Party Planning

Evan's birthday party is Saturday and Jeff and I have been very busy planning and preparing. I thought there would be a lot less preparation for a "family only" party, but I think I was wrong. We invited all of his immediate family, so there will be roughly twenty people here. Plus, we still planned kid-friendly activities, so it was almost like we had to prepare for 2 parties.

I'm really excited though! We went with a pirate theme because it seemed to lend itself well to the activities we wanted to do. There will be pirate hats, eye patches, and bandannas for people to wear during the party. I've tried to make all of the food (of which there is A LOT) at least slightly pirate themed. Jeff designed the cake and the best part - it's being made by the woman who did our wedding cake. Who, by the way, makes the best cake I have EVER eaten! Jeff said having her do Evan's cake was more for me than Evan, and that's probably true, but still...

We're not really doing decorations, but we did put our heads together to plan a great game. We divided up all of the adults into pairs and then organized 7 pirate games for them to lead, like "walk the plank," "pin the treasure chest on the map," and "throw the bean bag in the pirate hat." Evan will get clues at each game that lead him to the next one. His cousins Zane and Isaac will be doing the games with him and helping him with the clues. The last clue will lead him back to us and his cake! Along the way, he'll gather all the parts to his pirate costume, that he may or may not wear. Plus, he'll get to interact with each and every member of his family and I'm pretty sure he's going to feel very loved by the end of the party, as if he doesn't already! Jeff even designed the clues to look like old scrolls - it's going to be so much fun!

I really wanted this birthday to be special for Evan because it will be his last one as an only child. Evan is the only small child on my side of the family, so you can imagine how much attention he gets at family gatherings. Not only are his days as the only child numbered, but he'll be sharing the attention with a baby! But, this Saturday will be all about Evan, and I can't wait to enjoy the day with him!

Until then there's grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, and more cooking! Better get started...