Here is the finished product. They look better in person but this will have to do. I blurred out personal information like the address and phone numbers just because my blog isn't private and you never know who could be (and is!) watching... And, no, in case you were wondering, we didn't send an invitation to ourselves, but I wanted to show what the address labels looked like too.
And this is just something random that I've noticed since I started throwing parties for my kids... Where is the etiquette? I remember when I was a kid and the invitations said RSVP...people actually called to let you know if they were coming or not!! What a novel concept, right? However, it's like pulling teeth nowadays for people to take 5 minutes to call or even e-mail with a quick yes or no. Either that or my family and friends are horrible about it. Granted not all of them are that way, but I still end up calling those I haven't heard from (which ends up being about half) to confirm so I can plan better. If I wasn't so anal retentive and organized, I'd probably just be like, "Oh well, if there's not enough food for everyone there because they didn't RSVP then it's not my problem". But....I'm not like that. I like to have a close-to-accurate headcount so I have enough food and make enough cake. I also like to stay within my budget and I don't want to buy stuff for a bunch of people who don't end up showing up and then I waste my time and money. I'm a planner, a party coordinator. Maybe not by profession, but it's somewhere in my genetic makeup.
Anyway, speaking of food. For the menu, we decided to go with food you would find at a circus (fancy that!?!), or carnival/fair. So, we will have things like hamburgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, popcorn, peanuts, fries, soda, and cotton candy. I plan on making circus cupcakes thanks to a recipe from my sister's awesome cupcake book, and then a small "smash cake" for Jaxson. And there will be ice cream... can't have a party without it! Here's the picture of the cupcakes I hope to make and I pray they look this good...
Last, but not least: the activities. I mean, what the heck do you do for a first birthday party?? I posted on my Facebook this morning before I left for work asking anyone for ideas for a circus party. I didn't even think of it, but I had huge responses and most of them said to hire a clown. Why didn't I think of that? Probably because I figured that you really can't do much with a one year old. Then I got to thinking that there will be other kids there and they'd probably have a lot of fun with a clown. So, now I'm looking into a last minute clown for the party depending on how expensive it is. I found one that looked promising, but the starting price is $100 an hour...YIKES! I must throw cheap birthday parties. I'm waiting to hear back on some other quotes and hoping I can find something a little more inexpensive, but that seems to already be on the cheaper side. If we can find it in our budget, then we might try to hire the clown. If not, I have to think of a Plan B.
On a completely separate side note, which I could have written a separate post about but did not because I just didn't feel like it, I took a few pictures to commemorate St. Patty's Day last week. I was at Target the other day and saw these cute shirts on sale. I wanted to get them matching shirts, but they didn't have the one I wanted in Jaxson's size so I got the next best thing. I don't go all out or anything, but I'm proud of my Irish heritage so I nevertheless feel the need to represent. It's virtually impossible for me to get my children to sit still long enough for a decent picture, so just in case I wasn't able to get both boys together (good mommy thinking as that's exactly what happened...or didn't happen depending on the way you look at it) in the same photo wearing their St. Patty's Day shirts, I took a picture of the shirts together and then got separate pictures of the boys.
The only time I can ever seem to get Jayden to hold still, since he's the worst of the two photogenically speaking, is when he's eating. I swear that half my pictures of Jayden are of him sitting at the table with his food. If I try to get pictures of him before or afterwards, I typically end up with half a head of blond hair or a picture of my very stained carpet. Jayden constantly goes like the speed of light while my outdated digital camera takes pictures at the speed of a snail. This was my best attempt.
Now that Jaxson has discovered his new found freedom and ever increasing speed due to walking, he's also starting to present a challenge. Especially since he's in a never-ending quest to keep up with his big brother. Again, he's pretty chill while eating or right after so this is a picture of him after finishing a bottle while taking a moment to chill in Mommy's lap.
And last, but not least... I actually DID manage to get a picture of both boys together, but not until after Jayden had covered his shirt in peanut butter, so I only have one child in his St. Patty's Day shirt. If I do manage this feat, it's only by a miracle that I can get them to both look at the camera at the same time. Obviously I didn't get my miracle this time, but I still think they are too cute to resist.
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