A Magic Birthday Party

Harris' birthday party was super fun and it was made all the more fun by the fact that it was super easy to put together!  We went ahead and splurged on hiring a magician to come to our home and it was well worth it.  He was no more expensive than going to a venue for a party and the boys absolutely loved his show.  It made it a lot easier to have 12 eight and nine year old boys in the house when they were occupied and intent on what the magician was doing!

The food was simple since the party was after lunch.  We served a card cake, magic wands and top hats with bunny ears.

Since Harris' interest in magic has really been centered around card tricks we made a sheet cake to look like a 9 of spades.

 

 

The magic wands were pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate.

I tried to make sugar cookie bunny ears to stick in the chocolate muffins but they were a complete failure.  Therefore, I just printed and cut bunny ears out.  They looked way neater and cuter than the cookies would have.

Bryce and I made the light up magic sign!

For the favors we gave each child a brand new deck of cards and candy sticks. Simple.

Our family with the birthday boy!

Invitations for a Magic Party

Grace has a friend who is quite good at card tricks and from the moment Harris met him, and witnessed a few of these tricks, he has been really taken with performing some of his own card tricks.  Therefore, when we were deciding what to do for a birthday party it was an obvious choice to choose a magical theme!
 

We designed an invitation that resembled a playing card with a picture of Harris on the front and the party information on the back.  Harris has always had a fondness for "getting into character" so he was game for throwing on his magic cape and hat that he has had for years.  Also, I love that he arranged the front card to be a 9 (his age).  I didn't even notice this until after we made the invitation!

Since the invitations were so little, the size of a playing card, we just made small pocket envelopes for them by cutting a strip of paper and gluing the sides shut with hot glue.  Harris stuck some star stickers on the front for a little extra pizzaz.  The only problem with the envelopes?  They were so small that at least one person didn't even see it in their mailbox!  

Baseball Party- Part 2

Part 1 is here and invitation is here

After the boys finished the baseball game we walked back to our house for lunch, cake and the pinata.  I kept it simple by serving hotdogs and chips in red baskets.

 

Grace made the baseball cookies!  We used an edible marker to draw the laces in. 

 

  

My favorite part about planning a party are the details.  Even though nobody noticed the little baseball tablecloth weights, they made me happy!    They took about 4 minutes to piece together and since it was actually very windy they were quite handy to have. 

The baseball cake was perhaps the easiest cake we have ever made.  We intended to ice the cake underneath the baseball green for grass but we decided that we preferred it to evoke a pitcher's mound. 

After cake, the boys all took swings at the baseball pinata.

Each boy was given a bag to put their vendor treats in, the candy from the pinata and a pack of baseball cards to take home.

This party was easy to put together and it was so much fun for Harris!  It was cold on the day of his party but he, nor the other boys, seemed to mind.  They just enjoyed playing ball and being together!

A Baseball Party - Part 1

On Saturday, Harris celebrated his birthday with 9 of his buddies.  From the very beginning of birthday party discussions he was very clear that he just wanted to play baseball with his friends - and that is exactly what he did!

We met at a local playground that also has a baseball field.   We kept decorations simple with two balloons and our happy birthday banner.  Marilyn and Al made an adorable pitchers practice board that was a big hit for pitching practice.

Grace acted as a vendor for the players!  She made programs for all the players and she and her Gran made the felt pennants for the cheering fans.  She was the cutest vendor ever.

 

The items in the vendor basket were Big League Chew, chocolate baseballs, BBBats taffy, and circus peanuts (since Harris can't have real peanuts we went with pretend peanuts!).  We also served hot chocolate and small bottles of Gatorade.

 

  

 

Two of our good friends were kind enough to come and help do drills and warm-ups with the children.  Tucker and Tim were great with the children and helped to make it fun for all.  Tucker's son, Toby, even helped us out by being catcher.  It was awesome.

 

 

Baseball Invitations

Just yesterday Harris and I delivered the invitations for his upcoming birthday party.  Harris has a very specific idea what he wants to do this year for his birthday and it includes playing a game of baseball with his buddies.

For the invitation a baseball was the obvious choice.  I started out by drawing the stitches on the ball but then figured I might as well use real stitches on the card!  (I had lots of time sitting at Grace's ballet rehearsals!).

