A Non-Pinterest Birthday Party!

Franny turned 3. I love birthdays. I love parties. I love celebrating. And I rebelled against the pressure of a perfect Pinterest party. At age 3, with an older sister, Franny’s main focus was friends, Frozen plates and the beloved Barbie cake and nothing else.

Our day-to-day is fabulously crazy right now (can you relate?). Two young kids, living in a construction zone, starting up fall activities (including Kindergarten – which brings up all kinds of emotions) and trying to maintain some sort of family life sanity is enough. I’m picky about the things we add in right now, and I very confidently decided the perfect Pinterest party would never make it on the list this year. And lets not mention the growing cost of parties…I would much rather use those funds toward a new light fixture (but that’s just me!).

Franny invited her sister and 6 other kiddies over. My philosophy is less kids does not make it any easier…a crowd can actually be helpful! And although drop-off parties mean you’re in charge of ALL the kids, it also means you don’t have to entertain and feed or have space for all the parents-we like drop-off! We kept the entire evening very low-key in my opinion, but super pumped and exciting in hers. It was a win-win kind of a day! Here are a few tips to help you achieve your own win-win, non-Pinterest kids party!

See what’s on sale: The Salvation Army helped me start the ball rolling. We found party hats and party horns (new, designer from Target, I might add) for $1. Score. Let the festivities begin.

Invites: I went the trusty text message route for invites. Closer to the date, when the girls couldn’t contain their excitement, they made their own invites and we hand delivered them. It was part of the party process for them, and I didn’t have to do any work and it cost me nothing. Booya.

Decorations: A $1.50 bag of balloons can be your best friend. Tie them to the mailbox, the front door, or simply scatter them. They really bring the festivities to life visually. We also splurged on paper plates. We simply bought an 8 pack of dessert Frozen plates, and in Franny’s mind, our entire house transformed into the kingdom of Arendelle.

Cake: This year, Franny ogled over the Barbie gown cake at Target so sweetly that I decided the splurge could be part of her present. Well, I guess I’m not normally in the market for cakes, so when I called and was quoted $49.99, I may have shouted “holy smokes” out loud. I quickly decided we needed to come up with another plan. I let Husband get creative. He came up with a great cake design with 2 different shaped pans and then let me frost it after it cooled. It looked more (um…exactly) like a stripper popping out of a cake then a ball gown, but the 3 yr. old was as pleased as could be so we considered it a success. (Remember, this is not Pinterest people!)

Activities: I like the trusty games from the past. Clothespin-drop-in-the-bucket (we couldn’t find either and modified with baby-spoon-drop-in-the-vase). We did a treasure hunt through the house to find their party horns. Dinner, you may wince at this thought, but it killed a bunch of time (ahem…not that that was my goal – guilty smirk). And a Kocemba party wouldn’t be complete without a craft. I scavenged through our craft cupboard and came up with beaded necklaces. Besides the millions of beads scattered across the floor everywhere, it was a clean craft that they could complete on their own to whatever extent they choose.

An hour and a half later, I was ready to see the parents, but was thankfully and happily still sane. There was very little prep and little clean up (except I’m still finding beads!).  When it all came to a close at the end of the day, we had a great time celebrating. And I mean that, I felt that I could actually celebrate our sweet little Peach!