THE Birthday Party

Ben requested a "firetruck birthday party" this year, and he insisted that we have it at our house. Thinking that this would be a great way to save some money, I wholeheartedly agreed.

But then, I started seeing all these blog and facebook posts about moms going all-out for these theme birthday parties, and I started to get a little worried. Gone are the days of just inviting your friends over for cake and ice cream or having your birthday at McDonald's (my 6 year surprise birthday party at McDonald's totally rocked, man.)


But, I decided to give it a try anyway, and while I'm not at all creative when it comes to this kind of stuff, I am VERY good at stealing ideas from the Internet. :-)


So, here are some shots from Ben's firetruck fiesta!



Assistant fire marshal's. These two were BIG helpers during the party.







Lots of games set up in the backyard to keep little ones busy.

Decorate your own fire hat with foam stickers and markers! I found the fire hats at Michael's and the badge stickers came from the local fire house.

The Four-Year-Old Fireman!

Good friends!

Good fun in the backyard! The weather was perfect, thank the Lord. I don't know what we would have done if we had to be indoors.

The only structured game we played was called Rescue the Kitty. The bell would ring with a call that a poor kitty was stuck in a tree and needed to be rescued. Being the kind-hearted firefighters they are, the kids would put on their rescue gear . . .

Hop on the rescue truck . . .

and drive to the end of the road.

Then they would run to put out a "fire" with their super-powered "water hose."

Then, they would race to the tree . . . and rescue the poor stuck kitten.

and then bring him back to his owner.

The game was a HUGE hit. The kids loved it, and several asked to play it again.

After the game, we had lunch - "hot"dogs, Doritos (because they are shaped like flames), grapes and carrots (because we have to have some healthful food) and finally cupcakes!

After making the firetruck cake for his actual birth day, I decided cupcakes would be easier for the party.

The "big" kid's table.

The little kid's table.

All done, mom. Can I go play now?

Me and the birthday boy.


Guests got treat bags stuffed with crayons shaped like firetrucks and badges, a firetruck coloring sheet, bouncy ball AND . . .

These! Sugar cookies!

And, of course, there were presents!


All in all, this whole theme birthday at home was WAY more work than I thought it would be, but it was also much more enjoyable than following your kid around at the house of the cheesy mouse.

But, maybe the best part of all, was that we also had 2 very special guests at the party.

Papa Bill and SueAnne were able to be there.

And that made everyone's day special!