Birthday party day!

Spyder's birthday party was (finally!) today, at a local park. Truthfully, it was one of the easiest parties we've ever thrown! We always go all out for birthdays. We've had a space party (where we turned one room into a space ship and "launched" everyone), a detective party (everyone followed clues to find the treat bags), and a spy party (everyone went through "spy academy" and graduated afterward). They're always tons of fun for all of us, but it's usually a lot of work getting everything together. This one took almost nothing!

Spyder's birthday was two weeks ago, but schedules have made it nearly impossible to plan a party. Every Saturday from the beginning of May to the end of June was booked! Church activity, Mother's Day, another church activity, Memorial Day, VBS, VBS, Father's Day, etc, etc. So we opted to have it on a weekday, a couple of days after the local schools were out. Worked out perfectly!

Spyder specifically asked to have it at this particular park, which he LOVES, but isn't near our house, so we don't get there often. He's become quite the amateur magician, and he wanted to perform for his friends, so he ultimately decided that he wanted the party to be a Talent Show. It was excellent! We had dancers, a martial arts demonstration, magicians, and a balloon artist! Luckily, the park has a really nice, large gazebo, so we had the party there, and afterward the children went to play in the play area.

It was hot today -- 90 degrees was the high, I think -- so instead of the usual cake and ice cream, we had a decorate your own cupcake time. I always stress about the cake. Always. I usually make the cake. Normally I like to decorate the cake to look like it came from a bakery, but I was afraid I'd mess up the cake in transit, so I opted for cupcakes instead. Yesterday I baked 34 cupcakes. I had planned to decorate them too, with different cute scenes, but at the last moment I had the (brilliant!) idea that the children might like to do their own. It was a HUGE hit, and it saved me two hours of work, so I'm all about it! I may have to make it a tradition. LOL!

Of course, the children were exhausted and filthy afterward, but it was an excellent time. I remember park parties when I was little, and I never liked them. They were hot (no shade) with tons of bugs, so I was reluctant to agree to the park idea. I'm very glad I did though. The children had a great time, and I didn't have hours of cleanup afterward!