We had a Ninja Party for the big one and a Blue's Clues Party for the little guy...here are the best shots from each party (taking birthday party pictures is hard! I'm pretty sure that these were both taken by my dad. Also, there were lots of pics of other kids with my own...can't post those!)
Celebrating birthdays always gives me pause to consider...do my kids really need gifts? Do they really need big fancy shmancy parties? I am so proud of our parties...I hope that we focus on the celebrating of our kids' growth and not on the acquisition of presents. I can't even imagine opening a mountain of 20 or so gifts. David got 5 or 6 today and that seemed like a lot! But I love that he embraced each one of them. We definitely do a "homegrown" party -- my husband and I planned and executed it, this year with a little help from one of our Confirmation students (10th grader) who is a black belt in Karate. It helps that she has babysat for David since we moved here and he loves her! Each kid got a ninja headband, ninja bracelets, and ninja "exercises" got them going. We did silly obstacle courses and sent a bouncy ball through paper-towel tubes. Emily (the black belt) taught them all to count in Japanese. We ate cake. Then they all played outside 'til the mommies came. A good time was had by all, as the grandparents sat on the couch and watched the whole thing!
How do you keep from "too much birthday" in your house? How do you focus on the miracle of growth, the acknowledgement of our yearly progression?
See more Best Shot Monday at Picture This.
11 comments:
Ninja Birthday!
Very, very cool!
It's been rather easy to keep birthdays away from the madness so far, because Leo is still young and doesn't really know any different. We'll see how it goes down the road.
but mostly,we just limit the other people we invite, don't buy extravagant decorations or cakes, and ask family to not go over the top with the gifts.
Leo's birthdays have always been very bittersweet days for me, remembering the beauty of his birth and knowing he is growing so much, which I want and yet also touch loss.
LOVE the blues cupcakes! So cool.
We do "family parties" where we just invite the grandparents and the aunts/uncles, for all Birthdays except for the "big Birthdays" (1, 5, 10, 13...etc.). It's too hard to do big parties every year! And no... I don't think kids need more of anything!!!! Well, not most kids, anyway.
Two very cool parties!
I am starting to think about birthdays as my little one approaches his first year. Some people make such a big deal out of it but like you said, I want it to be a celebration but not one with tons of gifts. Your words on this are encouraging!
Love what you did with the parties. We are diffinitely working on that for the next one. But we have been having the girls go through their toys before parties to donate. They amazingly want to give a lot away. The biggest problem is probably me. I just love planning them. It's so easy to go overboard. I'll work on it.
I think we'll end up doing what my parents did with me & my sis: alternate parties for us every other year (i had a party my 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th bdays, etc), and I thought this worked out great. And it wasn't anything big. Just a gathering of 5-6 girlfriends and a cake. Maybe a slumber party. I don't think we'll start the madness with ours until they're 5 or something, which gives us a few years still.
Happy Birthday to both of them! It looks like they had GREAT times!
No big birthdays around here yet, but I have a feeling once Garrett attends his first 'real' kid party that it will turn him into a birthday monster, demanding one of his own...
those look like great parties! nice job w/ the blues cupcakes. :)
happy b'day to your boys!
Those Blues Clues cupcakes are awesome! Happy Birthday to your guys!
What fun! the Blue cupcakes are adorable. Happy Birthday to your boys! We are keeping the birthday party small, too.
I suppose it is the Jew in me...but no matter how many times I look at those cupcakes...I see Hanukkah cupcakes...lol
Bradley
The Egel Nest
Happy birthday to both of them! Those are some really great Blues cupcake! Hope they had lots of fun!
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