A tie dye birthday - highlights!

Before Pinterest, all we had was our own imagination to craft memorable birthdays for our kids.  Life may have been simpler then, but I'm not complaining.  I'll take all the help I can get!

Fast forward to 2015, and between Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube, there is no shortage of inspired ideas out there to compare your own handiwork against.

For Mina's 9th birthday, she asked for a tie dye party. No other explanation. After sitting down and talking about it, we came up with some ideas and I set off to execute the grand vision. 

The plan:

Cake

Food station

T shirt tie dye

Swimming. 

I shamelessly borrowed from all the above mentioned online sources and came up with this. 

Cake:  Birdonacake has a great tutorial for the whole thing. 



Practice round. 



I tried the blue frosting in the middle for this round, but it was easier to just stick to white.



I added some Trix bits along the edge to tidy it up (and get rid of the cereal.)

Once sliced, you get the full effect.



Decor:

I like chalkboard art.  Plus, I needed a sign by the front door so people would just come inside.  We disconnected the doorbell to preserve the baby's naps.  hahaha

 

Theme inspired food ideas:

Trix krispy bars from Cravings of a Lunatic

7

Décor:

Tie dye and rainbow colors, courtesy of Amazon.com and Oriental trading company.  We did tie dye backpacks as favors too.

The girls decided to have an impromptu freeze dance competition at the end, and we used the peace sign fans as prizes.

T shirts:

Fantastic tutorial on YouTube on how to do this with acrylic paint and fabric medium, by Shemi Dixon. 



I bought some fabric markers, so the girls could flair out their shirts.

Drying on the tarp, once the rubber bands are removed. Yes, that is a pair of boxer shorts there as well.  Jeff thought he needed one.



Swimming:

 

We put together a fun playlist with songs from the 60's through today, and the girls had a blast dancing and diving into the pool.  It was a great way to cool off after doing the shirts in the sun.

Success!

Gotham Ave Celebrates!

I don't recall going to block parties as a kid. Even when we lived in the suburbs. And definitely not when we were living out in the boondocks in the middle of the woods.. in upstate NY. So the idea of a block party is a little foreign to me.

But, that doesn't mean we won't crash a good one when we get the chance. Hello, Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn! Here we come!





Of course, it helps knowing some people who live on the block. I guess just crashing a party per se isn't the best idea. Although, it almost happened to us a few weeks ago at Mina's birthday. Some random guy, his wife, and their kid wandered into the party room and were hanging out. I kept staring at them, wondering who the heck they were; and didn't want to be rude and accost them. I started doubting myself, thinking.. maybe they're from Mina's school?

Here's my mental dialogue:

"I did send out a few invites to some of her classmates.. but I thought I knew them all? Didn't I? Who the heck did I invite from the school? Where's my list? Andrew H.? No, obviously. Kayla? Are they related to one of them? They don't look Korean. I ordered enough food to feed them, right? They look kind of confused too. That dad keeps looking around at everyone. Maybe I should flash my "party mom" sticker at them and they'll approach me?"

Turns out, the idiots at the front desk sent them to Mina's party, when in fact they were looking for "Mia's party".

I digress.

We're psyched we know enough of the Gotham Ave crew to hang out and have fun.



And the kids certainly felt comfortable enough to wander off without any adult supervision and proceed to order food all on their own.









Good block parties always have entertainment. Jordan was really looking forward to a repeat performance on the big, blue waterslide.







of course he can catch air on every turn. The boy barely weighs 40 pounds. Which leads me to wonder whether I shouldn't just follow Jordan's approach to eating - mainly, consume all things consisting of pure sugar, fried, or loaded in butter and cheese. The hell with this diet and exercise thing I force myself to do. Not that I want to weigh 40 pounds, obviously. Maybe 40 pounds less.

He does humor me once in awhile, and eat some fruits and vegetables. But those are akin to the parsley sprig one puts on a plate for decoration. They don't really count.



One of the neighbors made these. I was tempted. But I held out. Visions of myself sweating up the hills on the morning 6 miler came to my mind. Six miles at 6 am. Only to be outdone by a flipping hot dog. No. Two bites of this and all that hard work would have gone down the drain.

I saved myself for the hamburger and chicken instead. Good girl. Not fried chicken, which I adore, but never eat because it's eh-hem, fried. But marinated, tender, fired up on the grill. No picture, of course. I inhaled the food too quickly for that kind of frivolity.



Although Miss Mina wasn't feeling brave enough to try the big slide, she did manage to make new friends. She spent much of the afternoon riding up and down the street with her new bestie and her very pink, Princess bike that I happily picked up from some neighbor's curb on trash day (I have no shame.) That is, until she managed to topple over the bike, crash on the pavement, and let out a howl that would scare the demons from hell. And it didn't matter that I was running back and forth beside her on the bike. It only took the amount of time to stop, take a sip of my water, and crash. There she was on the asphalt.



cranky monkey.



cranky, hiding monkey.

Of course, I am an equal-opportunity negligent parent. Jordan crashed on his bike as well.



Hence, the nice road scrape along the side of his neck. He looks happy and calm here. Not so much when it happened.

