Backyard Birthday Party

I like celebrating birthdays. I don't like when things get out of hand and I'm all stressed out. Spencer kept changing the theme he wanted from monsters to dinosaurs, so we just went with both. My theme for the party was low-key fun. He had mentioned a bounce house, and I think it's one of the best things we've ever done for a party. The kids loved it. In keeping with my theme, I decided to invite only family and neighborhood friends. Things were a thousand times easier this way. The parents felt comfortable dropping kids off, and they literally just bounced for most of the time.

I tend to pull these things together last minute, and this year I even sent an invitation through Paperless Post:



I covered a table with contractor paper that you can buy by the roll at Lowe's. I wrote each person's name at their place, which really helped with the whole "but I want to sit next to so-and-so..."



My first attempt at a dinosaur cake:



[It was super easy; find a tutorial for it here]

Monster faces on the goody bags:



Curious what was in the goody bags? Pez dispensers I found at Michaels for 0.19, tic-tac-toe game from the Target dollar section that was 75% off, glow sticks, and some Swedish fish:



We found this dinosaur pinata at Target that was blue and green, and those ended up being the colors I stuck with.



Pinatas have always been a big hit at our parties. Things can get a little crazy when it starts to break and candy starts flying, kids start diving, and the "stick-wielder" is still trying to whack the thing, but I'm happy to report there were no injuries. One tip for pinatas: let the smallest kids take a hit first to ensure that everyone gets a turn. It would not be a happy scene if the first two big kids broke it and then the little ones started crying!



So that pretty much covers it: a bounce house, pizza, cake and a pinata. Most importantly, Spencer felt loved and celebrated:



And for me, this was one of the best parties we've ever thrown. I was actually able to enjoy it and not be running around the whole time. After all the guest's left, I hopped into the bounce house myself [with my boys, the birthday boy wearing is 3rd outfit of the party -- war eagle!]!