Birthday Boy

This weekend, I discovered the art of planning little boy birthday parties--surrender. We had a fabulous time at the party, but it didn't go at all as planned.

 

I had been planning for weeks, but Friday night, Daddy and I started in earnest. He made Lego cars for balloon races:

 And I started the cake and made Lego jello and ice cubes:

 The ice cubes worked beautifully, but not so much the jello. They didn't hold their shape well, although the boys declared them delicious!

Evan had chosen a Lego city theme, and I made a cake to match:

 We used black sheeting and duct tape to make a road table:

 And we set up a Lego city buffet:

 Complete with stop light fruit and axle and grill pretzels:

 We even made fun race flag signs:

 And drank motor oil (grape juice) and anti-freeze (watermelon juice):

 The stage was set with a pinata:

 And each child had their own car tunnel to decorate:

 Stickers and hot wheels were waiting in the striped boxes.

The Lego cars were ready for balloon races:

 And our boy couldn't wait!

His friends arrived, and they colored and raced for exactly five minutes before they headed outside to play:

 Two of his little friends were no shows, and I was worried Evan would be disappointed, but he was unfazed. He had a blast with the two friends who did come, and in some ways it was probably better that it was smaller. They had less to negotiate about what to play, and they could all play in his room without it being too crowded. His two best buds were there, and he was happy.

We did convince them to come in long enough to do the pinata and have a snack:

They had quite the haul since I had planned for more kids!

They sang happy birthday:

 Evan blew out his candles:

 And they tore into the gifts:

 Issa gave Evan a set of Hulk gloves he had been eyeing, and everyone else brought Spiderman gear:

Evan was elated...and then they headed right back outside:

 Evan's Hulk face:

 The best big sister played with the boys and made suggestions:

 She was less thrilled about the gloves.

They did come in for car races, and they ran around the backyard playing tag and swinging. This face, though:



That sums it up. It may not have been the party I planned, but it was absolutely the party he wanted. He had a blast, and declared it the best party ever. The boys all asked to take their tunnels home, and they all asked to come back to our house again, which is the truest measure of success.

Happy birthday, little Hulk, and may you always be this easy to please.