Birthday Recap: Part 3, Party Time

I know I'm about 2 weeks too late in posting his birthday party photos... just got a little busy, sorry! I sometimes try to sneak and blog at work but that doesn't always pan out, especially since we're all in open cubicles.

Anyway, this was his party in a nutshell! I tried to start planning on it about a month ahead and everyone just looked at me like I was crazy. I emailed a "to do" list to my sister to get her feedback one day, and she showed it to all her coworkers and sat around and laughed about the neurotic-party-planning-mom.

Ha!

So at first I contacted a few girls from Craigslist to get a personalized cake. I wanted something unique, something cool. I'd make it myself but my creative skills haven't quite crossed over to cake decorating (or baking for that matter). One girl quoted me for $50 at first. She'd only done a few cakes, working from her home, she seemed easy to work with so I decided to give her business. That is until she hiked up the price to $85 after I told her I wanted a building instead of a flat sheet cake.

I don't think so.

So.... we ended up getting this at Vons for $50 and it turned out to be a HIT!

As if the cake wasn't enough, Sissy conjoured up an old friend through myspace who had just finished culinary school and ordered these cupcakes. They turned out a little more expensive than I imagined, but they looked cool..... and they were a hit too.

If you hadn't already figured out, we decided on the Spiderman theme (okay, I decided). It was either that or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but that seemed a little too babyish for Ethan. He's only 3 I know.

One thing that was non-negotiable was the bouncer. In JANUARY?!?!?!?! If we were back in the east coast, you couldn't even think about having anything outdoors. But this is California, baby! Granted I probably picked the worst weekend in January (chance of showers?) - but I'm stubborn so I did it anyway.

We set up camp in my mom's front yard. Her backyard's great for pool parties, but with kids running around, I thought it'd be safer if we didn't have to worry about preschoolers falling in the pool.

Sure enough. Even after I prayed to the rain gods to bypass our party, it rained for about a good half hour just before guests started to arrive. I was pissed. We had to move everything back indoors. But it passed, and we all eventually went back outside.

The bouncer, as you can imagine, was a hit with the kids. I don't know how... but they jumped in there for hours. I got in there just to "test it out", and I was dying in 10 minutes. There was a basketball hoop in the bouncer that kept my brother and his highschool friends occupied (after the little ones were finally done with it).

Popcorn anyone? Despite being teased for going over-the-top, I ended up renting a popcorn machine (yes, I would've rented a circus too but they were booked - MAYBE next year?). Mike burnt the first batch, poor guy, but the rest were great. Everyone loved it.

And what's a Spiderman party without a silly string fight? I kind of forgot that not everyone knew how to work silly strings... so we probably should've had a little tutorial before arming everyone with a can.

But everyone had a blast once they figured out the whole shaking the can part. My mom's yard wasn't too happy about being covered in it, but it got over it!

I was so busy running around making sure all the guests were taken care of... trying to be a good hostess... making sure the kids weren't bored... that I think I could've enjoyed the party a little better with Ethan. There were a few times I had to look for my camera after forgetting where I had put it down. Thank God my Sissy was there to pick up the slack!

I was glad some of Ethan's friends from school showed up. I gave his entire class invitations, and to my surprise, a few parents actually called to RSVP.

One of the games we played was the "put-a-sticker-on-the-villain" game. Each kid is blindfolded (or in our case, masked). Then they are given a sticker and the object of the game is it put a sticker on the villain that has the highest points. So instead of aiming for the middle. You're supposed to do your due diligence and figure out which direction the highest points are from the center -- before you're blindfolded. Or you could have someone yelling directional instructions and distracting the other kids by telling them the wrong stuff - but that would be cheating. Try explaining that to preschoolers.

I personally like games that are pretty self-explanatory... like the pinata. You line them up, give em a bat, clear everyone away, and let em swing til their veins pop out. Simple enough! Except they don't exactly make those pinatas kid-friendly. It takes a really pissed off full-grown adult to even crack it, let alone bust it open.

Finally, the blowing of the candles. It's actually my favorite part of any birthday party... when everyone gathers around and sings together. Every one knows the lyrics to the song, and no matter how horribly off-pitched or silly you sound, it doesn't matter. You don't even have to be synchronized with the rest of the group. All that matters is that that one person knows that they're the center of attention and that everyone's there to celebrate their birthday.

Overall, it was a lot of fun! We had more people show up than we actually expected which was great -- the more, the merrier!

Next time, I'd probably be just as obsessed if not more with all the little stuff like how much to put in the party favor bags (no lessons learned there) -- but I will definitely start planning WAY ahead of time for next year. Hmmm... pirate theme maybe? :)