Oh my. Josh's bday party was today after school. We decided to have it right after school so that it didn't take up anyone's Saturday, or have a poor turnout because people had soccer games, etc. on Saturdays. We reserved the park that has a Splash Pad and playground- where I took the boys the last week of summer. It was PERFECT. It is SO hot this time of year, but a pool party for 4-5 year olds is not something I wanted to do. With this, the kids all wore their bathing suits and could play in the water, or go over to the playground. Josh this year is in PK4. However, the PK4 class was HUGE so the school decided that certain kids, based on age, maturity, how they played with others, etc. could go into a split PK4/Kindergarten class. Josh was one of those kids. So, some of his friends are in his actual class, but many of his friends from last year are in the other PK4 class. Since he will also be in Kindergarten next year with ALL the PK4-ers, we decided we should invite both classes. There are 15 in each. Josh wanted a shark party, of course. And of course, I wanted to make the invitations. After I designed one and got his OK (he loved them and I knew it when he kept asking me to look at them again) I made 30. They were the most time-consuming of any that I have made previously and I've never had to make that many. But, I took my time and started them in July. After they were all sent out, RSVPs came in. Out of 30, 26 were coming.
My parents picked up the boys from school and Joe and CJ and I got to the park and started setting up. I was so excited: Publix, our grocery store, decorated the cake based on my invitation. How stinkin' cool is that??? The arrow says "Happy 5th Birthday Joshua". I found a shark pinata at a local store and decorated the rest of the pavilion in shades of blue. I made the goody bags with cello bags and ribbon from Stampin' Up (of course!). I filled it with shark bubbles, shark fruit snacks, shark and other sea life tattoos, shark candies, and a shark water squirter toy. When I have theme, I run with it.
Kids started arriving right away. After everyone had arrived, we had about 40-45 kids. There were lots of siblings- many of them Jake's friends. It's funny how many kids in Josh's class have older brothers in Jake's class. With all the parents, there was probably 65 people there. It was INSANE. But it went so smoothly.
After they played for a while, we started the pinata-wacking. It was so funny watching those little bitty kids hit it. Some of the smallest ones packed the biggest hit! Jake and his friends were allowed to go only after the little kids each had a turn. One of his friends finally broke it and the kids went wild.
We then had cake. I was SO glad I decided to go with 1/2 sheet instead of 1/4. It took FOREVER to cut and hand out all those pieces!
I told Joe to get some pictures while everyone was under the pavilion eating cake. Look how many people there are! And look at all those presents!! I still have to design and make thank you cards!!
We opened presents when we got home and it took forever. There were so many! Amazingly, he only got two things he already has. He LOVED everything he got. There were tears shed because we wouldn't let him take every toy out of its package that night. :)
I think he had a very, very good day.
Recent Comments