All still in Q1 (pre-spring break):
♥️ Reading in G’s class!! She’s been asking me to do this forever but the slots were always on my clinic days! This week finally a Thursday opened up. I am excited (and need to pick the books!)
♥️ C’s 9th bday party, which we are hosting in our front yard — our second annual video game truck party. It worked last year and he wanted it again so we went for it. I still need to get snacks/drinks, outdoor table settings, and party favors (ugh least fave, ideas welcome). We are set for the cake:
(I bet if you had asked me pre-kids, I would have said I wanted to make my kids’ bday cakes. I don’t know if I’ve ever made one!? Sorry kids! But also not really because I buy really good ones!)
♥️ C’s actual birthday because there is no school and both Josh and I took off from work! Trying to decide what we will do . . . possibly Tidal Cove water park (assuming they heat the H2O . . . though it’s not like it’s actually cold out these days).
♥️ Super short but fun trip to NC for our friends’ 10th anniversary party (the one I bought the recent dress for) we were in their wedding and I can’t wait for this little mini-reunion!
♥️ Massage date with my friend (remember my colleague who left medicine over a year ago? We stay in touch with massage dates every ~2-3 months or so! The best.)
♥️ A1A half marathon. Even though there is no surprise cold front coming in. They just increased the predicted low to 70. GAH!
♥️ Mini retreat (really just one day) at a local hotel that *may* be the venue for BLPA live. (I have to test it out first!)
I feel like January was calm and February was calm for a bit and now there are just . . . a lot of things! Luckily most are positive. AND!!!! Soccer season is over (for now) so our evenings are calm again. I know C is going to end up in another sport very soon (which one TBD) but I am GREATLY enjoying this little activity lull.
19 Comments
Party favor option- Custom “C” cookie, soccer ball or the numerical digit of this birthday, in a cute little package sent home with the guests. Yes, it is a treat but they are fun and then there aren’t any crap toys to throw away later. I ordered from a local baker and the price was not cheap but they looked and tasted great. This also helped us when we had various aged siblings attending and not everyone was into the girly girl toy trinkets. Everyone loved a themed out cookie to go! If you are in a time crunch, try a local bakery for some macaroons of the party theme (black and white) and put in a cute bag from party city. Or you could skip the treat bag all together without guilt. You rented a truck for games after all 🙂
That’s such a good idea!
I have made exactly ONE cake, for my oldest child’s first birthday. 🙂 I never do a gift bag. It’s not really intentional. I always forget until I’m at the party and it’s too late. My children still have friends so I am sticking with it.
A video game gift card for a small amount of $? This is becoming our go-to birthday present for elementary aged boys.
My boys are 26, 23 and 23. I have NEVER made them a cake. LOL
I LOVE giving gift cards as party favors. We usually do a local ice cream shop, but sometimes the kids mix it up with Gigi’s cupcakes, Dunkin, or Crumbl cookies. I usually tie a helium balloon to each card so they can double as decorations until it’s time to go home.
i’m into this idea! We have a crumbl nearby so that might be perfect (I was actually just googling whether Crumbl sold individually wrapped cookies but it looks like a no. Can you tell I am trying to DIY as little as possible? haha.)
their single cookies come in a box, so you could just do boxed cookies. but probably more of a pain than just buying a bunch of GCs
Hmmm… your talk of boxes gives me a crazy idea … boxes of Girl Scout cookies as favors?
This may not be C’s favorite based on things you’ve reported in the past, but my go-to party favor for kids now is a book. My daughter is 8 and for her party I ordered 3 boxed sets of her current favorite series and everyone got one book. (Paper books for early chapter books in a box set end up like $4 each or so, which feels fine to me for a party favor that’s not junk.)
Love this idea — and he loves graphic novels so I could see this working but I feel like those are usually pricier! I have done paperback books for other kids before.
You’re right about that…I just looked up a boxed set of my daughter’s favorite graphic novels (the Wings of Fire series) and looks like those would end up at $8 a book. That adds up quickly!
We often do books as favors too!
I did packs of sidewalk chalk and rock candy for our last birthday (at a rock climbing gym). Usable and edible!
To point out the obvious – you don’t *have* to do party favors if you don’t enjoy that 🙂
As a parent who had entirely too many bits of party favor trash around for years, I’d say skip the favors.
i TOTALLY hate the trash too!!!!!
I had dreams of making my kids’ cakes too, but if you don’t make cakes all the time it turns out that you’re not very good at it haha. I bought my daughter’s cake for the first time this year and it was clearly better than what I make so this just might be the trend going forward.
I hate buying party favours and I hate when my kids come home with party favours. Things always seem almost immediately destined for the trash and it really upsets me over time. A bag full of candy is my favourite because I just ration it out slowly over time.
I remember being a bit shocked when my daughter came back from a paint-your-own-pottery birthday party and they hadn’t had cake OR gotten a favour. The pottery was the favour I suppose (which is great!), but I was surprised with no cake. I couldn’t figure out what emotion I was feeling…but mostly jealousy I think that the mother was so confident she didn’t even serve sugary treats at a party.
I’ve made all my kids cakes, but they’re simple. Their favourite (I’ve made this 3-4 times) is a rainbow cake. I just make a white cake mix, divide the batter into 5-6 bowls, colour each a different colour and then pour them into a bundt pan one colour at at a time. It sounds messy, but it takes a max of 10 minutes to prepare. And then I just top with coloured frosting of their choice + sprinkles. Easy and the big reveal of the multi-coloured cake still seems to wow all their friends.
This year my daughter wants cake pops and I am not enthused, but reading this post makes me realize: I could outsource that!