I Need to be Six...Now!!

We had a great and yet busy summer. H was very keen to be 5. He went to several summer birthdays including his best friend's birthday and was sorely disappointed that he wasn't five yet.

We began making plans for his first birthday "party" with friends. It began as an affair for maybe 4 kids with a Pa* Patro1 theme. Then dinosaurs, then animals, then zoo, then PP, then "just birthday" then....well, he fretted and worried for several weeks. Summer was ending and he was going to spend a couple of weeks at my parents. Our goal was to have his mind made up by the time he returned.

"I don't know mom, I just don't know what kind of birthday I'll have."

I tried to play down the fretting mostly so we could reach a decision and I could actually plan.

In the end, he opted for a dinosaur party with 11 friends a nice mix of friends from his two schools. A pre-question for a possible date was sent to the parents on the list - all good. A texted invite - reminder was sent the week before. Actual invitations were made (and signed by H) and mailed set to arrive a few days before with address and details....

We went shopping for dinosaur items, Pinteres* was consulted, and online shopping considered. In the end we didn't do too badly with several items were easily available at the dollar store and party store. One item on the must have list? A piñata. Yup. Thank goodness for party stores. Two other requirements?

1) It had to be a surprise (well, um ok that was hard to explain to the parents why they had to be punctual and H wouldn't be here yet)

2) No one could sing Happy Birthday (he did acquiesce that his friends could sing but only grudgingly - of note he has requested to never be sung to again - that is his least favorite part of birthdays.)

The goal was to have an outdoor party with garage central for food, gathering, games, crafts, and in case of bad weather. So, a good thing came from all the sweat and last minute running to the store...we had a cleaner garage than we have had since we moved in.

All in all the party was successful although there were a few moments of doubt.

Only 5 of the 11 kids actually showed up, while I was a bit stymied as to why that was, it turned out to be a good thing and the group was just the right size.

"I came because my mom said there would be fun and games...but there's not."

One child running slightly amok - his mom was around to herd him around.

Moments of pure chaos towards the end of grabbing too many little dinosaurs and moms yelling "No, one, just one, put that back!"

We had beautiful weather, well received cake with "lava" in the middle and dinosaurs abounding on the top (home made cake out of a box - was actually awesome and we all ate it.)

One child afraid of the dinosaur mask (see above child running slightly amok).

One child wondering where the "Dinosaur Train" was as the use of all the big boxes escaped him until the others showed him what to do.

Chalk paint was a great hit and I made so many bottles I had it down to science - tip to parents do not make up "extra large bottle" batches the night before in hopes that you can simply add color and mix the following day - those didn't work out so well but the squeeze bottles were great from Sam. (nod to the new photo on the blog -we have a good sized driveway that was covered in chalk paint.

Pure astonishment at the "hatching" foaming eggs (again have the recipe down to a science - thank you internet and Pinter...)

So, how did the day end? Well, after two solid hours of relatively successful entertainment with perfect weather, we headed off to the piñata. Our yard does not have the best trees for hanging one so we were a little off in the height. None of the little guys could get enough whack behind it to break it down. One big sis came to the rescue and was able to gain height and strength for a successful break when immediately upon the success...

H burst out bawling...Yup, you know it's a good party when all the 5 year olds end up crying at the end from exhaustion and sugar. We said our adieus and headed off for a well deserved nap.

I waited for weeks for H to come up with a saying about his next birthday. Finally, after two months of waiting....

"Mom, I need to be six...NOW!"