A few weeks ago, Edie was invited to a lovely backyard birthday party and afterward mused why does her birthday always have to be in January? January birthdays are just not conducive to having lawn games with your friends, not to mention, the size of our house really limits the number of guests she’s allowed to invite. So, we somehow agreed to the idea of a half birthday party – not that we celebrate half birthdays on a regular basis, but around here, we’ll take any old excuse to throw a party, obviously. Bless her heart, she was so excited about this party that she came up with a list of games, as well as whipping up the invitation on indesign all by herself.
We started off with some games and races and even a water balloon fight. They were on clearance when I ran to the store yesterday morning and I grabbed 3 packs of 175. Edie, always the realist, talked me down to 2 packs. And only most of 1 got filled up. Filling water balloons is alot of work. Somehow, she knew this.
As it’s July and we live in Virginia, I felt some sort of ice cream cake was called for. I thought about ordering one from Ben & Jerry’s, but knew I could whip up something myself. After pondering long and hard some of the beautiful cakes
Martha suggests, I realized that
this was more the effort I wanted to put into it. (I need a form. Plain and simple. I know this about myself. I am not ashamed to admit. No way can I free form something square. Straight lines & I are not something that mix well.)
It was cold, it was yummy and the children were all completely impressed. We had real watermelon to go with the frozen and I filled the punch bowl with lemonade. That and a couple bag of chips and we had a party.
Edie’s vision for the party also included a trip to the sprinklers at the park across the street. (Which was great, because while I can throw an awesome party, I am just not good at entertaining children. Especially 12 of them for 2 hours. Must be my lack of enthusiasm for games.) So, after everyone got their fill of ice cream cake, we headed across the street.
What a pack. You can almost see all the kids in that shot. We had first graders through fifth graders in attendance. We had soccer teammates, friends from school, neighborhood friends. We had boys and girls. Edie put a good bit of thought into her guest list and I have to say, she can throw a party.
The kids had the run of the sprinklers at the park. We gave them all cups and while running through the water, they had water battle that kept Pat & I (and themselves) greatly entertained.
We stayed at the park until it was time for everyone to leave. Everyone looked thoroughly exhausted and I do believe a good time was had by all. A few parents stayed for a cold beer afterwards (always a tradition at our house) and after spending my day getting ready for and then hosting a party for 12 kids, that beer that had been iced down in a cooler all afternoon was nice and cold and mmm tasty.
I don’t know if this party will become one of our annual traditions, but it was a good time, pretty low key and a good excuse for Edie to gather a bunch of her favorite people together for no reason other than just because. Considering we throw a huge party every May for that reason, she really is just following in our footsteps. I really couldn’t be prouder of her.
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Awesome idea! We love he summer birthday party. We just had Abigails and yes we walked across the street too, to the pool. I haven't put up a blog yet. We will be through your area on the 25th are you up for some visitors and can you help us with a shuttle for a family overnight canoe trip?
Looks like the kids had a great time.
yum watermelonesque frozen cake!