In just three weeks Cooper turns FOUR! Because we're in the process of selling our house and moving to the suburbs, we'll be celebrating a week early. His two sisters, three cousins and two best buddies are the only guests at his birthday party this year. And that will feel like plenty of kids, I'm sure! We're going with a dinosaur theme since dinos are his newest obsession and pretty easy to pull off. I'm opting out of making a dino shaped cake and doing cupcakes instead--easier to make and easier to serve! I'm planning the party for one o'clock on a Saturday so that the kids can come with lunch in their bellies and I won't have to worry about my kids not eating "healthy food" during the party because when there are that many other kids around, my kids don't stop moving unless it's for sugar, flour, eggs and covered in frosting! Being sensitive to many foods and especially foods with preservatives and artificial food coloring, means that enjoying other children's parties, holiday themed activities at school or church, can be extra challenging for us. We end up making exceptions and letting the kids eat food they shouldn't (since our allergies aren't life-threatening but just cause horrid tantrums and eczema) or we end up skipping out on the activities that we can. And frankly, with all of the friends we have with dietary restrictions, it's not worth going over the top with snacks and lunch if not everyone can eat them anyway. I'm going to keep the junk food to a minimum and focus on quality rather than quantity. This year, I'm going to do simple cupcakes and vanilla ice cream with some home-made frosting and small plastic dinos as cupcake toppers/party favors. Instead of a goody bag for the kids to take home, I came up with a fun little fossil souvenir instead. I found some cool plastic dinosaur skulls at Michaels and some colorful containers in which to put them. They are hidden in Kinetic Sand which is one of our new favorite sensory/creative playthings. The sand isn't cheap but it's really neat and completely affordable thanks to my trusty 40% off coupon!
 So, put on your favorite dino-tee and get ready to join Cooper for some cupcakes, ice-cream and chaos because he's about to Roar Into Four! Are you doing a theme for your baby or toddler's next party? And what are you going to be serving?
What a great idea!I love this. I’ll have to keep this in mind for sure :)
We’re just planning our second child’s first birthday. We’re going with a Sesame Street theme, his older brother, who is 3, really liked that theme! Dinosaurs was on my short list, though!
I just saw some kids playing with kinetic sand, it’s very cool! Food allergies and sensitivities continue to become more common. This is a great reminder to try to be mindful of others food restrictions, especially at parties!
It is so tough to get around the junk, preservatives and food coloring whenever there is a party or holiday. I am still looking for natural food dyes because I seriously miss decorating cookies and cakes to make them cutesy. I hope the party is a total blast!
HI! My 3 year old has food sensitivities too. I actually have him on the same exclusion list my parents had me on a child, same book and everything. He gets those horrible tantrums and becomes a different kid…. But, we do give in. Hubs and I have a saying, at a party that we’re only staying a few hours for, ok. We’ll handle the crazy when we leave so he can eat whatever everyone else is eating. Our house, no. Grandparents house, no. Eating out, no as much as we can. I don’t like to make our party host feel the need to cater to such an exclusion list as he has. That’s not fair to my friends. And its my responsibility as his mom to work it all out for him. He’ll eventually grow out of it like I did. By the time I was 10 I could handle any of the items on the list, so I know this is only for a short time.
Take care and know that there are other parents out there with the same fun times.
Oh and my sister makes all our birthday cakes and cupcakes so she’s great with making them in the realm of things he can have. So great that she can do that for us.
His 3 year party was as he requested: GREEN MONSTER TRUCK!!!! (Grave digger)
You're viewing 6-10 of 12 comments