Birthday Time!

Let me paint a scenario for you. Your child is turning three in a couple of months. Up until this point, his birthday parties have consisted of bringing cupcakes (store-bought) to playgroup. You want to make this year special because this is the year when memories will really start to stick. And, if they don't, you'll have the pictures (or lack thereof) to prove it. When I think of birthdays, the extent of my thinking results in something like this: balloons, cake, ice cream, juice boxes, stickers for party gifts. While this is absolutely fine, and done quite often (because we can all agree that the company makes the party and when you get a group of two-year-olds or three-year-olds or what-have-you together you're bound to have free entertainment), you may seek great inspiration and if so the following might be helpful:

My sister-in-law, Sarah, is the queen. Here are some examples of parties that she's thrown for her little "lovebugs"...

"AC's first bday party was a crawfish boil (with 'love bug' rather than 'mud bug'/crawfish invitations) in our back yard! For her 2nd bday party, we did "Ponies at the Park" and rented a couple of ponies to give rides around the park." [Note: She delivered my nephew FOUR DAYS LATER so she let others do the work for her this round.] For AC's 3rd bday and Ross' 1st bday, we threw "Cirque du Wynne" and held a circus themed party with a face painter and balloon twister at the park. For AC's 4th bday and Ross' 2nd, we had a petting zoo (the bounce house and petting zoo had to be moved inside because of a huge rain storm.) We joked that it really turned into a zoo. We had the bounce house in our living room and animals in our garage. We'll continue on gender neutral themes as long as the children don't mind sharing a party!"

Sarah goes over the top, which is sometimes hard for people like me to swallow, but she loves it and is gifted to do it.

Other ideas:

*Pump it Up, Gymboree, Wonderwild or Little Gym. Those are nice bc they are turn-key.

*ZOO Once at the zoo, you can make it fancier by renting pavillions and paying for zoo keepers to introduce animals to the children. Or, you can keep it less expensive by using the public pavillions and setting up camp around the children's zoo and merry-go-round.

*COOL AQUARIUM STORE in town that holds bday parties - entertainment would be challenging, but it would be a fun venue.

*CHURCH GYM and had two actors dress up as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

*SPA PARTY for Eliza one year at my Mother's house. She found all these different pampering spa activities on the internet and turned each room into a different "treatment."

*LOCAL CHILDREN'S THEATER - there are children actors who bring the kids up on stage to sing to them at intermission.

You can get great ideas on-line - that's what I always do - for invitations, cupcake ideas, decoration ideas, etc. Just google the style of party that you'd like to throw and you'll get tons of ideas. If you don't have an idea, just google "children's birthday party ideas" to get you started.