Simple Birthdays & The Adventures of Sadie & Wade

Birthday parties, like a lot of things, can get a little out of control.  Bounce houses, gift bags, clowns, inviting the whole preschool class--the bigger the better.  There are lots of people that will give advice about how to set boundaries and limits.  And a lot of it is good advice.  

For this week's Pinterest Poser Challenge* I am showing you a party that bucked the bigger is better trend that is all over Pinterest and your typical suburban neighborhood.  For this week's challenge I am going to show you a delightfully simple birthday party.

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week I attempt and detail a project/idea/recipe inspired by Pinterest. 

**My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.

Last week, my friend hosted a delightfully simple party for her daughter Sadie.  A party perfect for a couple of cute four-year-olds and their moms.  

My friend Liane hosted the perfect party for her daughter, Sadie, who turned four last week.  She and Wade are buddies--they play well together, they play well side by side.  I thought about naming this post The Adventures of Sadie and Wade because they are just so damn cute.  

A party of two (four including the moms) was the perfect number.  Liane sewed adorable crowns for the kids.  They obliged for a couple pics and then they were off playing, jumping on the trampoline and laughing.

She made a cake that was the perfect size for a party of two.  Sadie and Wade (and the moms) sat on a picnic blanket and sang happy birthday and ate cake.  It was pretty delightful and simple and easy and not overwhelming or disappointing and it was the best kind of perfect.

She organized a craft for the kids.  It was a dragon made out of toilet paper rolls and egg crates.  It didn't work out exactly like the picture on Pinterest, but they had a blast painting it.  

Birthday parties don't have to be all we hired a clown and we have the perfect everything and invite everybody.  Sometimes the best, most perfect parties are the small, intentional, delightfully simple parties.

Did you see last week's vlog with Sadie and her mom in it?  Check out their amazing version of Radiohead's Creep.

Have you made anything inpsired by Pinterest lately? Or do you have a simple birthday success story? Share it here or on my Facebook page.  

Make An Awesome Omelette--click here
Outdoor Lights Inspired by the show Parenthood- click here
Herb Garden with Chalboard Pots- click here
Backyard Graffiti Art with kids- click here
Happiness Notecards- click here

Gluten Free Rainbow Cake- click here

Fruit Roll-Up Fortune Cookies- click here

Make Your Own Magnets- click here

DIY Painted Clay Necklace- click here

Dixie Cup Lights- click here

DIY Ornaments-click here

Gluten Free Clay- click here

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here
Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here
Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here
Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

  Head on over and follow my Pinterest boards-click here!

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood and subscribe to my YouTube channel here.

Party Planning Blues

It's my kid's party and I'll cry if I want to.  

Yeah, it was that kind of party this weekend.  The kind of party where it all went all kinds of wrong.  The kind of party full of expectations and preparations and ultimately disappoint-ations, okay I know that's not a word, but it flowed so I went with it.  

The party was for JT.  My son turned 7.  I turned into a birthday party mother, a not so distant cousin of the stage mother. The mother who has to make a big deal about everything and it becomes more about her than the child. I turned into a mild version of some of those moms on reality shows that makes everyone feel better about themselves.

It surprised me.  I've always been a pretty laid back party planner and party goer.  I enjoy parts of party planning, but really don't stress over too much.  

Maybe it's because life has been so hectic and I feel like we've been so scattered.  Maybe it's because JT has never had a party with friends.  Oh hell, maybe Pinterest made me do it.  Seeing all those cute, over-the-top parties made me want to give a little piece of perfection to my middle child.

So I came up with the perfect plan--a Pirate Party.  And this was going to be a fabulous pirate party.  There would be game stations, decorations, face painting, pirate certificates and more.  And there would even be a pirate in the house named Cap'n Blood.  

Tim drew this awesome Pin the Patch on the Pirate poster.  Actually, the kids had a pretty good time with this game.  You gotta love the classics.

Who wouldn't love all of this?  Um, well, supposedly a group of 10 pretty sophisticated, hyper 6 and 7-year-olds.

Sure my husband made a great pirate, but the boys simply weren't that into the whole pirate scene.  They wanted to play football and baseball and wrestle and yell and do what boys do.

Tim took off his Cap'n Blood costume and pitched to the kids--he officially threw in the pirate towel. I was a little snappy with a couple of the kids (mine) and wondered how it all went so wrong and yeah, I may have cried just a little (probably from exhaustion from both party prep and just life in general).  How could they not like pirates and games? what's wrong with kids these days? what's wrong with me? this party is the worst. what's wrong with my party planning? I should've volunteered more in the classroom and I would've known these kids didn't like parties. the kids hate this party. JT's day is ruined. waaaaaa.

But guess what....even though my idea of a great party was totally unraveling (as well as my party planning/mom confidence), the boys were having a really good time.  

"This is the best party ever!," JT said to me.  

My first thought was "really? because I had so many other plans," but then I simply felt happy.  Happy even though it may not have been what I chose for my son, it made him feel celebrated and loved.  And that's what it's all about.

There are lessons in this tale I tell.  First, the lesson that kids are growing up fast these days, plan your pirate party early on at around age 3 or 4.  Second, the lesson of acceptance.  Accept that plans will go awry; people (usually your kids and their friends) won't like everything you do, even if you work really hard to make it happen; and it will be okay.  Even if JT and his friends hadn't had fun, it still would have been okay.

There's no perfect.  You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life.  Just like the old sitcom theme song.  You do your best, hope for the best and accept the results.

Oh I forgot about lesson three, having a few drinks after a high-strung kid party is pretty much a brilliant move.  

So let's review.

1. Have plan, but go with the flow.  Be willing to scrap the plan if no one is digging the theme.
2. Don't become a Birthday Party Mom.  Remember it's about the kids, not you.  There are some people that really enjoy hostessing and that's cool.  Those people are usually really good at, but even they can forget that a kid's birthday party is really, truly for the kid.
3. Pinterest is for inspiration and ideas, not pressure and self-loathing.
4. Relax.
5. Don't take anything personally, ever, just don't. A kid says your house is ugly, who cares?  I love to tell the story about how one time a child told me my house was the messiest house he'd ever seen.  Ever. Whatever!
6. There's no perfect.
7. Don't spend a fortune on a kid's birthday party, unless you have a disposable fortune laying around.  All they want is to run around screaming with some friends for an hour and cake. Boom, you're done.
8. Have your drink of choice at the ready after the party.
9. Enjoy the moments when your kid is happy.
10. It's your kid's party, you can indeed cry a little if you want to.  Preferably not in front of the children of course.  Even after knowing and putting into practice the nine other bullet points on this list, it is still okay to feel a little disappointed.  But just make it quick and move on.