{"id":6339,"date":"2011-03-27T20:14:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T01:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/?p=6339"},"modified":"2011-03-27T20:14:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T01:14:42","slug":"imagine-inviting-kids-to-a-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2011\/imagine-inviting-kids-to-a-birthday-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagine: Inviting Kids to a Birthday Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our little baby is officially a big “three-year-old”:\/news\/2011\/rosies-third-birthday-breakfast-interview\/ now! She is such a grown-up girl that we had our very first kid-centered party to celebrate. (Includes video.)<\/span> <\/p>\n

Over the past several years, we’ve celebrated the girls’ “birthdays”:\/news\/2010\/four-is-a-lot-of-candles\/ with “lovely”:\/news\/2010\/gimme-a-two\/ “parties”:\/news\/2009\/lucys-third-birthday\/ that were “fun”:\/news\/2008\/party-girl\/ for both the adults and the (very few) children we invited. While the girls were in their “baby”:\/news\/2009\/happy-birthday-dear-rosie\/ “years”:\/news\/2007\/its-my-birfday\/, we didn’t feel the need to have kid parties with, say, age-appropriate games and clowns and goody bags and all that.<\/p>\n

But now that our girls are developing friendships of their own, we decided to broaden our horizons. So, Rosie and Lucy each get their own “kid party” this year — plus a joint party in between their birthdays for grandparents and other grown ups. (We’ll see if we can stand the fun of three parties in six weeks!)<\/p>\n

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We followed the philosophy of “invite as many children as the age of your child,” which of course meant three little friends for Rosie. After spending a couple of weeks planning a whole line-up of activities, it dawned on me the night before the party that this was really going to be more like a biggish playdate than a raucous birthday bash. And that’s just what it was. It turned out to be just the perfect way to celebrate Rosie’s third birthday. Activities included:<\/p>\n

* making lollipops out of colored paper circles, glitter glue, and pipe cleaners
\n* applying princess tattoos (a part that the one boy in attendance didn’t really enjoy much)
\n* a spontaneous book-reading break (instigated by that boy; see photo)
\n* playing “pin the candle on the cake” (a homemade felt variation of “pin the tail on the donkey”)
\n* cake! cookies! juice!
\n* opening presents
\n* playing with goody bag treats (particularly the jump-ropes) in the backyard<\/p>\n

I tried to do as much baking in advance as I could, in order to actually enjoy the party myself. And it worked! We had coffee, mini-scones with dried cherries, fruit and cheese, a “pink lemonade” cake, and our favorite iced sugar cookies. Everyone enjoyed looking at baby pictures of Rosie and listening to a super-fun kids’ music mix of Jon’s invention. And I had fun too! An excellent introduction to the kid party for the Boyds. Stay tuned for Lucy’s at the end of April!<\/p>\n

Here’s the video of Rosie very thoughtfully considering her wish and blowing out her three candles. As Lucy exclaims at the end, “Rosie is three now!”<\/p>\n