Can't you feel 'em circling, honey? Can't you feel 'em schoolin' around?
So, Sunday we had a beach party to celebrate the births of each of my three daughters. This involved keeping approximately 40 (it was hard to get an exact count - those little buggers move pretty quickly), 4 to 9 year old children entertained for 2 hours in our back yard. How you might ask, did we achieve this?
As with any successful project, careful attention was paid to planning. Narrowing the guest list down from every person any of my daughters had ever met to a more reasonable number was difficult, but we finally managed to get the number of invitees down to FIFTY. Then came picking a theme for the party. We had done two backyard carnivals, so that was out. Pony rides was next on our list, but we couldn't locate anyone to to do it for a price that wouldn't require a second mortgage (honestly, the only quote we received was so high that I'm sure we could have bought a couple of ponies for less money). Finally we decided to do a beach party. The only remaining big decision was what type of cakes each of the girls wanted. Haley opted for chocolate cake with mocha icing; Mattie went with a brownie cake with peanut butter chips, a layer of peanut butter cup ice cream in the middle and a chocolate glaze on top; Grace went with the brownie cake with chocolate chips, mint chocolate chip ice cream in the middle and no icing. With the planning out of the way it was time to get to work...
Karyn found a picture that she liked for the invitations, then spent a day recreating it pixel by pixel because she didn't quite like the way the original printed (and she says I'm a perfectionist!?). The completed version was really great. She got those distributed and we started looking for stuff to tie in with the beach theme. I found Haley a great shirt for the party and it had a recipe for Luau Lemonade on it. So, not only did she have something to wear, but we had a drink to make for the party! I found a great kid's size tiki bar at Pottery Barn Kids, but it was $200 - out of our budget. Then Karyn lucked out and found a great one at Sam's for $70 and we decided to splurge. We found cool wake boards, an inflatable palm tree, various Flamingo stuff, etc. and the decor was really starting to come together (plus, these things would be the girls' presents!). The only thing missing was the beach. A couple of trips to Lowe's and 900 lbs of sand later, viola!, our patio was a beach. We filled up a couple of kiddie pools with water scattered some shells and the patio was ready. Cakes got baked and decorated, craft projects were prepared, goodie bags were decorated, leis and other stuff ordered, music purchased, etc. etc. etc.
On Sunday the kids arrived en masse. At first they played in the pools a bit, but they got a bitt cramped with so many big kids so we began some of the craft projects and activities. The Hula and limbo contests proved to be quite popular - I think I judged about 50 of each and kept the mostly 2nd-graders occupied for about an hour. The "beach" was very popular with the preschool crowd. The luau lemonade and the snack also went pretty quickly, One of the guests ate her weight in cheese (I'll bet her parents are wondering what is up with her system today), another ate her weight in pineapple. Another ended up staying with us about 45 minutes longer than planned (I think she was starting to wonder if maybe she had been left behind for good). It seemed like they all had fun. Most importantly (to me anyway), each of my daughters had a blast!
Plans to invite grown-ups over afterward for spiked versions of the luau lemonade had to be scrapped as we quickly got things cleaned up and covered up before the rain started (which fortunately held out until we were done). Then it was back to reality as Grace and Mattie finished up school projects, I packed for NoVa... Oh well, the beach excursion was fun while it lasted and Karyn and I did manage to have one tropical drink while we were there.
If I ever figure out how to post pictures to my blog - I'll post some of Birthday Beach!
Jimmy Buffett/Fins
As with any successful project, careful attention was paid to planning. Narrowing the guest list down from every person any of my daughters had ever met to a more reasonable number was difficult, but we finally managed to get the number of invitees down to FIFTY. Then came picking a theme for the party. We had done two backyard carnivals, so that was out. Pony rides was next on our list, but we couldn't locate anyone to to do it for a price that wouldn't require a second mortgage (honestly, the only quote we received was so high that I'm sure we could have bought a couple of ponies for less money). Finally we decided to do a beach party. The only remaining big decision was what type of cakes each of the girls wanted. Haley opted for chocolate cake with mocha icing; Mattie went with a brownie cake with peanut butter chips, a layer of peanut butter cup ice cream in the middle and a chocolate glaze on top; Grace went with the brownie cake with chocolate chips, mint chocolate chip ice cream in the middle and no icing. With the planning out of the way it was time to get to work...
Karyn found a picture that she liked for the invitations, then spent a day recreating it pixel by pixel because she didn't quite like the way the original printed (and she says I'm a perfectionist!?). The completed version was really great. She got those distributed and we started looking for stuff to tie in with the beach theme. I found Haley a great shirt for the party and it had a recipe for Luau Lemonade on it. So, not only did she have something to wear, but we had a drink to make for the party! I found a great kid's size tiki bar at Pottery Barn Kids, but it was $200 - out of our budget. Then Karyn lucked out and found a great one at Sam's for $70 and we decided to splurge. We found cool wake boards, an inflatable palm tree, various Flamingo stuff, etc. and the decor was really starting to come together (plus, these things would be the girls' presents!). The only thing missing was the beach. A couple of trips to Lowe's and 900 lbs of sand later, viola!, our patio was a beach. We filled up a couple of kiddie pools with water scattered some shells and the patio was ready. Cakes got baked and decorated, craft projects were prepared, goodie bags were decorated, leis and other stuff ordered, music purchased, etc. etc. etc.
On Sunday the kids arrived en masse. At first they played in the pools a bit, but they got a bitt cramped with so many big kids so we began some of the craft projects and activities. The Hula and limbo contests proved to be quite popular - I think I judged about 50 of each and kept the mostly 2nd-graders occupied for about an hour. The "beach" was very popular with the preschool crowd. The luau lemonade and the snack also went pretty quickly, One of the guests ate her weight in cheese (I'll bet her parents are wondering what is up with her system today), another ate her weight in pineapple. Another ended up staying with us about 45 minutes longer than planned (I think she was starting to wonder if maybe she had been left behind for good). It seemed like they all had fun. Most importantly (to me anyway), each of my daughters had a blast!
Plans to invite grown-ups over afterward for spiked versions of the luau lemonade had to be scrapped as we quickly got things cleaned up and covered up before the rain started (which fortunately held out until we were done). Then it was back to reality as Grace and Mattie finished up school projects, I packed for NoVa... Oh well, the beach excursion was fun while it lasted and Karyn and I did manage to have one tropical drink while we were there.
If I ever figure out how to post pictures to my blog - I'll post some of Birthday Beach!
Jimmy Buffett/Fins
posted by r.m at 4:10 PM
4 Comments:
Much kudos my friend. That sounds truly awesome. I bet your daughters were so happy. You really are the best dad in the world.
WOW!!!! What cool parents. These girls don't know how lucky they are! I'm impressed at all the work and planning you guys put into this I MUST say!
You MUST post pictures, I want to see what 900lbs of sand on a porch looks like :) I can't wait till the gals grow up, read your blog and can reflect on what an awesome mom & dad they have!!!
I bet that party's going to win best of the year! So want to plan my party :) JK!
Can't wait to see the girls next week :)
Post a Comment
<< Home