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?