Despite the drama of accidents and asphalt, the kids had a great time. They played long and hard, wore themselves out, and were out like a light when we tossed them into bed that evening. We redeemed ourselves as parents by washing them in the bathtub first.

My highlight of the day... are you ready for this?




Ta-da!!! I won a major award!! Holy Sh--t, you have no clue how psyched I was to win this at the raffle! My crock pot is on its last legs and I was toying with the idea of buying a new one. Yay!!! And a recipe book too.

Score!!

behind the scenes.

Often overlooked, in the course of party planning, is the musical component. We've thrown many parties over the years. We usually have the food and party prep down pat, and the guests never disappoint. What often gets overlooked though, is our Ipod playlist.

This year, I took charge on that front, and came up with a nice long BBQ song selection that covered at least three hours without repeats.

Miss Mina helped me test it out.

Summer Birthdays.

It's always a joy celebrating my kids' birthdays. With Jordan, each year I marvel at his incredible spirit and enthusiasm. I remain in awe that he's so full of life and we are so blessed to have him in our family - alive, happy, healthy and smart as a whip.

With Mina - I'm marvelling at a lot of things, but most of all, I'm secretly pleased that she's a summer baby. Summer babies get to have their birthdays in the backyard! Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of work involved in a "house party." But it just feels ... well, "breezier" to me. I love our backyard. And I love seeing it filled with family and friends.



Much work and planning was taken care of earlier, but there's always the last minute things - like blowing up balloon centerpieces. Look at all my helpful little elves!



I even imported them from afar. I just want to eat this little guy. Starting with his chunky thighs.



Expect some rain to fall on your parade. (Thankfully, we avoided the bad weather - which I was watching like a hawk all week!!) Instead, the worst we dealt with was tangled balloons. My fault. But Monkey Sr. stepped in with his commendable physics skills. I skipped that class.



Several hours later, the backyard was all set up



Would the kids have fun?



Of course!



And the little kids did too.



My plan was to create four "staging areas" for the kids to focus on; and hopefully be user-friendly enough so that they could fend for themselves. Some hostesses are good with doing large scale arts and crafts things. Me - not so much. I like to create work/play/eat zones, and let the kids create their own chaos. Here, Tahera and I set up a dress up area with fairy-tulle canopy tent. Another yard-sale find.



Princess dresses, shoes and accessories to satisfy every child's creative neess.



And wings, of course.. You're never fully dressed unless you're wearing wings. When will people realize this?



In other corners of the yard, we set up a "construction zone." Target Dollar bin traffic cones, diggers, trucks, and yard-sale sit on Tonkas - voila. Instant construction site. I just need to find myself an inflatable rat somewhere. Do they do this outside of NY?





The art table - for the crayola junkies among us. Also serves as backup kiddie seating. Yay.



And what summer party would be complete without ... waterguns! Filled, of course. Plus, a tub of water for subsequent reloading.



Needless to say, the waterguns were a big hit.



Our own Bonnie and Clyde. As someone said, it's amazing how in this day of Wii and x-box, the simple things still amuse.







Here's a sight to warm the hearts of any transpant parent. My son - Jordan, in all his immuno-compromised glory - sucking down muddied tap water from a water gun that's been sitting out in the sun all morning, handled by about 20 preschoolers. I should just make the pediatrician appointment now.





And some were content to just enjoy the built in features of the yard - like the slide.



While the children frolicked, the adults lounged under the tent. This was part of the plan. As Jeff and I discussed seating needs, I reminded him that most of the seating would be needed for the adults. The kids would be running around. And this was mostly the case. Kids kind of came and went - ate a bit, then ran off to play.



The stage was set - literally - for the entertainment that was to follow. In the meantime, others made use of it. Check out the leap on this kid.



There he is - Michael Ickle the magician! Good guy. Entertained a big crowd, and maintained a sense of humor.



I gave Mina and Jordan the heads up that he'd be entertaining them at the party. Mina had his undivided attention.



She was anxious to be a part of the show.



He had a good audience.





They were all good little helpers.





Now, the highlight of the show, and the raison d'etre for me hiring him, was this guy. The bunny. Also known as Blanco. Those of you who know Mina, know that she is a bunny junkie. I hoped the bunny would be that special something she'd remember about the party.



It took awhile, but the bunny finally made an appearance. Complete with elaborate magic trick.



The the moment of glory arrived - the opportunity to pet the bunny.



The line forms ...



Yours truly, got to hold the bunny on my lap. Mina got a prime seat.



Look at the little finger..



After the entertainment, what was left but cake?



I know she should look more excited, but you have no idea how exhausted this child was. We were deep into napping hour here, but she still managed to keep it together. She knew what was in store for her - ice cream cake.



She soldiered on.



The party wrapped up quickly after that. The little ones took home gift bags - each filled with one cupcake lollipop. Recipe, courtesy of my favorite - Bakerella.



I finished baking and prepping them the night before. Jordan and Mina sampled them ahead of time to make sure they were ok.



Even as people cleared out, the after party on the deck was just beginning - because some people just have all kinds of energy.



Me - not so much.

Thanks everyone, for making Mina's 3rd birthday such a fun event!