along with the changing of the digits in the year, my internal “birthday alarm” has also reset. i don’t think about my kid’s birthday’s at the end of the year, but the farther into the year we get, all our birthdays are stuffed into the months of July, August, and September, so i have to plan carefully when it comes to party planning and gift giving so that nobody misses out.
i still have no idea what i’m going to do for the kids this year… oh, it will still be simple, but i like to throw some sort of special theme in there, even if the only people here to see it are immediate family members.
-the first birthday in the household is…. my daughter. she will be 2 years old. i’ve already used my Tinkerbell party pass with the Tink party plates and napkins, but i think i’ll be doing it again this year anyways. i ordered her first birthday cake from Walmart, and was very pleased with the results. i’ll probably flip through the book this year and pick out a Tink cake. i’ll be getting Tink napkins, plates and maybe i’ll even go all out this year with a Tink tablecloth. 
if we have any other kids over, maybe i’ll even make some little wings for them all to wear. i won’t go all out with the wire, this time. some flexible crafting foamboard and a few elastic straps oughta do the trick. i swear, i’m not just trying to re-live my own childhood fantasy… (even though it’s pretty cool that i get to!) my daughter LOVES Tinkerbell. she has Tinkerbell bedsheets, blankets and a toddler couch. all this was bought because the only movie she’ll actually sit down for an hour and a half just to watch is…. Tinkerbell I & II. i hope they come out with a III.
- the second birthday in the house is my husband. unfortunately for the grownups in the family, we never do anything special for our birthdays. every once in a while one of us will get a gift that requires spending, and we’ll all go on a fun shopping trip, but for the most part we just get a verbal “Happy Birthday” on the special morning, and leave it at that. this year, however is my husband’s big 3-0. i’d like to do something a little special for him, but since we don’t have more than 1 or 2 friends around here, a surprise party with all the trimmings is out of the question. i’ll probably end up stocking up on steak and salad and we’ll have a nice family grill out in the yard. i still haven’t figured out what i’m going to get for him, but everything that comes to mind that he’d really love is all X rated and for me, not him. that’s okay, right???? i’m sure he’d really like it. 
- birthday #3 of the year goes to me. 
i have a passionate dislike of holidays; my birthday included. i almost always come down with a major case of the holiday blues, and i don’t like all the standards i feel i have to meet to make the day good. i’d rather just ignore my birthday. besides, the people who should really get the credit for my birthday live in Virginia. my birthday just isn’t the same without my mom, dad, brother and sister. all of whom i probably won’t see at all this year. the best birthday ever would consist of nothing more than a sweet, thoughtful gift from my husband and a homemade card from my kids. the only way you could convince me to have a party, is if it featured this cake… (courtesy of Mike’s Amazing Cakes, in Redmond, Washington. if i lived there, i’d make it happen…) …and all my friends and family.
minus the corn dogs and the gaming dice, of course.
-birthday #4, last but not least is my son. he’ll be 8 years old! i know. OMG he’s getting so big. in year’s past he’s had a Thomas the Train cake, Wall-E, Curious George, even just regular old cupcakes- but last year he asked me to make his cake. the cake tasted great, but kind of looked like a big pile of poop and was so rich and chocolatey, i ended up throwing most of it away… so this year i’m hoping he’ll agree to pick a theme so i can get a cake from Walmart. if he decides to pick another one from my Hershey’s Chocolate Cookbook, then i’ll suck it up and go through the process of a test run and the real thing, but i don’t like the idea that the magic of the 8th birthday cake would be completely in my mediocre baker’s hands. whatever makes him happy i guess… that’s what matters. i really have no idea what kind of theme i’d incorporate into his party… all of his character likes are growing and changing every day. since we got rid of our cable TV, a Clone Wars birthday (the obvious choice) is kind of out… hmmmm… unless of course, i decide to get him the movie as one of his gifts. i dunno. i also saw this really adorable Milk and Cookies themed 1st birthday party… it shouldn’t be too difficult to ramp it up for an 8 year old. that kid just loves my chocolate chip cookies. although i bet he would really love the Star Wars party too.
regardless of what i decide to do, at the moment i have plenty of time to plan it out, so i’m not in panic mode yet. of course, we all know what will really end up happening… i’ll buy the necessary stuff one week before the party, and randomly throw it all together while scrambling to wrap gifts and coerce my MIL to leave her bedroom long enough to make an appearance for more than 30 minutes.
what themes or special things have you done for your kids birthday’s in the past? what do you plan on doing this year?
my son's 4th Birthday Cake