games and decorations, and Kiddo seemed to enjoy himself immensely. BUT, get this: he says next time, he's planning his OWN party. To that I say, if it's not expensive or unreasonable, GO FOR IT. I'd be happy to not stay up all night every year to prepare for a party. Well, if I didn't procrastinate, I guess I wouldn't have to, anyway. :-p
But without further ado, here are the pictures! Enjoy.
The invitations I made-- that would also be the ONE part I didn't approach with dread.
The goody bags that I decorated for the party favors, which were of course, all dinosaur themed.
The Dino Dig Cake-- which would also be the part I agonized over most (other than the no guests scenario). I got this idea from the Family Fun magazine website. They suggest using Chocolate grahams, but Kiddo wanted regular graham crackers, which was fine with me. Their way provides more contrast, but ours was tastier. ;)
The party guests-- at least most of them. For some reason, the adults didn't all jump up to get in the photo. Hmm....??? If you look closely, you will actually find Kiddo in there too. Somehow we didn't get a shot where you could see his face. :( One thing I learned from this is that we really needed someone there JUST taking pictures for us so we parents can actually have good photos AND still participate in the running of the party. Oh well.
At first, everyone just wanted to play with Kiddo's toys, and I wondered if we'd even need to play the games I planned.
However, after playing a bit, we started the games. This was sort of like a cake walk. I played the Laurie Berkner song, "We are the Dinosaurs," and when I stopped the music, I would call out a number. The kidlet on that dino track would get a Dinosaur Silly Band. I totally stole this idea from a party put on by a local library.
Pin the tail on the Dinosaur. I got the dinosaur at the Dollar Tree, and made the tails myself in multiple colors of card stock.
The big kids figured out that I had taped the dinosaur on to posterboard, so if they felt around, they could basically figure out where to stick the tail. But the joke was on the kids, because I actually didn't have a prize for the winner. HA! I am SOOOOOOOO mean. Actually, I just didn't want any broken-hearted toddlers when big kids win all the games.
CUTE party guests. We hid Easter Eggs with tiny dinos inside them, and the kids had to find theirs. To make it slightly more difficult, I mismatched the tops and bottoms of the eggs, and so each child had to find his or her *own* unique egg. They had cards showing what their eggs looked like, so they would know what to look for.
It should be noted that a few months ago, this little darling also gave Little Friend his first kiss from a non-related girl. It's okay because I ♥ her. ;)
It rained all through the party, so it was a good thing that the only game I had planned for outside could be played on the porch. We had two buckets of sand with small dinosaur toys in them. Each child got to dig out two dinosaurs.
Opening presents. Did you notice Kiddo's outfit? YES, he definitely dressed himself. I told him he looked like a Christmas present, and he thought that was just great! :) Gotta love him.
Mommy obviously thought the Dinosaur book and lego set were very cool.
Kiddo decided he should serenade his guests, so he sang "Ye Elders of Israel" for them. Only our Kiddo... ;
Finally, the CAKE! It was chocolate, with chocolate frosting, covered with crumbled graham crackers. The dino bones were made with sugar cookie dough. YUM!
Ready to blow out the candles. I think that cute smirk says it all. Happy 5th Birthday, dear Kiddo! I sure do love you.
3 comments:
Wow!!! That is one incredible party!! You really outdid yourself and I loooove all the details!!! The cake is amazing, the games look like SO much fun. It all looks like it was a smashing success! Congrats to you and happy (really late) birthday to W:) (I love W's outfit too- too cute!)
The party looks like it was awesome. I love your cake! The song, the games, treat bags all look great!
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting on Grumpy Grateful's guest post.
Hey Rachael,
I was excited to see you've been writing. I know I hardly know you, but I think about your sweet family often.
What a fun party! I love the cake. And I like that you had the kids look for specific eggs! Looks like everyone had a wonderful time.
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