Birthdays

A Minnie Mouse First Birthday Party

A Minnie Mouse First Birthday Party

Today is Hailey's first birthday!! I can't believe that my baby girl is already a year old.  It is so true that the days are long but the years are short. We are currently weaning baby girl from breastfeeding and while I am super relieved, I am also so sad that our special time is ending.  But on to happier things!!

Things to Do Before 32: The Final Update

Things to Do Before 32: The Final Update

So today is my birthday!!! On April 11 of 2016 I turned 31 and around that time I created a post about the things Iā€™d like to do before my next birthday. This list consisted of a wide range of goals including trips with the family, school goals, and friends goals. You can find that post here.  Back in July, I posted my first update at a quarter of the way through the year and in October I posted my progress at the halfway point.  January marked the 3 quarters point. Now here we are a full year later.  

Birthday Wishlist for Busy Moms

Birthday Wishlist for Busy Moms

Guys, my birthday is just 2 weeks away! I'm excited! Is that weird?  Am I too old to be excited about birthdays? Eh, oh well.  My husband tells me that I am the worst person to shop for.  He thinks my picks are far too practical and often ends up opting for things that don't really get much use.  The thing is I hate clutter and I value presents that make my life easier/better.  So I put together my busy mom birthday wishlist for everyone to see.  Hopefully, he'll read this post too (wink, wink)!!

Throwing a Wonka Party for PreschoolersĀ 

Throwing a Wonka Party for PreschoolersĀ 

This past weekend was Tyler's 4th birthday and the theme was Willy Wonka. This was Tyler's first party where he had school friends to invite. This meant a little more planning as far as food and activities, but overall it was so fun to put together. Best of all, the kids had a blast!

Birthday Party Planning Made Simple

Birthday Party Planning Made Simple

Tyler's first big boy birthday party is coming up.  He is in preschool this year, so he actually has friends his own age to invite to his party and play games with. In order to make sure this event goes off without a hitch, I created my own party planner.  Let me walk you through it!

Picking a Third Birthday Theme

 

With my son's third birthday quickly approaching, it was time to pick a theme for his party. For the past two years, this job was pretty easy. During the time prior to his parties, T was pretty much gravitating to one thing. For his first birthday, that was Sesame Street. For his second birthday, he was mad about Toy Story. Now that his third birthday was rolling around, picking a birthday theme was not so easy.

We obviously wanted to pick something that he liked, but unlike prior years, we had too many choices. This year he has various interests including Avengers, WWE, Lego, Star Wars, and more. Picking one of these to be his theme would not be easy.

We also had a second dilemma. We do not want to repeat birthday themes. He only has a certain amount of years of throwing birthday parties and we want him to get to celebrate with all different themes. With that in mind, themes like the Avengers were ruled out because when he is older he may want that theme to play with his friends. We considered a Muppets theme, but there just wasn't much available for Muppets. If I wasn't in grad school, I'd consider diy-ing it, but I just don't have the time.

What to do, what to do...

Luckily, we received an Oriental Trading catalog in the mail just as we were discussing matters. They had a bunch of fun but generic party themes one of which is perfect for Tyler. We found that the color brick party would be perfect for Tyler. All the items in this set have building blocks resembling Legos. They have tableware, accessories, favors and more. And we can supplement with his own Legos and Duplos. Need a utensil holder? Build it from blocks!

The best thing is, we can gear it to duplo versus Lego, which is more his speed anyway. If he wants a Lego party when he's older, we can always do a party at the Lego Discovery Center which would be totally different.

We found a cool vendor on Etsy, Blaked Potato Press who made custom invites for us. You can see the top portion of the invite in the cover photo. You can find them here: Blaked Potato Press Check out their other themes as well.

So in conclusion, here are my tips for choosing a third birthday theme.

  1. Make a list of all the things your child is into at the moment

  2. Remove items that may be more appropriate for older kids

  3. If there are items remaining after step two, find the theme that had the most items available

  4. If step 2 cleared your list, see if there is a generic version or a toddler version of your theme. So instead of Disney Princess, think generic princess or instead of Avengers, think generic super hero. At this age, what matters is how fun you make it!

Good luck in your party planning!!

If you could use a planer to help put together your birthday festivities, check out my birthday party planner here!

Cheers,

Emily