Birthday Bonanza

Sorry I've been as emotional as a middle school girl lately. I promise to lock that shit up and stay positive from here on out (unrealistic expectation). Here's a look inside my little man's birthday party!

I've been planning my Gman's birthday party for a few months now. I love parties and when I grow up, I want to be a party planner. Or run a cafe/cupcake shop. Or be a rockstar. Hey, we dream big up in he-ah!

 I try not to over-do it, but sometimes I lose control. My husband's only request when I tell him I am planning a "gathering" is always, "Don't go crazy". He knows me too well. I come from a rather large family so I knew we would be expecting 40-50 people. Sounds outrageous to most, but pretty normal to me. I spent many hours on Pinterest trying to come up with a super creative "Theme"...Then I realized we were moving and I needed something Cute and Simple. My gracious sister in law offered her left over decorations from my nephew's bday party and from there, Cookie Monster came alive! 

We kept the Birthday Boy's Buffet simple: Hamburgers/Hot Dogs, Mama's Mac N' Cheese, Perfect (Spicy) Baked Beans, Fruit/Veggie Trays, Kristen's Apple Salad, and DIY Cookies.

Totally stole those veggie/fruit platter ideas from Pinterest. Too cute to resist and super easy to put together. The only draw back was that no one would touch them. I had to practically mess each one of them up just to get people to load up on their fruits and vegetables. I meant to get a picture of the Decorate Your Own Cookie Bar, complete with sugar cookies, blue/white icing, and sprinkles...but those things were gobbled up in NO TIME! Note to self, make order more cookies next time.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It wasn't too hot and we practically spent all day outside. I spent a good few hours the morning of his party filling water balloons for the bigger kids. I even cutely arranged them in the shape of the number 1. About an hour before his party, I decided to sneak outside to snap a photo of my creation only to find that every. single. last. one of them had popped. I can't make this up. There were no. none. zilch. zero water balloons still intact. I'm kind of bitter...can you tell?!?

So, we picked up the balloon pieces, filled that sucker with water and it took approximately .0009876 seconds for the party to start. The kids had so. much. fun. I was a little jealous as the host and all that I couldn't play too. Some friends saved the day with a sprinkler and the boys ran, jumped, and played their little hearts out all day. 

G was graciously showered with many gifts and we can't wait to unpack them so he can start playing with them. We decided it wasn't very practical to open them all up just to pack them the following day. I didn't get any more photos of decor or the goodie bags which were filled with a variety of things and tied off with a balloon for each little guy (and one precious 2 week old niece of mine) to take home. Squirt guns, play dough, finger paint, piggy paint, and bubbles were sent home with each of G's guests to make respective messes in their own homes. Score!

Kid and his dad even have the same facial expressions. Maybe I'll get a daughter that is JUST like me, someday...

We tried!

I couldn't have done this birthday party weekend without the help of my MOM, husband, dad, Kristen, and countless others that helped clean up in preparation for the Open House we were having the following day. Yea, we're crazy!