Sam's first kiddie birthday party

I've tried to limit the birthday craziness in the past but this year, after Sam attended birthday parties for many of his friends, I decided it was time for Sam to have a birthday party of his very own. It's December which minimizes the opportunity for outdoor play to a certain extent so I wanted to keep the party relatively small. Theme? Chefs party! Seven kids invited, six attended. Sam was buzzing with excitement for days beforehand.


Thank heavens for Judyboo as she managed to provide a helping hand to any kid (or adult) when needed and she seemed to predict people's needs before they were spoken. I couldn't have done it without her. She even provided balloons!














Parents came by and did a little happy dance when I said they could drop off or stay, whichever they liked. "Good bye!" was the standard answer; one I used myself when given that option.


The party started with the boys running head on into the big chair. This was not a planned activity however, it keep them busy for five minutes and no one split open his head. The girls showed up a little later and seemed to lack enthusiasm for this particular activity so we steered them to the first official activity, decorating paper chefs hats. You can't be a chef without a hat, right? After that, they needed a little exercise to give us some time to clean up mess number one and set up the next activity - pretzel making.

Alas, no pictures of that. The kids formed the pretzels, brushed them with butter, sprinkled them with salt, and I tossed them in the oven.


Another break while the pretzels baked so the kids had some balloon fights. They also discovered that they could rub the balloons on their hair and make them stick to just about anything, including the ceiling, with the assistance of any tall person in attendance.


Next! Decorating cupcakes. It's funny but the boys seemed to enjoy this a lot more than the girls. Sam's buddy Ronan made about eight of them. I was wise and limited the decorations to squeeze jel and candy large enough to be picked up by hand...no sprinkles here.
Sam enjoyed decorating and notice the hairstyle -- I call it the balloon rooster.


Some of the kids entertained themselves with a rousing game of hide and seek while others wandered around aimlessly for a bit until the next event. Cake! But not real cake since I knew the kids would likely have filled their bellies with candy and cupcakes already. Ice cream cake!
Sing sing sing. Blow out the candles.

Eat ice cream.


Run and play, run and play.


Time for the last event of the day...a treasure hunt! I took pictures of various things in the house and set up clues based on the pictures. It took them only about three minutes to get all seven clues leading them to dryer filled with their gift for attending - a kid sized apron!