There was a birthday...

We had our first big "with friends" kid's birthday party in August. We decided when N was a baby to wait until age 5 to have more than a family-only birthday party. Soooo... N turned 5 this year and he asked for a "house party." N made his guest list and almost everyone made it. We had a great time.

little party people

In lieu of a theme we just focused our party ideas on the things N likes best. He loves the drums, so we played pin-the-drumstick-on-the-drum! He lopves to play, so we had free play time and let the kids come up with their own fun. And he loves to cook, so we combined crafts and dessert by having the kids all make their own cookie. I made the dough ahead of time, spread flour all around the edge of the table, and lined up a row of bowls with different cookie mix-ins for the kids to choose from. We washed all their hands and then gave each kiddo a big ball of dough to fill up! We wrote their names on squares of foil and then baked them so we'd know which cookie belonged to which kiddo. Nope... I didn't come up with a great sugar-free plan this time. They did have raisins, cranberries, and nuts to fill with (along with two kinds of chocolate chips). As far as the dough though, it was a total sugar-fest and then they came out of the oven twice as big as I had intended! Oh well... they all loved it and it was early in the day so they had plenty of time to run it off before bedtime.

N with Grandmother and PaPa

N with Nana

The best thing for me was watching how grateful and thankful N continued to be throughout the day both in receiving each guest as they arrived and in receiving each gift with JOY and excitement. What a precious boy he is! I can't believe it's been FIVE years already!