Pre-Birthday Planning

Ever since we had our "destination birthday" at Great Wolf Lodge in February 2014 (Day One, Day Two), I try and TRY to convince the kids to do it again.

Wouldn't you rather have TWO FULL days of swimming and a WHOLE NIGHT of FUN instead of a birthday party that lasts only a couple hours?! Wouldn't you? Remember how much fun we had?

Nope. Not happening.

Anabella was the first to protest against it. I think Daniel could have been persuaded.

"I want a party with my friends," she said.

Ugh. (Trust me this was a conversation had many times.)

Ok, so where to have the party?!

One evening after ballet, we went to our favorite pizza place, Mama Mia Pizza in Manassas, a few doors down from where Anabella has ballet, and Anabella started making out her guest list.

Very serious about this.

Daniel wanted to have his party at a bounce house. He was sure. We visited the new trampoline place in Manassas, same shopping center where Anabella has ballet, but it was a bit overwhelming. Daniel said it was too loud. Said he didn't want to have it there. That's a few years down the road (if we're not at Great Wolf Lodge). More suitable for 9+.

A few days later, we went to Bounce Mania in Gainesville, a place we knew he liked, but wanted to try it again to be sure that's really where he wanted to have his party.

Definitely where he wanted to have his 6th birthday party!!

Got the picture for the invitation while we were there and DONE.
I did Evites for both parties this year. So much easier. Especially for school friends in case there's a cancellation due to snow which is always something to think about given their birthday is in February. 

A joint party would have been so easy.

But no.

"I am NOT having my birthday here," said Anabella.

Don't get me wrong, Anabella likes jumping, but she was set on having a birthday party at home.

"I want my friends to come to my house," she said.

When I questioned her further as to what kind of party she wanted, she said that she wanted "to cook and do crafts."

Hey, what a good idea!

That evening, I got out some kids' cookbooks, and we went through them together and started  planning her menu.

As we got closer to the party, Anabella even pulled out a spoon to show me how to do her birthday cake. Write, "Anabella's cooking party" on a cake and use this spoon as a decoraton," she said (pulling out her wooden spoon from her cooking set).

I had saved a Facebook video from "Tasty" as a potential idea. It was pretty simple and looked good-blueberry muffins in a mug. On one of our snow days, we decided to try it out.  I took some pictures and ended up using one for her "cooking party" invitation.

Here's some others (much easier to get pictures of her "cooking" than Daniel "bouncing"):

The muffin in a mug was okay. Daddy liked it. I thought it was bitter tasting (probably due the overwhelming amount of baking soda AND baking powder). Sooo....one recipe not to use, but a little more brainstorming and we came up with a pretty good (5 course) menu for the 6 year old cooking party.

The parties were hits!
Stay tuned for birthday posts coming soon!!