Insubordiknit

Secrets of a successful birthday

One of my biggest fears as a parent, hell, as an adult, has been kid birthday parties. Yep, I’ve seen and heard the horror stories, screaming grumpy kids, traumatized kids, kids hopped up on white icing and store bought sheet cakes, faces smeared with stickiness and stuck in a kind of screaming scowl. I know the truth, man. And so Little Bit has gone a full 5 years without a party to speak of. I mean, we’ve had special dinners, grandparents, homemade presents, etc. But never ever a party complete with, you know, other kids and stuff. Until this year…

He’s five, and awesome. Seriously, I don’t think I talk enough about how super cool my kid is. How I'm so lucky to get to be around such a rockstar kid. He’s truly marvelous, and one of the reasons I waited so long to have another, I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could, I didn’t want to share him with a sibling, and honestly, I just didn’t think another kid could live up to him. He’s that cool, and funny, and compassionate, and smart. So this amazing child, who walked and talked at 10 months, could read anything by 4.5 years, can dance, sing, and tell a joke like no other, he finally got to have a birthday party. And let me tell you, it rocked!

I was expecting him to want it to be pirate-y or wizard-y, both things he’s been a bit into lately, but now, he wanted a unicorn party. A unicorn party, there was no doubt, that’s what he wanted.

I asked him to help with all the preparations, so he drew a unicorn for the invitations. Is it not the most awesome unicorn ever (that pic at the top is a copy of the original made into a necklace)? Oh geez, I’ve turned into one of those parents haven’t I? Deal with it for one post, okay? Be thankful you don’t know me in person; most people have to deal with it constantly. But really, the unicorn, it kicks ass, right? Bill scanned it and wrote the party info on the body, printed them on construction paper and we sent them out. To our surprise, all most all of the kids/parents LB invited consented to come! He was so excited. We spent a few days making up little party bags for his guests. Which by the end we called our choking hazard bags because they contained so many tiny trinkets. Each of the 10 bags included a super cool marble, a capsule that expands into a sponge bug when put in water, a sparkly poof ball that someone gave mea bunch of for spinning and which I’ll never use for spinning, LB’s unicorn made into a shrinky-dink and hung on a hemp cord for a necklace (and no, I haven’t taken mine off since the party), and a homemade foam unicorn horn-party-hat.

Little Bit handed the bags out as the kids/parents arrived and again, to my surprise, everyone was happy to wear their necklace and unicorn horn.

Oh, and did I mention that it had been raining and chilly for days before and after but the day of his party was 70 and sunny! Yep, we had all the windows open, and the kids played out back on the trampoline and trees.

And the kids, they were fun and gracious, not a single scramble or skirmish. The played and ran and when the cake came out (carrot cake by me, decorations by Bill), they all sat at the table, sang, and polished off that cake! LB beamed. He’s very used to being the center of attention with adults, because he’s around so many all the time, but to be the center of attention of all his friends made him glow. I was so happy for him.

Of course there were presents, but they were thoughtful and creative as well, nothing over the top, no junk, really cool stuff. He got a 100 color sampler pack of fimo clay, which we use often and were almost out of, some super cool books on things he likes, dinosaurs, unicorns, and my favorite – tree houses! a flower press, some playmobil (which is currently his favorite set of toys), a gobbling game, and lots and lots of kid-made art (which is my favorite). There wasn’t’ even any fighting or grabbing during the unwrapping, they did it themselves, handing LB the packages and passing around the presents afterward. Did I mention how cool it was?

Yeah, it pretty much rocked my socks. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that the parents of LB’s friends are as cool as his friends. I had such a great time standing around and chatting with everyone. My good friends came down from NJ with their 3 kids, and it was amazing, as always, to hang with them. We really are so lucky to have such cool people and kids around us, it almost makes up for the ones we love and miss.

So there you have it – the perfect kid party. The secret – cool kids, progressive parents, unicorns, carrot cake, no organized games, and a 70 degree day in the middle of winter.

Posted by jacey at January 9, 2007 10:00 AM