Kids Birthday Parties

My oldest turned four last weekend. FOUR! I don't know exactly how it happened. She's potty trained and everything! (Wait, does it count as potty trained if the only place she can actually go potty is at home or school, usually only on her own little toddler potty at home - mad holding skills actually; and will not step foot in a public restroom at any point, even if the only person using it is washing their hands? I'm going to say yes).

We waited to have the party until her best friend came home from a winter break trip. The theme was Doc McStuffins. I am pretty sure I lost points because I didn't have any planned Doc McStuffins-themed games for the kids to play. I DID set up a 'doctor's table' where they could use our pretend doctor's bag and heal sick animals. I mean, I did give it SOME effort. There were also Doc McStuffins themed coloring pages that I tacked up on a board and provided stickers and crayons to color. I'm not a total weirdo or anything.

The kids were quite thrilled with the cake. I did NOT make it myself in tiers, with different colors based on the character that was painted on each layer with edible paint (You're ruining it for the rest of it, Pinterest-moms, and I say that as someone who is addicted to Pinterest)! I ordered it from Kroger and decorated it myself however. They used pink and purple frosting and I very lovingly added the figurines. It WAS difficult - do you know how hard it is to add figurines from a preschoolers toy collection without them wanting to play with them?! Of COURSE I re-purposed toys we already had. I care about the environment, after all!

But not enough to skip the favors bags. I gave out kazoos that I am pretty sure don't actually work (you're welcome parents - this was a total accident, but I am going to take credit because I bought them and then realized that kazoos would make the other parents hate me). They also had little figurines (imagination is a beautiful thing - they can use them to play with their other toys). And ribbon dancers, which are awesome even for adults (my husband and I danced around after our two kids zonked out in sugar comas, whipping the ribbons around and acting like idiots).

Quite frankly, it was a lot of work for an hour and a half of a preschool-class worth of kids running around screaming and playing with toys, but there were only fights from my two kids (siblings apparently suck, despite the fact that they are supposed to be BEST! FRIENDS!). I call it a success, especially because I heard numerous times that this was "the best cake I ever had!" The best party I've been to!" and "Thank you mommy, thank you!" Preschoolers are a compliment-filled lot, and very loving. It makes it all worthwhile. Kids - they know exactly what to say to make sure they get invited back for more cake-filled days.