Spring Fourth
Remember Wombat’s inexplicable but toooootally normal obsession with Spring?
I couldn’t very well have just ignored that and thrown him a theme-less birthday party, could I? Especially not after I realized I could name the affair “Spring Fourth” (get it?) and use astroturf as a tablecloth.
Okay, I called it an “affair” up there, but let’s be real. For the most part, four-year-olds don’t give a crap, and even if they did, it’s A FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S BIRTHDAY PARTY and I have an infant and a passion for frugality and it’s a four-year-old’s birthday party. I did exactly as much crafting as I could to satisfy my own need to craft, and the rest of it was pretty low-key, if you don’t count shutting down the street so we had ample room to set up the petting zoo, pony rides, and make-your-own-gourmet-brick-oven-pizza station.
(There was no petting zoo or pony rides and I did not shut down the street for a rental brick-oven-pizza trailer.)
I put a little energy into a few easy but big-impact features and simply ignored the voices begging me to do things like hand-sew and monogram drawstring goody bags when the kids only care about what’s inside. (Bubbles, bunny snacks, a wooden magnet clip thingy to color, and a little packet of poppy seeds, because nothing says party like giving preschoolers opiates.)
Even the table turf was a scaled-back version of what the Voices had in mind. I’d had visions of buying a patch of real sod and nestling all the food amongst the sprouts [and then buying professional photography lighting so I could go viral on Pinterest], but then I started thinking about dirt and allergies and BUGS, and anyway, Simon reminded me we had the perfect amount of fake grass leftover from carpeting the cats’ climbing structure, so no, I didn’t need to buy real grass and could instead spend that $30 on something more practical, like the pièce de résistance: a garden trowel marked with the numbers 1 through 4 (get it?), which we used as the server for a decadent dirt cake.
My mom made me one of these when I turned 12 and I was horrified when she dug into a flower pot and started scooping out the dirt and mud onto paper plates for my friends. Four-year-olds are less squeamish, thank god, although some of the parents balked when they noticed it contained gummy worms.
Otherwise, everyone was into the rainbow fruit salad, the “spring chicken” nuggets (get it?), and the hot dogs cut to look like springs. (Oh, I slay me.)
The spiral-cut hot dogs are seriously SO GREAT. Let’s meet back here next week and make some together.
Related, here’s the shirt I made for Simon. Idea, his; execution, mine.
(GET IT?)
Finally, you know how I love hanging balloons. This time we did it with monofilament (aka fishing line) and hung the rainbow over the path leading up to the front porch. The kids LOVED it–Wombat especially, which was of course the point (“Mom, it looks so LOVELY!”)–and for real, if you’ve never hung balloons before, you should because it’s super impressive and super easy (especially if you have your husband and mom do it for you, ahem). Here’s the how-to.
And the rest was all just good four-year-old-birthday-party fun. The kids ran around outside a bit, ran around inside a bit, and then when Cake Time was announced, they poured out from under Wombat’s bed clown-car style, which was my favorite moment of the day. They ate on the porch and had a grand time, and I’m telling you this: the best way to make friends with other parents is to invite their kids to your kid’s birthday party.
(Also satisfying: Continuing to use leftover wedding supplies, like plates and streamers and toothpicks and napkins and pinwheels.)
I’d posed the “Party games: Y or N?” question to Twitter for last year’s party, and everyone was right that all three-year-olds need is a bunch of toys dumped on the floor. When I asked the question again this year, again Twitter was right in that four-year-olds definitely have the attention span for a game or two. At the suggestion of my MIL, we played Pass the Parcel, a staple in England, where her other two grandkids live, and it was a total hit. Look, it has its own Wikipedia entry. We also tried to play Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button, but soon realized we were giving the kids too much credit, or perhaps not enough, because they are terrible liars. If you want to fool anyone, get working on your poker faces, dudes.
On the bright side, at least we know their happiness is real too.
I now feel the need to make hot dog springs.
They’re fun. One of the dads at the party followed me into the kitchen and made me do a tutorial for him because he was so impressed.
Excuse me, but did you just say you carpeted a cat tree? I have lamented the cost of those things and thought surely it can’t be THAT hard to do myself, but I have not. I am incredibly interested in hearing more about this climbing structure you carpeted (and perhaps made?)
Also, the rest of this post was awesome, as expected. =)
Simon made a tree-like structure out of plywood and 4x4s and we covered the platforms with astroturf and the uprights with sisal rope. It all sheds horribly and it was kind of a pain in the ass to make, but it IS cool to look at, and people are always commenting on it when they see it. I will say, though, that it’s probably worth just buying a pre-made one (and they are indeed stupid-expensive), especially if you don’t have access to woodworking tools. Oh, and they also do nothing to keep our cats from scratching up the furniture. :/ If I find a picture of it, I’ll post it for you.
Ah, here’s a close-up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/agirlandaboy/3332780776/
What a great theme! And the cake looks awesome! Also, I hope my 4 year old (you know, the one who hasn’t even been born yet because I’m still single and a long ways from having kids) is the kind of 4 year old who will say something looks “lovely.” Happy belated birthday to Wombat!
I love the hanging balloons! I totally stole the idea from you after you first posted it. As you say, it looks AMAZING for very little time, money and effort. Unfortunately, as the sun rose in the July sky, the balloons started popping randomly, scaring the shit out of several kids, one of whom insisted that he and all his loved ones stay inside thereafter.
For last year, the Voices (stealing that too) found this Martha “firework” balloon idea where you fill the balloons with confetti. Which sounded like a total win-win. I had even searched out biodegradeble confetti. But then I thoughout about funneling confetti into all those balloons and came to my senses. I tried giant tissue flowers, but they were a giant pain to puff up. I finally settled on paper lanterns. Much pricier but we enjoyed them in the backyard for weeks. (If we had taken them down promptly, they could have been collapsed and reused every year).
I also really like the dirt cake idea-my weenut doesn’t eat cake but does love pudding and oreos. I will have to think how it can be adapted to a Star Wars theme (assuming he gives a shit about Star Wars in 6 months!).
We had a bunch of popping balloons too, although I chalked that up to them being a cut-rate brand, since they were popping just sitting around in the house. :/
And holy cow, I LOVE the confetti idea! I’m totally doing that, even if I have to invent a party for a reason to do it.
Tell me more about the dirt cake. What kind of cake is it?
It’s basically crushed Oreos layered with chocolate pudding that’s been mixed with other horrible things like butter and whipped cream. If you search for “dirt cake” online, you’ll find a bunch of similar recipes. I based mine off the Martha Stewart one with some adjustments. It’s super good.
Your Voices are telling you to sew things. My Voices are all, “Eh, let’s have Grandma make the cakes, throw out some hummus and sausage, and call it a party.”
It was a pretty good party, actually, though it was a three-year-old’s party. I guess for four I’ll have to make a little more effort? Damn.
You know, I really think most kids (especially little ones) are just excited to have their friends over, so much so that they don’t really care about the rest of it. Do what YOU want to do.
Awesome! I’m so confused, though! I thought Wombat’s birthday is in December??
It is! It’s just so much work to have a party in between everything else, so it’s easier for us (and our guests, I think) to have it later. (Last year we had his 3.14 birthday party in February too.) Plus, Simon’s birthday is in January, and this year we actually had a party for him the same night we had Wombat’s party in the day. (Yes, it was as crazy as it sounds, but we only had to clean the house once!)
http://www.marthastewart.com/269413/balloon-fireworks
OMG, the best part is the comments! Choking Hazards! Blindness! I love the internets!
I LOVE this whole concept! Such a cute party idea and so age appropriate. Awesome, mom, awesome.