Isaac’s Sixth Birthday Party!

I know I am a little late posting this.  Sometimes brain fog can really hamper one’s function, especially when it comes to computering and writing and doing…details.

Isaac is now six.  A big whopping six.  It’s really weird that he’s getting so old.  I remember I used to walk into his room when he woke up in the morning, my fingers crossed that he would still look like a baby.  I cherished him so much and I do believe that I’ve kept him small out of sheer will.  The little gaffer is only 40 pounds and ties for shortest in his classroom.  I like that he’s little.

Six has brought out a new side of Ikey, he’s sillier, more energetic and much more mischievous.  It’s enough to make this mommy do a lot of grumbling at him.  Thankfully he makes up for it in sweetness.  He’s such a lovey person and that’s enough to make this mommy turn into a puddle of goo numerous times a day.

When it came time to plan his birthday party, I wanted something simple, cheap and fun!  We took it to the park again this year and crossed our fingers for no rain and for available tables at the park.  Turned out to be a lovely day and we had the entire picnic shelter all to ourselves!

I decided to hold the party in between meal times and just provide snacks.  Last year I had a really bad attitude about these pinterest perfect birthday parties that people throw just to show off….at least that’s what I felt.  This year I’ve grown up (a lot) and I wanted the party to look nice and have interesting and fun food for the kids.  I took to pinterest for all my ideas and I ended up being really proud of the outcome.  It was inexpensive and looked really nice.  Pretty much, everything ended up on a stick.  Food is better on a stick.

Simple things like taking off the labels on the water bottles really helped to class it up a bit.

Isaac’s cake was my favourite part.  I had my friend who specializes in cake decorating help me.  I baked the cake the day before and we covered it in white fondant and left it over night to kind of dry out a little bit.  The morning before his party, we have Isaac non toxic markers and let him go at decorating the cake himself.  For someone who loves to draw, this was the perfect cake for Isaac and it took much pressure off me to make or pay for something fancy.

I didn’t organize any activities.  I just brought a few frisbees and balls.  His aunt and uncle decided to put together an obstacle course for all of the kids.  I happily had nothing to do with it.  I was pretty much tapped out by then 🙂

Since there were going to be three kids there with autism and since I really cannot stand traditional dollar store goodie bags, I decided to give these for a party favour.  During the party they were the centerpiece “bouquet” on the table.  I added some Lego just to make it look more “Isaac”.

Grapes on a stick.  So easy and so much fun for the kids to eat.  Plus it added height and interest to the table.  It makes it look nicer if you add the top grape from the top so there’s no hole in the top.  The holes get brown and they just don’t look as nice.  I figured this out late in the game and ended up replacing each top grape.

Totally stole this idea from pinterest too.  I’m sure you’ve seen it before.  It really did make things easier.  I had a few cups without dip.  The only thing is that it’s rather wasteful but you could wash the cups out and reuse them if it bothered you too much.  I didn’t let it get to me this time…

This was also a stolen idea.  One doesn’t realize how much nicer it is to eat a piece of watermelon this way.  Your fingers stayed completely dry.  I was happy about that.

Next time I would let the fondant dry for longer.  It was still pretty soft and easy to poke holes in.  But I loved this.  It did take a bit of coaching to get him to fill it all in but he was really happy with it and I just think it’s adorable.  Brilliant idea.

I love the look on his face.  He was opening this Lego Passenger Train set he had been aching for.  Brent went on a wild hunt to find the most affordable place to buy it and we found a great deal.  It may have been a black market type deal but the guy who sold it to us totally had a business card at least.  It felt…semi…legit…