I decided to not go in chronological order, but rather listing each kid by birthdays. Hope that makes sense and hope you enjoy :)
Stevie's 1st Birthday
Stevie was obsessed with some old 90's show called Jay Jay the Jet Plane when she was little. It was her first word. "Jay Jay". So as customary with your first born's first birthday, you go way too big :) It was a pretty epic event and we invited pretty much every person that lived within the greater Valdosta area.
Neela's 1st Birthday
Neela was obsessed with balloons when she was younger. That made it pretty easy to plan a party, especially since the dollar store had a ton of balloon themed stuff and I can whip out balloon animals in my sleep. Neela wore a little balloon outfit which highlighted her especially chunky thighs. She was the cutest little thing :)
Titus's 1st Birthday
The Megows were visiting the kids' godparents and my close friends Luke and Megan Shiver in Augusta, GA. (Me and Luke go waaaaay back). Anyways, for his birthday we took Titus to the Augusta Zoo and went swimming. It was such a fun little trip. For his birthday dinner, Megan made homemade pizza and chocolate lava cake.
Olive's 1st Birthday
By now, the lesson had been learned about first birthdays. They can be really expensive and a lot of work. I really wanted to keep with Olive's current schedule and not overload her with a ton of people and pressure for her first birthday, so I suggested a simple family breakfast birthday party. We invited my cousin Parker, because we hadn't seen him in so long. Of course, Minnie made a surprise appearance. I loved this so much. I made a huge breakfast buffet and had cinnamon rolls instead of cake.
Stevie's 2nd Birthday
Stevie's 2nd birthday was the infamous "hodgepodge" party. Stevie just picked some of her favorite things and we decorated with a bunch of random themes. I remember some of the things she picked Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and Frosty the Snowman (her birthday is March 25). She went through a phase where she REALLY liked snowmen. Out of all of the characters we have had at birthdays, I don't think any have ever been as big of a hit as Frosty was at this party.
My nana <3 comment-3--="" nbsp="">3>
Neela's 2nd Birthday
Neela's birthday is in July. It gets HOT in South GA during July. Given the fact that she loved Strawberry Shortcake, she had a Strawberry Shortcake themed party and we served Fruit Smoothies and strawberry cheesecake bites as the dessert. She looked so cute dressed up as Strawberry. The funniest party about this party is that the morning of she woke up and announced she wanted a "Yo Gabba Gabba" party instead. So throughout the whole party she kept walking around saying "I don't know whose party this is. It isn't mine. I'm having a Yo Gabba Gabba party." hahahaha. She's always made me laugh.
Titus drank about a gallon of fruit smoothie :D hahahaha
Titus's 2nd Birthday
Titus really wanted to have his 2nd birthday at the McDonalds playplace. I loved that idea. He had a mullet and it just seemed to fit. Plus it was like $75 bucks. That included cake, ice cream, decorations, and Titus a little present. Stevie wore a french fry outfit. I dressed like a McDonalds worker and walked around being ultra serious about my McD's temporary employee status. hahaha
Olive in her "Small Fry" shirt.
Cutest. thing. ever.
Olive's 2nd Birthday
The theme was "Olive, My love" after her favorite little book at the time. There were just a bunch of hearts everywhere, (which was super easy because she birthday is a week before Valentine's Day). There was little games outside and cute little decorations everywhere.
Olive hasn't had a birthday yet that didn't have some sort of Minnie element.
She insists every year :)
Stevie's 3rd Birthday
Stevie was super obsessed with Cinderella at this age, so of course she had a Cinderella themed birthday. This thing was legit and had everything. Glass slipper cookies, actual Jaq and Gus mice for the kids to look at, princess and knight dress up clothes, a giant castle to color on, and Cinderella came too. My favorite story about this party is that on the way from the pet store with Jaq and Gus, the mice got loose in the car. So I had to go back and buy more. We said like a million traps and had to wait a week before we caught them. Imagine driving around in your car for a week knowing their were two mice running around in there... hahaha
Neela dressed like Lucifer the cat from the movie.
She kinda acted like him at the party too ;)
Neela's 3rd Birthday
By this point, I was getting tired of the typical party, so we did a Dumbo ice cream buffet party for Neela's third. We all dressed like characters from the movie and read the book. Our ice cream bar is legit. Neela wore a cute little Dumbo costume. This one was one of my favorites. :)
Titus was the ringmaster, Neela was Dumbo, Stevie was a clown, and Olive was the little mouse
I just loved this little party so much
Titus's 3rd Birthday/Neela's 4th Birthday
Since their birthdays are only about a month apart, we split the middle and had them a giant joint birthday. We reserved Jungle Gym's and brought the Red Power Ranger and Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba. It was probably one of the biggest ones ever. It was super fun and both of the kids had individual recognition on their birthday, but it was a lot of fun combining them and doing it mega big.
Olive's 3rd Birthday
Olive's 3rd birthday was one of the first I really did all by myself. So it really means a lot to me. Mostly, because the older three stayed up late the night before and helped me decorate and plan things. Needless to say, I didn't get many pictures of this party. But it was a fun Pluto themed birthday. Dont worry, Minnie Mouse decor made an appearance as well ;)
Stevie working on the banner while Neela is writing down game ideas.
