If it's gonna be THAT kind of party.........

*insert part of Beastie Boys song here*

Planning a child's birthday party can be quite stressful. There are so many details that go into a birthday party, and you sometimes are made to feel it has to be just perfect. This can not always be so, then again maybe every birthday is just perfect in it's own way. I guess you really have to set your limit of expectations and be happy with the way it goes regardless. I just finished planning my daughter Mackenna's 11th Birthday party. Once I really had a good location set up, the rest fell into line quite easily. Thank goodness!
My oldest daughter does not want a birthday party this year, so we will just go somewhere she wants to go on that day. She will be 15 this year, so I am sure it will be something like Busch Gardens or Islands of Adventure. who knows though, right?!?

My Twins are going to be 3 in April. I had pondered the idea of sparing everyone of the birthday party routine this year, however now I feel that I can not. One of my Twins talks about birthday parties, party hats, and sings the Happy Birthday song 3-4 times a day. MEEP! So, to rob them of a birthday party would make me feel like a jerk. The problem with birthday parties for my Twins is that we really do not have family here. The paternal grandparents (2 sets) are in an eternal feud and would not be caught dead in the same location, even if it meant the world to their Twin grandsons. The maternal side consists of Nana(my mom). The rest of the family are all out of state and unable to travel here for their birthdays. They were not even able to make it to their first birthday.

My Dad just retired recently and with his pre-existing health conditions it is costing him upwards of something like $700 per month for his health insurance. Due to this expense and the fact he is now responsible for several elderly relatives, he can not attend.

My Twins 1st and 2nd Birthday parties consisted of, as far as guests go....... Us, the paternal grandpa, his wife, and a few of her relatives, some of our playgroup friends, My mom, and my Moms best friend. They had a great party both years. It was really nice to have those who came, to attend. We had to have a 2nd mini party for them at the paternal Grandma's home both years due to the feud.

This year, I feel guilty.

I don't feel guilty to invite the very small amount of adult relatives that attend every year. I however do feel guilty inviting our playgroup friends. If I did not invite them, there would be no party. The only children at the party would be the Birthday Boys and my three older children ages 11.5, 12, and 14.5

I really value the friendships we have with our playgroup friends. However I now feel guilty inviting them to my Twins 3rd birthday party because when I asked a few of them recently what their birthday party plan will be for their child, several of them said they were only having their family over for small parties. So if they feel they would not want their playgroup friends at their child's birthday, does that mean they would appreciate not being invited to my Twins 3rd birthday too? Does it mean they can not afford a party that includes playgroup friends? Does it mean they feel strange mixing family with playgroup friends? What really does it mean?

I feel like if I do not invite them, there is no point of a party. What is a toddlers birthday party with no other toddlers there to enjoy it with? It's a bunch of bored adults eating cake off of a cartoon character paper plates with a colorful plastic fork. Uh......yeah.

What the heck do you do to entertain your bored adult guests and make it a fun party for your Twin toddlers if there are no other children at the party? Do you have them pin the tail on Grandpa? Do you have the Grandparents do some cartwheels?

I also feel like if I do invite them, they will be highly annoyed and feel obligated to either begrudgingly attend or make up some last minute lie/excuse to get themselves out of it.

Would it be easier if I just tell them gifts are not necessary? How do you make the parents happy and feel happy to come, not feel obligated to come while having no intentions of really wanting to be there?

What is the best way to have a birthday party that people want to attend?  I want our playgroup friends to continue to be our friends, not run for the hills to avoid being invited to another birthday party. Most of the playgroup friends that attended last year, did not invite us to their child's birthday when it came around. So, this makes me think that they would really appreciate not being invited. I just don't know.

Read more

birthday party planning

I have been thinking that I need to at least get some ideas in line for my Twins 3rd birthday. They will be 3 on April 21st, but before their birthday both of their sisters will have a birthday. Their sister Mackenna has her birthday in February. Their sister Haley has her birthday in early April.

So since party planning can be quite exhausting sometimes, I try to get a head start.

This year might be tough though, They have favorites this time!!

I thought about just skipping the party and going to a theme park, though that may be even more exhausting.

I think we will probably just have another party at the park, it has worked out pretty well in the past.

Now the tough decision is which of their favorite cartoons to theme the party after.

Barney?  Mickey Mouse?  Sponge Bob?

The hardest part is planning what to do, what food to serve, and such.
None of their friends are really their age. The children they spend the most time with will just be turning 2 around the time of their birthday. I don't know that there will be any 3 year olds at their party, besides them.

I think I would like to get a pinata, but does a pinata really work out well for 3 year olds? I saw a blog today with a set of Twins 3td birthday and they had a pinata. It was quite large too! I wondered if the pinata had to be broken open by an older child or parent possibly?

I think I have a few good ideas for the goody bags this year...just simple items.
So far I came up with pez dispensers, stickers, play-doh, dum-dum pops, & crayons.

I was hoping to come up with a good location but I might have to go with old stand-by...a park that is not far from here.

This blog has a pretty cute set up for their Twins 3rd birthday, I wonder if all of that candy was a good idea though. Who knows, maybe it was a good idea.

Oh well, wish me luck. I hope I can get a good game plan together to set into motion.

Read more

We are ONE!

ONE
Graham and Parker turned ONE on April 21st. We had their party on April 18th at a local park. We had been buying them birthday gifts for a couple of months before their birthday, and gave them a few the week before they turned one as well. We gave them ride on toys on their actual birthday.

Stats

Graham Rune (birth-- height 17 1/2 inches, weight 4lbs 1 oz) (One year-- height 30 1/4 inches, weight 20 lbs)

Parker Ryan (birth-- height 16 inches, weight 3lbs 7 oz) (One year-- height 29 inches, weight 17 lbs 9 oz)

The Birthday
We never got to light the candles. Parker grabbed his cake before it hit the tray and started smooshing it up. Graham started smashing his, he then started slapping it!! I mean REALLY slapping it. He beat the daylights out of his cake, everyone was hysterically laughing.
So we removed the candles from both cakes and let them go to town, will light them on their birthday Tuesday.

They had a pre-birthday mini party lasy saturday at Aaron's Mom's house. His grandma made carrot cake. They did not mess with it too much but they went wild with the cakes today.

Due to the fact they barely touched the other cakes last saturday, I decided against vegan cakes for them. They did not really eat anything at all. They each took like one little nibble and smooshed them the rest of the time.

I let my older 3 kids bring friends but my oldest, Haley (13)..her friend could not make it. My son, Cameron (10) had one friend come. My daughter, Mackenna (9) had two friends come.

Graham & Parker's best friend from their playgroup, Zane came with his parents and his 13 year old cousin. My friends Jaime and Eduardo were there as well as my mom and her best friend Benay. My husband's father and his wife came as well as her mother and step-father and all her sisters were there.

We held the party at our favorite park. It has gated playgrounds and astroturf(fake grass).


It is hard to see their shirts, I will take more pics later but they both have a One on them. I got them from a store online it is just a one with a circle around it. They looked really cute and I just wore some comfy carters pants on them with their soft shoes. I don't ever wear normal shoes on them, the ones they have are supposed to work for outdoor shoes too and they love them!

Read more