Simplifing Birthdays: Part 1

I'm never sure why kids' birthday parties always have to be such a big deal. The kids are little and all they really want is cake and presents. We were fortunate enough to be overseas for the first half of Alex's life and therefore weren't sucked into the American birthday craziness. This first birthday was held at a little park in Qatar. He was really too young for the playground, but we had older kids coming and they had nice big field to roam free on. For his second, we had it at home in Sweden with playground and neighbor moms and kids. It was perfect, crazy, but perfect. Anna is fortnate to have a summer birthday so both of hers were outside. Her first party was my pride and joy. It was a pink party. Everything was pink, the food, the invitations, the drinks and everyone even wore pink to celebrate.

Then we moved back to the USA, where birthdays cost more than a dinner party. Moonbounces, gyms, party planners, clowns....what is this madness? It's for a three-year old? So we went back to having Alex's at home. It was chaotic and too many people, but he loved it.

In two weeks, Alex will turn four. Last year he chose the theme and this year, I asked him to do the same. He wanted a Halloween party since my kids LOVE Halloween and costumes. I agree he could do costumes. Ok, done. Now I had to find a venue. When I asked for the guest list, it was long. And after last year, I was certain we weren't doing home.

We finally settled on a playground party. Cake, playground, costumes, done! Now, March can be iffy in terms of weather here in Northern Virginia. My genious husband recommended doing a rain date two days later. So, we have the party scheduled, the invites sent out and a raindate scheduled as back up. I even have a friend making the cake.

Now I wasn't able to pick just any playground. I had to pick one that was close enough to a bathroom, one that had some covering in case it started to rain, one that was old enough to keep the older kids busy and one with some little kid areas as well. See, when you invited four-year olds, almost all come with their younger siblings so you have to include them in your numbers and activities.

More to come on party favors.....