Birthday Party! Part Four: food, cake and advice (if you want it)

Ok, last birthday post. One of my regular readers and old Montreal friends Hannah noted that she was 'waiting for the cake post'. No need to wait any longer. We've arrived at the food chapter of our little birthday saga.
(photo by me) 

When I started planning this party, I sort of began with the food. Because one of the highlights of a country fair, for me anyways, are all the lovely things to eat. Greasy paper trays filled with curly fries. Roasted corn on the cob. Fresh squeezed lemonade. Candied apples, cotton candy, funnel cakes and beaver tails. All such memorable tastes of the fair. And the idea was that I'd bring those tastes home for the party.

That was the idea anyways. Along the way, a few things changed. I'd envisioned a menu of home made french fries, roasted sweet potatos, roasted corn, guacamole and chips, hamburgers and sausages. With fresh squeezed orange juice and ice cream, popsicles, watermelon and cake for dessert. 

Around about the middle of the week, I realized that it was folly. I also had plans for much more elaborate decorations and a few more games. Oh, and I was actually looking into the ponies. But then I had a look at my budget, a look at my schedule and a long, serious talk with myself that went like this: 

Self, are you trying to kill me?

I realized this. The pretty picture in your head is not always worth it. I could have pulled off the elaborate menu, but I think I might have made myself crazy. I'd have been frazzled and broke and up at 3:00 am hand cutting french fries. And that would not have been fun. And isn't the point of a party having fun? Also, who is this party for? That's right, a four year old. And does the four year old care if there is fresh squeezed orange juice and fresh roasted corn on the cob? No, he does not. All he wants is to have fun, have a mommy who is not on her last nerve, and eat a popsicle at some point in the day. Kids have very simple expectations, and we should learn from them. 

So my menu ended up being:

Barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages (hubs made the burgers, but we just went ahead and bought everything else)

Chips and Guacamole (made the guacamole, bought the chips. duh. even I ain't that crazy)

Veggies and hummus (cut up the veggies, purchased the hummus)

Pear Juice, Apple Juice and Black Currant juice 

Cupcakes (yes, made them myself, its kind of my thing) and popsicles (courtesy of ye olde grocery store) Much, much simpler. Fries would have been nice, but that means a big ole' vat of hot oil on the stove and somebody has to baby sit that sucker all morning, and whoever that somebody is would not get to enjoy the party.  

And frankly, I'm really glad I scaled things back. Nobody complained about the food, all the kids ate plenty, and I had a good time. So success all around. 

Other birthday party advice: Get help if you can. My mother is a freakin' saint, and she and my Dad came over at 8:00 in the morning to help get things set up. They wrangled the baby and helped with decor. And my Dad (the hero) got the aforementioned animals and cleaned the daylights out of our back yard, and then, once the party was in swing, my Mom did a ton of food prep. Got the veggie trays out. Mixed up the juice and made many trips from the kitchen to the patio etc, etc.  (photo by Farihah)

The same simplicity principle applied to the decor. Earlier in the week I went to an amazing baby shower where the host has a clear talent for making things look absolutely gorgeous. The co-ordination was out of this world, no detail was spared and I loved every bit of it. And since she's a friend I asked if I could raid her party supplies and got the loveliest little metal buckets to put cutlery and napkins in, and some fun brightly coloured trays and bowls. And I sewed up a red and white checkered tablecloth, and I have the most perfect antique mason jar that would hold a darling wildflower arrangement.  (photo by Farihah)

But despite all that, it just did not look how I'd hoped it would. Because really, I did not have any time to finesse it. The table cloth and the cute buckets got onto the table, but so did the plastic bags full of buns and the big ugly ketchup and mustard bottles. I did have all the stuff together to do this great drinking glass idea where you use decorative cupcake liners and small jam jars to make spill proof cups. I totally did that. But the table was so crowded with food and stuff that it didn't look as pretty as it could. What it always need to look nice is some spacing and some symmetry and we had neither. Also I had no time AT ALL to pick that bouquet of flowers. Sigh. But again, its not like the people from Martha Stewart Living were at the ready with their cameras out. Its a party for little kids, and they are just as likely to wipe their hands on a table cloth as they are to admire how nice it looks. (Oh, and I totally forgot to take any pictures of the table, so in the end, whether it was pretty or not doesn't even matter)

(photo by me)

Because also, I have little kids, people. Little kids who can't be left alone while I arrange a table to my liking. Babies who need diapers changed and little boys who have unending questions. And at this point their needs come before my pretty table dressing. (photo by Farihah)

But here is my single best piece of advice for a children's party (right after all the business about lowering your expectations and letting go). Get a photographer. The day before the whole party went down I realized that I'd never have time to take photos in between all the game supervision and food prep. And I'd hate to miss out on pictures. I knew I'd be running around like crazy and having someone else to capture all those special moments that I could not would be such an asset. So I called my amazing friend Farihah, who is very good with a camera, and asked if she'd come over and document the event for me. And boy, did she ever! All the photos in all the previous posts have been by her. It was such a great gift to have he do that, to be able to see all these amazing little things that I might have missed otherwise. It was for sure my best decision of the day. 

Anyhow, because of the help from my mom and dad and Hubs and Farihah, I could put my energy towards the most important aspect of the day: making sure the kids had fun playing games. And here's another fun thing we did. Instead of giving out loot bags, (which are essentially overpriced bags of plastic crap that will end up cluttering up your home and getting thrown out in the end) I came up with the idea of making a Treasure Chest. Over the last month or so, every time I went to a thrift store I'd keep my eye out for fun, good condition, gently used toys. Two Hotwheels cars for 99 cents here. A My Little Pony for 50 cents there. Little purses and wallets for under a dollar. Bouncy balls, Beanie Babies, miniature animals, never for more than a buck. And once I had a few dozen things I lined a wooden box with velvet and called it our Treasure Chest. Then, every time a kid 'successfully' played/won one of the games, they'd get a ticket. And once they had five tickets they could bring them over to the treasure chest and use them to pay for a prize. And I'll tell you what, they LOVED it. The older kids were more interested in it than the littler kids, but that was fine. And this way everybody got to take home something they'd chosen and were excited about. It was really fun. But in the end, you just can't beat balloons popsicles and balloons. That's something to remember to. 

Comments

[Marcia Van Drunen]

great parenting and party advice and lovely pics and beautiful children and sunshine all rolled up into one sweet cupcake post, my friend
love the treasure chest idea. love it.

[Winston]

I think I would still call that very complicated rather than simple, but as long as everyone had fun and nobody burnt out, I guess the only danger is the tendency to escalate it every year.