Thursday, June 23, 2016

Our Little Gal Turns Seven




I do rather wish that our youngest child's birthday didn't happen to line up with the last day of school. After all, her big sister's birthday lines up with the first day of school.  And...Stomper's is basically right on top of Halloween.  It's a bit too much going on at each of those times. But what can I do?  Grin and bear it, that's what.  And do everything I can to celebrate the birthday kid to the very best of my ability.  Which is actually quite limited, now that you mention it. I'm not a very good party planner.  I always think I have things really well planned but then all of my activities end up being over and done with in about 20 minutes, even though I managed to spend way too much money on it all.

I was a little late in getting the word out about a birthday party for Skippidy.  It was just such a busy couple of weeks that I didn't get to it until less than a week before her birthday. I quickly threw together an online invite and invited 10 little kids over.  I invited more than I thought I could handle because I thought with the short notice and the last day of school we'd have some kids who couldn't come. Wrong!  Everyone could come.  .....yay.....

The day began with a birthday breakfast of Skippidy's favorite morning dish, the Swedish Pancake, otherwise known as The Crepe.  Doused in powdered sugar.  That's the only way we do it around here.  I'm sure it would be better if I provided fruit or something but I'm pretty sure it would just get ignored and left to sadly wilt in the shadow of the mighty sugar vessel.

Following the afore-mentioned last day of school and its many many tears, we hurried home to prepare for the party.  Skippidy and I had chosen to celebrate with a back-yard outdoor games party.  We both thought this sounded fun. I didn't have to come up with too much of a theme or get matching place settings or decorations or anything, and she was so excited about the start of summer that it seemed like the perfect fit.  I would like to say that finding games that are all age-appropriate and not too expensive or challenging for me to put together is not an easy task.  Oh yeah, especially when you consider the fact that you would also like the games to be fun and keep the kids busy.  I had only scheduled an hour and a half for the party - I thought I was being brilliant by keeping it well under two hours but even that 90 minutes proved to be too much for me. Ten extremely hyper and excited kids are not as easily entertained as they would be if there were only two or three of them gathering on a non-birthday afternoon.  Add three times the children and a birthday cake and oh man is it hard to keep them busy.

The successes were: this silly game where you put a pan of water in the middle of a circle of kids and hand them a die.  The kids take turns rolling and if they get a certain number (say a 6 or a 3) they get to slap the water really hard.  They LOVED this game.  Let's see...that might have been the only one. I'd say our relay involving pouring a cup of water over the top of your head and into the cup of a person behind you was moderately successful except that occasionally the kids deliberately threw the water in one another's faces.  I'd also say our water-ballon fight went pretty well except for kids getting hit right in the ears.  Also, some kids were perfectly willing to throw the balloons but not as willing to get hit with them.

Definite failures - an ABC scavenger hunt, don't even ask, and a balloon and paper plate-paddle tennis type game. ("This is boring...what's the next game?")






Thank heavens for an ice-cream sundae bar, and for the fact that cake and ice-cream take way more time than all 6 of my games put together.  And thank heavens that one little gal's mom decided to stay and lend a hand for the last part. And thank heavens that Skippidy had a great time. And thank heavens that the birthday dinner she chose, which followed the birthday party and was attended by her grandparents, was just corndogs and french fries.  And thank heavens that it is now over.

And thank heavens for Skippidy!  I'm telling you, we are lucky to have this gal. She brings cheer and love and tenderness to our family. There really are not words enough to describe this magical little gal and her joyful essence.  I look at her all the time and just wonder in amazement that I am the lucky lady who gets to be her mom.






3 comments:

Linda R said...

I love that picture of you in the end!!

You are such an awesome mom!

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Cullen said...

That last pic!

Great post - you really have a gift with words

Thanks for good tips on birthday party games.