This melts my heart :)
Stevie's 4th Birthday
In my opinion, Stevie's angry bird party was probably her favorite ever. I remember she was so excited about the party, she wanted to take her nap in the laundry room for some reason. She cracked the door and said she had to pee. I told her to wait and not open her eyes. I wanted to walk her to the bathroom with her eyes closed as to not spoil the surprise of the birthday party decorations and games. Anyways, she got so excited about the party, she just closed her eyes and ran to the bathroom; however, she ran straight into the wall. It was hilarious.
I made a giant slideshot and filled about 200 water balloons.
The kids got to launch the water balloons at giant Angry Bird Pigs I made out of cardboard.
(Remember, we combined Neela's 4th and Titus's 3rd birthday)
Titus's 4th Birthday
I remember talking to Titus about what kind of party he wanted to have and he told me he wanted to have a "boy day" for his birthday instead. That means just me and him go out to do fun things (like a date I do with the girls, but just the boys). This was again just me and the kids by now, so Neela and Stevie stayed up extra late to help me make him a special costume for our special "boy day". We went to the movies to see Ninja Turtles in full costume, then went to the fun factory, and finally by the toy store. When we got home, we all went to Titus's favorite Chinese buffet. I loved this day so so much. It's probably in my top ten of favorite days ever.
One of my favorite pictures ever.
My kids are seriously amazing.
Olive's 4th Birthday
Well, this is fun. Olive just had her birthday Saturday. So it should be easy to write about :) I wanted to do a low key event at the park with a few friends and family. I got a parachute and candy. Kids just shook and bounced the candy until it was all off and ran to pick it up. Kinda of like a giant pinata. We played it twice and that also served as my goodie bags for kids to take home. It was super cold, but still fun. Of course, Minnie Mouse made a visit. Favorite part of this party: My friend Emily Parker (who claims to be a party attendee professional) got lost on the way to party and showed up at the very end. hahahaha :)
Stevie's 5th Birthday
Stevie's fifth party was a little shop pet shop themed event. It was super fun. Stevie was so so obsessed with Pet Shops, so she really liked it. I made little masks and let the kids eat their snacks out of little pet food bowls I got from the store (they were new, dont worry) hahaha. This was our first ever party with a pinata. The kids had a blast. However, Titus slept through the entire party and refused to wake up from his nap. He finally woke up at the very end and we took a picture together. It's one of my favorites.
Grumpy "Fresh from a nap" twins
Neela's 5th Birthday
Neela was dying to have her birthday party at the beach. She wanted a Pikachu themed party. Its a person from Pokemon. It was fun to decorate the beach condo with balloons, streamers, and pictures. We did face painting. I remember giving Neela a little tank to catch and store her hermit crabs. The next day, I remember she caught about 20! It was such a fun little party :)
Her face when she saw the party setup!
She was overjoyed :D
Titus's 5th Birthday
Out of all of the birthday parties, this is the only one I can say I get upset thinking about. Titus wanted a shark birthday party, but I literally didn't have time at that time in my life. It was pretty hectic. I was still recovering financially from the divorce and really didn't have a free minute to plan anything. My parents came down and brought him a shark cake. We had a little party at my Mimi's with my parents. Then the kids and I all went to Titus's favorite place, the Fun Factory. He had a super good time, but I still get upset that I couldn't throw him the party he wanted. We have already talked and this year for his 6th birthday, we are going all out and throwing the most epic Power Ranger themed party South Georgia has ever seen :) I love my buddy so much.
He did really love that shark cake so much :)
Stevie's 6th Birthday
This is about the time Frozen was making it's way into our children's heart and into our minds (slowly driving us more and more insane with every playing of "Let it go"). Of course, we had a Frozen party. Elsa and Anna came by and we had a Frozen slumber party. The girls just freaked out with excitement. After the princesses left, we all watched Frozen and the girls got to decorate their own cake. It was so fun. At the end of the night, we wrapped it up with bedtime stories.
Neela's 6th Birthday
I've had a few favorite parties over the years. This one might take the cake as number 1. Neela wanted an animal dance party. I built a stage, made costumes, picked out custom music, and recorded the whole thing. It just seriously just so much fun! I didn't take many pictures, but I did make a video of how it all turned out.
Stevie's 7th Birthday
Well, this is the last one... so far. I threw Stevie a pokemon themed party. Of course, I forgot to take pictures, but it was super fun. Since her birthday is around Easter, I hid a ton of pokemon characters in eggs. So they had to find the little characters. I think that's the point of Pokemon? hahaha. I have no clue. I made some sweet snack holders in the shape of Pokemon balls. My favorite part is that Neela took it upon herself to create some type of original decoration. She designed, cut out, and taped little ears to every chair to turn them into little Pikachus. I was on cloud 9 when I saw that :) Again, life was crazy so I didn't actually take pictures during the party.
Addition to the post: Here's a link to Olive's last birthday party activity. It was super fun!
Whew!!! That was a LONG post.
Be Blessed,
Seth
You know if you ever needed to add something else to your plate a party planning business would be a good idea :) Love the characters who come to visit! The mice running around the car would have been an interesting dynamic... I think with mice I could deal, a snake not so much! So many fun parties and memories! I promise the kids will remember, I remember all the amazing parties my mom did for me and my brother!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the details about the Megow Birthday Parties. Their parties seem to be interesting and full of fun. I too want to host such a party for my nephew at one of his favorite party venue NYC. Thanks for the inspiration.
ReplyDelete