Keep Calm and Eat a Cookie

That was pretty much the theme of our daughter’s third birthday party, and if someone were to ask me just why I try to log so many miles running, I think mentioning how we have a tremendously independent and opinionated three-year-old would be reason enough? Typically I begin planning her parties in November before Thanksgiving. It gives me a chance to scope out party sites, get ideas and gauge what she really likes. This year was proving to be a nightmare from the beginning… I had originally come up with the cute idea of throwing a “Sweetheart Party” while I was out on one of my post fall marathon long runs. Something about running the trails really grounds me and makes me my most productive. Her birthday is so close to Valentine’s Day and I thought I could hit up the stores for her decorations the day after scoring big bonus points on sale items. Hearts, red, pink and cute candies, you know what I mean? I even had made her class Valentine’s early with an idea I got from Pinterest. It cost me $3.00 or so for her class of twelve and I was so happy with how the butterfly cards came out… I think next year I could probably spring for the googly eyes and make the butterflies more life like looking. I just didn’t want the teachers at school to say, “Oh hey they were cute but the kids tried eating the eyes off the lollypops.” I tend to overthink these things sometimes.

It was probably a month before Lane’s birthday and one morning before school I asked her what she thought about her birthday coming up. We had talked and talked or I should say I “prompted” the discussion by saying, “Hey baby girl are you excited for your sweetheart party?” Of course like any kid she was excited, but this particulart morning she said, “Well Mommy, I like red but I want cookie monster at my party…” For real?? I had been list making for months now, drawing diagrams about how I would set up the room layout, planned games around heart themes and called to see if I could get a heart shaped ice cream cake. This is probably where most parents want to rip out their hair and just remind themselves how cute their children are. Well, not this momma. I was so upset I needed a long run to sort this out. I knew this wasn’t a big deal but having started school again, working two jobs, ect… I was pretty pressed for time to “replan” a party I thought she would really enjoy. (We had even decided to not invite her 11 other school classmates and keep the party close friends and family this year because already our guest list was busting at 50 plus adults and 15 of them most likely kids!!)

Last year, her party was a Seseame Street theme with Elmo and the Count. I saved all the decoration stuff so I knew the cost would be minimal there. This time around I wanted to change the colors from the primary palatte to something more fun. (I know, I was totally overthinking this!) To keep things simple I stayed with purple and blue as the colors for tables/balloons/ect. I used her Seseame Street character toys as the table decorations, tying their helpless furry bodies to mason jars I had for canning fruit and pickles. I used weights for the balloons and set up a “chocolate chip cookie bar” and a round ice cream cake for dessert. Daddy took care of ordering and getting all the hot food for lunch. I planned several games I thought the kids could enjoy: “pinning the cookie on cookie monster” so easy because I made them all myself. “tossing the cookies into cookie monster’s mouth” the kids thought this was a fun game because they got to throw birdseed filled beanbags I made into his mouth. “graffitti wall” I use rolled easel paper and covered a wall kid’s could draw on in our ‘Seseame Street’ neighborhood with washable crayons and markers. This seemed to be the biggest hit with all of the kids no matter what age. Right before we had cake I had the kids hit a ‘homemade pinata.’ Yes, you read that correctly, I made the cookie shape inspired pinata, thank you very much Pinterest! It was easy and like I said the cost to make and fill the pinata was close to $10.00 instead of the ones at the store that ranged $35.00 and up and were still empty, no candy, no goodies inside, which ended up being the bulk of my cost because I already had the newspaper, paint, and balloon to shape it. Lane loved wacking the pinata and although the kids needed a ‘big kid’s’ assistance they got it open and had a good time. Even the tutu she is wearing is homemade. I think I’m going to start making those as gifts because she loves it and even the other little girls wanted them to dance in during the party. (You can’t beat $4.00 in tutu supplies and 30 minutes to make for hours of fun!) So besides doing the decorations two weeks prior and setting up that morning, all I had to do was make the cookies the night before. Not too shabby and the best part, (not only did I get a long run in that weekend!) my little cookie monster LOVED LOVED LOVED the party. Phew!

How do you try to budget not only your time and money for your kids’ parties?

XOXO

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