Making Birthdays Special

Who doesn't love celebrating a birthday? Especially with a little kid. I'm finding that kids really don't need big, fancy, over-the-top parties, expensive gifts, or an impressive cake that no one wants to cut into because it's too pretty (As much as the party planner in me wants these elaborate things for my own children.). All that extra fluff is really just for the adults! This year as my little boy turned 4, I have discovered that with just some simple and inexpensive touches a child can have an amazing birthday.

As my son's birthday approached I wanted to give him a memorable birthday but was feeling a little overwhelmed with my life as a mother of 2 children. I contemplated planning a big party with all his new friends from preschool but I just didn't have the energy or the time to pull it off this year. I decided to SIMPLIFY, but still keep things SPECIAL.

I thought about the highlights of my birthdays as a child. I don't consider my family the best at celebrating birthdays, at least not to the extent that I want for my own children, but there are two things that stand out. For some of my earlier birthdays, I got to search for my birthday presents using clues in treasure hunt fashion. As I got older, I got to go out to lunch, at the restaurant of my choice, and do a little birthday shopping with my mom - just the two of us.

So using my past birthday experience, here are some of the special yet inexpensive things that we did for my son's birthday this year:

Using a $1 bag of balloons from the dollar store, Jeremy and I filled Spencer's room with balloons while he was sleeping the night before his birthday. Now this is not for the light sleeping child! You wouldn't think it at first, but balloons are loud! Not just when you accidentally pop one on a toy with a sharp edge, but also just trying to carry multiple balloons at a time. They rub together and are very loud when trying not to wake a sleeping child. But I will tell you - it was worth the effort! Spencer thought it was the coolest thing ever, to wake up on his birthday with a room full of balloons. Add in a special party hat and balloon wand from the dollar store and you have one happy boy - all for $3!

For the 2nd year in a row, I made a treasure hunt for Spencer to find his presents. Here are the clues for Spencer's treasure hunt. He has been watching Blue's Clues recently and was really excited about the blue paw print I free handed with a blue crayon on note cards. 4 clues for birthday number 4. It was such a small and simple touch but really took the treasure hunt over the top!

Look at that excitement at finding a present! If you haven't tried a treasure hunt for birthday presents with your kids I highly recommend it. Such a simple idea that brings such joy!

Another special touch: I ordered this personalized birthday banner using a tip from my favorite money saving blog, Hip 2 Save, for only $7.95! You can see the details of this deal HERE. They run this special occasionally for Hip 2 Save readers and it came at just the right time for me to order in time for Spencer's birthday. It is a nice, heavy-duty, vinyl banner that I personalized with Spencer's name. I can reuse this banner every year, so for $7.95 I felt that was quite the catch! Spencer thought it was fabulous that the banner had his name on it...

The simple, homemade cake. You can see some of Spencer's past cakes HERE, HERE, and HERE. In the past, I have always tried to be an over achiever in the birthday cake department. I am not a cake decorator so that would usually leave me feeling disappointed by my lack of skill. However, I have come to discover that I prefer a homemade cake to a store bought one - they are cheaper and taste better in my opinion. Spencer said he wanted a Toy Story cake this year and I was really intimidated. If you search for Toy Story cakes online you will find some amazing and very detailed cakes. I was definitely not in the mood to slave over a cake this year. As I questioned Spencer more about his cake desires he said he wanted a chocolate cake with Toy Story toys on top...wait...what? Toy story toys on top? Wow! That is super easy! I can do that! The end result: I put some small Toy Story figurines on the top of a homemade chocolate bundt cake and Spencer thought it was the best cake ever. It was pretty darn good cake too. I'll share the recipe soon in case you're interested.

Another tip: invest in a special plate exclusively for birthdays that you can serve the birthday cake on or the birthday boy/girl can use for their special birthday dinner/cake eating. Spencer's birthday cake was served on our special plate. I bought it from The Pampered Chef since I am a consultant and sell their products, but I have seen special plates at places like Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx that don't cost much. It's such a simple thing but children will think it is so special.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long-winded post. I hope you have found something useful or at least found some inspiration. It really doesn't take a lot of time or money to make someone feel special on their special day!

PREHISTORIC but not EXTINCT: A 50th Birthday Party

My dad celebrated his 50th birthday last Friday. Here are some of the party details:

Theme: Prehistoric but not extinct was the slogan we used, black and white color scheme for decorating, animal print decorations but with a masculine twist.

The centerpiece for the dining room table: The white candles in the middle are surrounded with black river rocks and tied with zebra print ribbon and jute. On the left is a glass jar of white mints and one of black licorice in keeping with the black and white theme. A black tablecloth was used with 1-1/2 yards of animal print fabric bunched in the middle.

The small candy/snack buffet on the entry way table. We used black and white food: Oreos, white marshmallows drizzled with chocolate to look like zebra print, more white mints, and white chocolate dipped pretzels. And of course to pay homage to my love for ribbon, each glass jar is tied with coordinating ribbon. Some zebra print candle holders were used for mood lighting.

The only semi-decent picture of my dad with his birthday cake... And me looking nervous that he was going to drop the cake by the way he was holding it!

You can see the gift we gave my dad on the floor next to him: A big frame with pictures of all the houses he has lived in here in Lubbock. My dad has a hobby of building new houses and moving every couple of years. In the 19 years we have lived in Lubbock my parents' have owned 6 different houses. It was nice to see him get a little nostalgic about each house and reminice about the memories made at each house.

It was a great party with lots of yummy food! We had a chicken fajita buffet with all the fixin's, shaved ice from Bahama Bucks (courtesy of my sister who works there), and a delicious chocolate cake with rasberry filling. I would say my dad's 50th was a good one!

A Peter Pan/Pirate Birthday Party

For my son's 3rd birthday he requested a Peter Pan party. Well if you have tried throwing a Peter Pan party lately you know it is nearly impossible to find Peter Pan party stuff anywhere! Tinker Bell, yes. Peter Pan, no. I guess Peter Pan is not the "in" thing right now. So we combined Peter Pan with a Pirate party in honor of Captain Hook and his gang of pirates. Here's a look at some of the party details:


Spencer requested strawberry cake for his birthday cake. Strawberry cake is pink and in an effort to make it more boyish/pirateish I tinted it with red food coloring, baked it in pirate cupcake papers and garnished them with these cute toothpick signs that say "Pirate's Life For Me."

The candy buffet table. For those of you who know me really well you know I love me a good candy buffet! (To see some of my past candy buffets: http://thetxdavisthree.blogspot.com/2010/02/natalies-baby-shower.html and http://thetxdavisthree.blogspot.com/2010/06/mocktails-good-food-roxannes-graduation.html)

You can click on the picture above to see things in better detail. I gave each candy a name based on pirate life or Peter Pan. I borrowed a decorative trunk from my parents' to serve as a treasure chest for the pirate loot and nestled in several glass jars and vases along with some Dollar Tree hurricanes to hold the candy.

Buried Treasure: Rolos

Pirate Loot: Fruit Cream Candies in pirate wrappers

"Second Star to the Right" Bursts: Starbursts (Remember? Neverland was the second star to the right.)

Cod Fish: Swedish Fish (Peter Pan calls Captain Hook a Cod Fish alot in the movie)

Cannonballs: Whoppers

Pixie Dust: Pixie Sticks

Don't be afraid to think outside the box (or inside the box as the case may be!) for different candy buffet ideas.

* Most of the pirate party goods I found at Dollar Tree or Hobby Lobby, two of my favorite stores!