Birthday Party

The Bean and the Bug have birthdays 16 days apart.  For their birthdays this year, we had BIG plans!  We left town on Beanie's birthday for camping, visiting with out of state family, and then another night of camping.  We came home and had one week of unpacking, cleaning, remembering our usual routines, and then it was time for birthday party on the Bug's birthday!  Whew!  What a whirlwind!  But, we had a fantastic birthday party, and I wanted to share.

The gifts were perfect!  There is nothing in life like receiving a special gift that is just exactly what someone knew you would love.  And my kids received just that for their birthdays.  A Hobby Lobby gift card that brought so much pleasure to crafty Bean.  A wooden race car for the Bug.  A patio set that they had picked out from Lowe's.  New craft supplies.  A new cattle round up game and new play food (hand crocheted).  Our first train set from Mommy and Daddy.  New clothes - both kids are wearing the same size tops now!

The company was fabulous.  Not too many, yet not too few.  Just enough that everyone was comfortable, and the kids knew everyone well.  No overwhelmed meltdowns.  No tears of frustration.

And the food was great too!  Grandma supplied a veggie tray and cantaloupe.  Mommy baked a cake.  I actually bought (almost) white sugar to ice the cake with, since I have my natural food dyes now, but the Bean was very upset that we were going to frost the cake!  She'd never had frosting before and was not interested in trying it.  So, I whipped up a lovely lemon and blueberry cake the morning of the party.

We didn't get a picture of it with the birthday ring on it, but it was beautiful.  We actually made the birthday ring decorations ourselves.  And we served it with So Delicious Coconut Water Sorbet in Raspberry and Mango.  The cake was made with whole wheat, almond milk, turbinado sugar, all natural, mostly organic, dairy and soy free ingredients, and blueberries that we had picked at the Berry Patch this summer and frozen.  The sorbet has no milk, no soy, no artificial flavors or colors.  All of it was divine!

The decorations were 6 rainbow colored latex balloons, 3 mylar balloons, and some red crepe paper streamers.

Overall, it was simple, healthy, environmentally responsible, and easy.  It was also the perfect birthday party for my kids.

And now that my crazy 16 days is over, I'll be back to blogging regularly!