Parties, Parties, Parties

It's two months away but I've already started thinking about Ellie's birthday party. I honestly don't know why I like throwing them so much. Maybe it's just a nice creative outlet for me. Maybe (as I mentioned before) it's a good excuse for me to whine. Or maybe, it's just that I like parties. Whatever the reason, I thought it would be fun to take a look at last year's in preparation for this year's.

Last year, Ellie was extremely into Dora. For a couple weeks straight, I could only refer to her as Dora and she insisted on referring to me as Boots and Dave as Diego. Boots, is my cousin Diego at work? Diego, you and Boots need to read me a bedtime story. No Boots, I'm Dora, not Ellie. So of course, we indulged her and to be honest, I'm a little sad that the phase is over.

And what does a Dora obsessed little girl need? Why a Dora birthday party of course. Here's some pictures...

When the kids arrived, I gave them each a backpack. Then they set off on an adventure to get to the birthday party, which was in the backyard.

The first stop was Isa's Garden where everyone picked a lolli from one of Isa's flowers













Then they went through the spooky forest...really it was just down the sidewalk. Our neighbor was nice enough to let me put streamers up along the side of the street. When they got to Swiper (it was constructed the same way Isa was-you can check Isa out in the first and second picture-basically just a folded over piece of bulletin board paper, painted, stapled, stuffed and mounted on a dowel rod) the kids all said, "Swiper, no swiping." Then it was off to the party.

We ordered pizza and had ice-cream cone cupcakes for the kids. We even had a piñata which took forever. Party tip #15: Don't have a piñata you have to hit to open with a gaggle of 3 year olds. That is unless you'd like to frustrate the dickens out of children and parents alike. I mean, hey, it's your party.

Now, did I go a little overboard? Perhaps. But, those backpack favors were a tremendous hit and one day maybe my kids will look back and say, "Hey Mom, thanks for the kickin' parties. I know it was a lot of work and I appreciate it." Well, a girl can dream can't she?