Cal's 7th Birthday Party
In our house, we decided that 8 is the last year you get a Birthday party where family is invited. I guess it has to end somewhere. It's awkward to invite people to a party for your 23rd birthday, right?
With Cal turning 7 this is one of our last big hurrah's. Well, at least for family. Not like grandparent family but extended family. We chose this, not because we don't love them but because with friends coming too it's starting to get cramped in our house.
I'm curious what everyone else does for Birthdays...parties, yea or nay? Family parties, friend parties? So far we've had family parties with a splash of friends added in. A splash seems okay but the deluge seems unbearable.
After you turn 8 in our household we've decided you can choose from either a) a friend birthday party or b) a small trip somewhere. You pick, my friend. You pick.
So anyway, I wanted to make this a good party and maybe because I am losing my mind, I went out and had some more details (at least I think) than I normally do.
The theme we decided on this year was Dinosaurs. And Hallelujah it was something generic. No skylanders swap force for us, thank you. Or as it was the last birthday for Cal, no winnie the pooh changed into Daniel Tiger in the final hour theme for us. Whew.
Also, I just have to tell you, the food had gotten a little out of control. We've had familial pressure to provide a full meal to everyone at parties. Which has continually made me feel like I am going to vomit from the pressure. It's a kid birthday party and this party I finally decided to put the kabosh on the fully catered meal circle I had somehow duct taped myself to.
So we served hot dogs.
Classy, right?
The boy loved hotdogs. People could argue that hotdogs would constitute a meal so I figured this was a gradual decrease in the food we are serving from the fully catered meal.
See? A woman can change :)
When in doubt, start with the cake picture, right? How stinking cute is this cake? And our neighbor made it to boot. We are blessed with some very talented neighbors :) If you need a cake and live in our area be sure to check her out. Simply amazing! Plus I don't think it gets any easier than having your husband walk across the street an hour before party time to get the cake. Love that feature!
I always order a cake and then I make cupcakes to accompany it. I do this for two reasons: 1)it's cheaper to just order a small cake and 2) I like to give people a choice between cake flavors. So I usually order a very dark chocolate cake with a ganache filling, something ooey and gooey and yummy, and then I make a yellow cake into cupcakes.
Here are some other photos of the big day...
This was the big moment of our guy making his wish. Isn't he just the cutest little thing? By the way I totally made his shirt. No sewing or anything required. I cut the 7 out of fabric and then put iron on fusing on the back and ironed it on the shirt. It was a last minute idea but it is still holding and I had only planned on it sticking for the day. So it works well if you need to do something in a pinch!
I made up all of these printables to go with the food. Aren't they just adorable? They came with a kit that I will discuss a little further on in the blog.
There's only one more egg in the basket but I made these as favors for the kiddos to take home.
To make them we first blew up balloons. This project was not for the faint of heart as I am scared of balloons and yes, I know, that is absurd. Moving on. The balloon is what gives the egg shape so you need one for every dino egg you are making. For me, I needed what felt like 2,000 but I think in reality it was more like 12.
I then Paper Mached the crap out of these balloons but I left an opening around the tie of the balloon. You do this to put whatever you are putting in there in. So whatever you are needing to get in there, that's the size of hole you need to leave.
In our case this is what we put in the egg...a cute note, some candies, and a stuffed animal.
As you can see it was a bit tight to get things in there but just gently ease things in there, take your time and it will all go in...hopefully. :)
See? They all worked out. After this I carefully paper mached them closed. I didn't take pictures of that because it was about 2 in the morning and by that point I just didn't care. I then painted them white and added some fun polka dots. Oh and just an fyi. I used acrylic paint thinking it would be quick and easy....wrong! It actually used a TON of paint because it's paper of course and it wanted to soak the paint in. So I had to do several coats. Just a word to those of you who also might want to stay up until 2 trying to do this. It will take you forever, just know it. I found that putting them on a cooling rack with a fan going helped the drying process immensely.
Anyway, moving on with the rest of the party:
Moving on from Dino eggs I must tell you about the fact that this was the first year that Cal wanted to read the cards outloud to everyone. It was amazing and adorable and hilarious all rolled into one.
I've got oodles of these jobbers and we just love them! You can make all kinds of color combinations for whatever you are celebrating and make them work for you. I hang them from the dining room chandelier which you can see when you are coming into our home. But you could hang them anywhere, of course. I just love that when you see them they just scream "party!" Love them!
I had these stations around with things to do. I got the decorations off of Etsy. I love etsy! So many things that are unique and I love that they support other Momma's who are trying to earn their living. I ordered all of the dino printables off of an Etsy store called Your Pretty Party and I ordered the Custom Dinosaur Birthday Kit.
So there you have it, our little bit of heaven for our little boy. I love him so much and I love putting a party on to celebrate our little Calvin.
I hope this helps you plan your little one's dino party. So.much.fun! I love putting on parties! If you have put on a dino party I would love to see what you have done too :)
Party On, Friends!