This was hands down the easiest, most relaxed, most enjoyable birthday party to get ready for EVER! And it was thanks in a very large part to the ladies in our family who helped with childcare last night and this morning/afternoon.
We decided to host the party at a local park this year. That decision was largely because we wanted to be able to invite some of Will's and our mutual friends and our house simply can't accommodate any more people than we normally invite. I'd checked into some of the bigger parks in Oregon and Genoa and the prices were between $50-80 for shelter house rental. But one of my biggest concerns with either of those was that they are both very popular (especially Oregon's) and would undoubtedly be crowded. Public parks do not close to the rest of the public when rented for parties like this. I didn't want the parents of any children worrying about where their child was at any given moment and losing them in the shuffle. So finally I called about the playground and shelter house at the old Allen school. The cost there was only $35 and it was actually a much nicer set-up with all the available facilities. Better than I even expected and the playground is very rarely visited by regular public guests. So the large open grounds around it were safe to run freely and we had the place completely to ourselves.
The shelter house had a "kitchen area" for setting out all the food, complete with a fridge and deep freeze, but no sink. So we decided to keep the main dish simple and just order pizzas from Marco's in town. Another big task off my hands! I made up a large fruit salad, a large tray of veggies and dip, a really yummy store-bought green salad with dried fruit and nuts, and two banana cakes per the birthday boy's request. And for ice cream to go with the cakes, we ordered individual cups of soft serve ice cream, pre-made from The Big Dipper in town just like Casey and Molly did at their parties this year. Soooo nice!
So as I mentioned, Will & Sophie stayed with papa & grandma last night. In the morning, grandma gave them both a shower for us and kept them until about lunch time so that Craig and I could sleep in a little and then head to the park to do a little cleaning and set up. I was able to scrub down all the picnic tables, counters and benches while Craig raked the volleyball court, filled the helium balloons and put out garbage bags in all the waste bins.
We picked kids up, fed them lunch and then dropped Will off to Aunt Casey's house where she had asked to take him shopping to pick out some of his presents from her. Apparently they'd talked about it before and Casey wanted him to be able to select his own. Will was elated to go on this "date" with his Godmother and the timing was so nice for us too! We took Sophie home for a nap, got showers for ourselves and then dressed for the party. Casey brought Will back after they finished and I got some pictures of the two of them together:
At about 2:45, my mom came over to stay with Soph while she finished her nap and Craig, Will & I headed back to the park to decorate and get the food ready. Then mom was going to dress Sophie and do her hair and bring her to the party when she came at 4:00. Timing makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE when it comes to party planning. This day went SO SMOOTHLY because of all the help we had with our kids and it allowed us to feel so relaxed about getting everything done! Thank you, Marilyn, Casey and mom!!!
Our birthday boy.
Will and Nana.
The shelter house as seen from the playground with part of the volleyball court in between.
I borrowed an idea from Pinterest to serve the fruit salad in waffle cones. I set them out right away with some forks so the kids could dig in when they arrived.
We brought along several kick balls, soccer balls, a beach ball, a football, a volleyball, a couple hoola hoops and some bubbles for the kids to play with.
We ate...
Hello, Magnone family!
Hello, Clement & Mollenhauer families! So glad some more friends could join us as we'd hoped.
Will with Charli and Cora.
And the kids played...
Haha! Look at Charli & Will in the next three. :-)
My favorite pic of the day. My boys.
Gift opening time!
Jax and Brutus joined us and wandered the grounds together.
It was a pretty windy afternoon and so we had Will sit up on the counter in front of the kitchen area to try to block his birthday candles from the wind. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. :)
And he blew out his candles!
Banana cake is definitely a winner.
Love this picture of Lindsey and Taylor.
Jagger & Will.
Autobot wannabes. ;-)
Veronica attempting to hoola hoop...
We had lots of help with clean up so that was a breeze. But we returned home with a lot more than we came with because of all the gifts. And everything and everyone felt a little bit sticky. ;) Both children and dog went straight into the tub (not together - ha!) upon arrival home. Will played for a bit and then both kids crashed. All in all, I'd say it was a success! We're going to have to figure out some place bigger and indoors that we can have Sophie's party when it's time to invite some of her friends. April is just too unpredictable for outdoors.
No comments:
Post a Comment