How many birthday parties is enough?

October is a busy month for our family. We have 4 family members with birthdays in October - Lauren, Thomas, Nicholas, and Daddy! Not to mention all the friends and relatives who were born in this month as well… plus the holidays right around the corner.

This year, Lauren and Thomas turned 3 years old. They had a b-day party last year and we invited friends over with their kids, but last year they more played “near each other” than “with each other.” They’re finally at the age where they can genuinely appreciate the FUN of a birthday party with friends, and playing with other kids. Let the fun begin!

Birthday Party #1 - (Oct 6): We hosted a small get together of 40+ friends and family at our house to celebrate… most of the pics in the slideshow are from that event. You can see more here at my flickr account. Food from Buon Appetito (yummy!), 2 cakes from Costco (b/c daddy thinks we shouldn’t jip the kids and make them share a cake), a scavenger hunt produced by Aunt Kristin, cake, and a Doodlebop theme. My favorite pics are from when all the kids discovered the joy of lollypops + watching the Doodlebops… Believe me, the house was pretty quiet at that point.

Birthday Party #2 - (Oct 8): My dad was heading out of town on a business trip, so he was going to miss the kids’ actual birthday. So we decided to go out to eat and “celebrate”… This time to Tyson Buffet - a Chinese buffet restaurant (huge selection)! No singing, but no less a birthday celebration. Aunt Kristin and Uncle Minh brought their gifts for the kids — activity books/marker sets and several classic kids board games — Memory, Candy Land, Cherries something-a-rather… They like playing the games… but don’t understand the part about keeping your playing piece on the board. It’s a constant guessing game to figure out where their pieces go. Oh well…

Birthday Party #3 - (Oct 12): On their actual birthday, we got off work early and went to the kids’ school. We brought store-bought/pre-approved ice cream cups and Hostess cupcakes - b/c you can’t just make your own treats like we did when we were little, thanks to food allergies. We also brought several goodie boxes for the kids… which were also Doodlebop themed. Cute “pom-pom” headbands, musical instruments, stickers, etc. Here’s a picture of the sticker we put on their goodie boxes…

Birthday Party #4 - (Oct 12): Mommy and Daddy are getting a little tired of all the birthday celebrations, so we had a “quiet” dinner at home, inviting just my mom and sister over for dinner. Grandpa was out of town. Of course we still had to sing Happy Birthday, but instead of a full cake, we gave them left-over ice cream cups with whipped cream and a cherry on top — oh and a candle too.

Next year we’re gonna think about a combined birthday party including Nicholas… maybe… we’ll see…