When they are born in the midst of heatwave and blazing sun, summer babies keep their moms and dads real worried and um... paranoid. At only a couple of days and weeks old, sun blocks are not allowed on their fragile little skins and so we go to extreme and sometimes ridiculous lengths to keep our little ones safe sound and protected from UV rays. I've tried it all and seen it all. The way-over-the-top, giant stroller sun shade (I personally had the kiddopotamus and let me tell you, it ain't easy being the butt of home-on-the-range carriage jokes) or the umbrella-carrying dad under the hot hot sun (I guess baby wasn't down with wearing hats so one had to do what one had to do).
Once they grow a little bit older, being hot and bothered becomes an asset if at least to celebrate kiddie birthday parties that will drive kiddo and friends bananas!
Each year since she is born, I certainly take it upon me to celebrate summer as part of the yearly event that is celebrating my own summer baby's birthday! Hawaiian Luau fun, Ranch and ponies gallopalooza to cite a couple. This year we did again! All fun fun fun and summer summer summer! My kid-idol first opted for a poolside birthday, then thought skateboard and roller skates would be more fun, she also suggested we hold celebrations at her cousins' in California. In the end, I did my research and flip-flopped between all three concepts before compromising on a more budget-friendly solution: the California dreamin' pool and skates party in a Brooklyn backyard! Can I get a hoot-hoot?
Once I had my mind set on a sunny Cali festivity and even before I got around to arranging for a place to host said festivities, I was thinking of games and props that would do justice to the fun theme! The creative energy quickly kicked in and ideas for party favors were entering my mind too. Once the final place was selected and arranged for, it turns out they had hundreds more ideas of games and activities to spare.
By the time I was sending save the dates and subsequent invitations -- Did I mention an unshakable addiction to evite?-- these ideas became more precise and helped design and write invitations' content!
- An illustration: Some cool clip art of a beaming girl splashing water in what looked like a pool.
- An informative subject title that is also fun: "Splash-n-roll with us!"
- A descriptive: "Kiddo is California dreamin' over poolside and skateboard fun, bring a bathing suit and come celebrate!"
- All essential info: Date, time, Location, Address, Directions and a special reminder to bring children's bathing gears and towels.
Obviously, the invites set the tone for the decorative inspiration that would be found at the party. Turquoise, white and hot pink were the dominant colors of the party as first seen on the evite.
Naturally no party supplies could escape the three-way color scheme. Table covers, balloons, shredded paper, home-made banner, party hats etc... all bore at least one or all 3 colors.
When it came to honoring the pilars of this summer theme party, we absolutely did not shy away from packing too many skating items, helmets, ramps on posters , boogie boards, inflatable pool lounge etc... A popular item was the personalized name-tagged trucker hats which was just another cool substitute for the traditional party hat. We used one hand drawn ramp poster to play "pin the skateboard" which you guessed it, is a beffiting variation of pin the donkey.
A mix CD with a heavy California dreamin' accent was prepared along with more toddler tested birthday songs like say : Happy Birthday to you or even the Hockey Pokey dance.
Of course, looking back, the loopy New York mom that I've become still see a couple of flaws and mishaps to be able to deem the party a close to perfect success but as a fellow mom pointed out to me I should just be grateful because: "At the end of the day, the weather and high 90s temperatures decided the party's fate as children eagerly splashed, waddled and surfed on boogie boards in a kiddie pool, played and laughed during water games!" They also had water-based arts-and-crafts before donning helmets and trucker hats and acting like a tribe of cool cats leaving with their own real size skateboard as a party favor! Icing on the cake you say?
- An illustration: Some cool clip art of a beaming girl splashing water in what looked like a pool.
- An informative subject title that is also fun: "Splash-n-roll with us!"
- A descriptive: "Kiddo is California dreamin' over poolside and skateboard fun, bring a bathing suit and come celebrate!"
- All essential info: Date, time, Location, Address, Directions and a special reminder to bring children's bathing gears and towels.
Obviously, the invites set the tone for the decorative inspiration that would be found at the party. Turquoise, white and hot pink were the dominant colors of the party as first seen on the evite.
Naturally no party supplies could escape the three-way color scheme. Table covers, balloons, shredded paper, home-made banner, party hats etc... all bore at least one or all 3 colors.
When it came to honoring the pilars of this summer theme party, we absolutely did not shy away from packing too many skating items, helmets, ramps on posters , boogie boards, inflatable pool lounge etc... A popular item was the personalized name-tagged trucker hats which was just another cool substitute for the traditional party hat. We used one hand drawn ramp poster to play "pin the skateboard" which you guessed it, is a beffiting variation of pin the donkey.
A mix CD with a heavy California dreamin' accent was prepared along with more toddler tested birthday songs like say : Happy Birthday to you or even the Hockey Pokey dance.
Of course, looking back, the loopy New York mom that I've become still see a couple of flaws and mishaps to be able to deem the party a close to perfect success but as a fellow mom pointed out to me I should just be grateful because: "At the end of the day, the weather and high 90s temperatures decided the party's fate as children eagerly splashed, waddled and surfed on boogie boards in a kiddie pool, played and laughed during water games!" They also had water-based arts-and-crafts before donning helmets and trucker hats and acting like a tribe of cool cats leaving with their own real size skateboard as a party favor! Icing on the cake you say?
No comments:
Post a Comment