After I cut out the circles, Bryce drew on the stitches for me to embroider over.  It was useful to have an outline and any pencil markings were easily erased when I was done embroidering.  I used heavy paper and red embroidery thread.

I just happened to have little kraft paper bags that the invitations fit in perfectly.  Using a circle cutter I cut circles out of plain white sheet labels and drew on little stitches.  These were perfect to seal shut the envelope.  Baseball stamps (for those that were mailed) were a cute finishing touch!

Amazing Grace

Hello there!  We got back late last night after spending the past week skiing and vacationing in Utah.  The best part of the whole vacation was that we traveled with Kathleen and her family!  We had an amazing time!

While we were there, Grace turned 10!  I can hardly believe that she is in the double digits and is only three short years away from being an official teenager.  We are so proud of who Grace is and are honored and blessed to be her parents!  Here's the annual list of reasons (just a few!) we love Grace...

She claims that Angela Lansbury is her favorite actress and Andy Griffith is her favorite actor (Murder She Wrote and Matlock!).  We owe this to her Grandma.

She has an amazing imagination.  She is currently enthralled with the Percy Jackson series and has spent many hours playing and creating based around this series.  She has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how she can get her hands on a celestial steel sword.  She is always fully committed to the imaginary world that she creates!  

She is a voracious reader.  

She loves the water and would literally spend all her time in a pool if she could.

She knows her limits.  She will say no to things (art class, soccer, etc.) because she wants to have free time at home.

She loves her stuffed mouse, Moushka.  In fact, Moushka comes with us on most activities and is almost always appropriately accessorized.

Grace is a writer.  She has written poetry, short stories and a series of novels.  And they are actually good.

She still marches to the beat of her own drum.  She has yet to start worrying about what others think about how she dresses, what she does, or how she plays.  I pray that she never does.  

She loves her family.  She was recently given the option to have a friend over to spend the night, but she asked if she could spend the night with her Grandma instead so that they could have some alone time together.

She believes in magic; really believes.

At Home Party Tips

Thank you for your kind and gracious comments about Harris' detective party, each one made me smile and appreciate the fact that I get to share special moments in our lives with you.  Thank you for reading. 

We have hosted almost all of our birthday parties at our home, and both the children, for now, prefer that their parties are home based.  Certainly that could change, but for now we are content to keep them here.  I know that throwing children's birthday parties at home can be stressful and overwhelming but it can also be wonderfully fun.  At home birthday parties also lend themselves to all sorts of imaginative things that can be hard to do elsewhere.  I'm certainly no expert, but I've made a list of tips that I've learned about throwing at home parties and I thought I would share them with you, maybe they will be useful to someone! 

1.  Pick a theme.  I could never have a party without a theme.  Having a theme helps pull together every aspect of the party and helps you to make decisions about every element.  Everything from favors, to cake, to activities are easier to come up with if you have a jumping off point.

2.  Keep it small.  Our house (and my nerves) are not large enough to have a whole class party in our home.  We've always loosely gone by the rule of age- you can invite as many guests as you are old.  The exception to this rule is the first birthday party- that's for the parents as much as for the child!

3.  Keep the food simple but fun.  I love Amy Atlas type food tables, and the past couple of years I have loved putting together a little food table.  However, I've learned that going over the top doesn't pay off because the children cannot possibly eat all that food!  Those tables make for a great gathering point and for terrific pictures but they aren't the party.  The party is the children having fun together and celebrating a birthday!  

4.  Keep it short.  We make almost all of the parties an hour and a half.  It's enough time do some activities and eat cake! 

5.  Plan every moment of the party.  I know that sounds over the top but having a timeline can help keep things from getting crazy.  I plan enough activities to fill our time so that the children are together and busy the whole time.  For me this is not the time for the children to run off and free play (remember that our birthdays are during the colder months so we are almost always inside!). 

6.  Send out themed invitations.  Evites are huge and for good reason but it's nice to send out a themed invitation to get the children excited.  Plus, the children don't often see the evite on the computer, it's exciting for them to see the invitation!

7.  Don't worry about how clean your house is.  The children do not care.  Really.  

How about you?  What are some of your tips for a fun and smooth party?


P.S.  The above picture is from Harris' first birthday.  The house was a wreck.