Birthday Extravaganza!!!

We have finally finished the round of January birthday parties! With so many celebrations closely following Christmas, I must admit I get a little pooped by the end of January. And since we stayed in Texas for so long this year, we were running a little behind on the parties. But mission accomplished, kids thrilled and we can relax until May!

First up - Fletcher's Lego Birthday Party. Everyone brought their favorite Lego creation with them. Then we made Lego Racers and raced them down a track. This was followed by exciting, action packed Lego games, reminding kids to please not climb up the outside of the staircase, Lego cakes, reminding kids again to please not climb up the staircase, building Legos, reminding kids that they really should not climb up the staircase, especially if they are wearing a costume or carrying a light saber, Lego Pinata... and of course reminding kids one more time to at least not be climbing on the staircase when their parents arrive or what will they think? You know the stereotype about boys having a lot of energy? So true... On the flip side... we celebrated Piper's birthday with a Tinkerbell Tea Party. I learned last year that kids can say all year long they want to be Tinkerbell for their party, only to decide on the day of that they really want to be Batman. So I left the dress code open, "Come as you want". There were several princesses, 1 Clone Trooper, 2 Anakin Skywalkers, Batman, a little girl that forgot to wear her outfit so I dubbed her Pinkalicious... and the star (who was happy to remind you that she was the star in case you forgot), Piper as Tinkerbell.

We made treasure boxes, had a treasure hunt, hit the Pinata and had tea. I bought sweet candy canes for the kids to stir their tea and the majority of the kids actually drank all their tea. I also bought thrift store tea cups and painted each child's name on it. We had chocolate pretzel wands, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches (not a big hit with the preschool crowd who seemed to prefer candy) and each child got a miniature chocolate flower cake. Yummmm!!!! Guess who planned this chocolate filled menu? ME! The kids were SO good and easy... Chris leaned over half way through the party and said, "Girl parties are cake (no pun intended)". Before the party, Piper was in her own little dream world either running around yelling, 'I'm Tinkerbell" - in a voice that reminded me of a superhero more than a fairy or she was singing. She sang to the plants, the pretzels, her dolls, her shoes. I think she is planning on making a musical of her life.

And a note about the Pinata (see left). Our kids always have a Pinata. Last year Chris remarked that he had no idea they were so expensive and I figured out between a Pinata and store bought cake I was spending almost $40! As a child, my parents always MADE my Pinata from a paper bag that they drew our picture on. I thought it was wonderful as a child and didn't realize it might not be such a great honor to have your picture on something that people enjoy smashing with large sticks. Anyway... after college, while I lived in Oklahoma, I shared this story with my friends. We all thought it was very funny and started the tradition of Pinata Parties. Whoever we were celebrating or whatever type of party we were having - I made a Paperbag Pinata. That year we had LOTS of parties and LOTS of Pinatas.

So this year, I resurrected the tradition. Piper was so excited and loved coloring her picture (she gave Tinkerbell purple and brown eyes which I had to fix after she left the room. And Tink ended up with a very unfortunate tan line).

Paperbag pinata: $0

Memory: Priceless