Party On

Man, yesterday was an awesome day. I love for my kids to feel special and this was the first year I think Pacey really *got* that it was his special day. There were lots of happenings at school, including a visit from me and the other two kids to read a story to Pacey's class. Parents are invited to eat lunch with their birthday kids too, but I didn't want to tackle that with Mr. Unpredictable Baby. A book came home with Pacey that was made by the kids in his class; they all wrote something they like about him, something he is good at and the gift they would buy him if they could. The results were incredibly cute and entertaining.

SO, on to the next event: the Class Party. We decided to bite the bullet and invite Pacey's whole class for a birthday party. We figured it was the best way to get to know the kids and their parents, since we are new to the area. We are, therefore, hosting approximately twenty kids for bowling on Saturday (eep!)

Party venues make it pretty easy on parents these days, provided you're willing to shell out the dough. Which I am, to a point, if it means not having twenty kids in my house. The part that always gets me, though, is the party favors. I kinda hate them. Even if you buy several crappy toys plus a treat or something, it comes out to at least $5 per kid. That ends up being a lot at a big party like the one we are hosting. I'm pretty proud of the solution I found this year:

For something like $10 or $12 I found an etsy seller who made these customized party bag toppers with cellophane treat bags. They come separately, so you can fill the bags with whatever you would like and staple them shut. M&Ms purchased in bulk and about 20 minutes of measuring and stapling and voila. Consumable party favors that thank the guests for coming (the point of the favor, IMO) and won't clutter up their houses with junk. I normally try to stay away from candy seeing as his birthday is only six days after Halloween, but this year I decided not to make that my problem.

Pretty cool, huh? Now, to figure out how I'm going to make it through two hours with 20 first-graders all hopped up on birthday party excitement!