Birthday Party Fun

I try to make birthdays special for the kids, mostly by doing little things. We don't go all out celebrating birthdays here, but special touches make things memorable. (The kids may say otherwise someday in a therapy session, declaring that mom just didn't love them enough to have an all expense paid party to the Bahamas for everyone in their grade. Plus a pony as party favors to each kid who showed up.) So for Luke's birthday, I did a few things to make his day special.

First of all, I thought it would be fun for him to get mail, because who doesn't love mail? I asked everyone to mail him a card, even people that wouldn't normally. Just a card, or even a postcard, with a signed name. But the idea was to have him get cards in the mail for a week. And he did. He loved it! (Thanks to everyone who participated!)

Since we haven't decorated the big Christmas tree yet, I figured we'd turn it into a birthday tree for the occasion. (Don't judge. I have 2 decorated. Things take time.) We put all Luke's cards in the tree, then added a few balloons and lollipops. Except that you can't see the lollipops, and they'll turn into the Christmas Pickle. Whoever finds a lollipop is a winner. Of a lollipop. I suspect we'll find lollipops for a few years. Ah, the joys of artificial trees.

(Hey, I didn't say it looked classy. Or even nice.)

Because Luke is the resident artist, we lined the table with strips of paper, so that everyone could draw as they ate his birthday dinner. That would be chicken legs, upon his request. Of all the things an 11 year old boy could ask for, he chose drumsticks. Each to his own, I guess.

We cut mustaches out of construction paper and slipped them over straws. That was probably the most fun we've had around the dinner table in a long time. We'll definitely have to do that again, just for kicks.

And the cake? I made a monster, because he'd love that. And he did. Except that cake pops and I have a longstanding feud. So far the score is Cake Pops: 2, Me: 0. I'd feel worse about the fact that I'm losing to cake, but I get revenge by eating them. So there. I get the last word, and that word is generally YUM. So this monster's eyes weren't exactly how I envisioned things in my head, because the cake slid down the stick and went from cake pop to cake flop. Luke graciously declared it awesome anyway. So did Micah, after sampling it a few times.

I also learned that a $2 cake decorating tube will give you exactly what you paid for. A hot mess all over the kitchen, in the color of green frosting. It's good to have a backup of quality.

And the very best idea I had for his birthday just didn't happen. I wanted to kidnap him from school mid-afternoon to catch a matinee at the movie theater, and was getting ready to head out the door when Sam reminded me that he'd probably miss something important at school, like handing out the treats he took in for his special day. Those would be the treats I was up until midnight making because I'm an idiot and couldn't just bake cookies for him. No, I had to make chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie truffle balls instead. And there was no way those things were not going to be passed out after spending a few hours waiting for them to harden in the freezer. Twice. So instead, I took Luke (and Micah, because he insisted, even though he was clueless on where we were going) to the movies after our birthday dinner. I just want to go on record as saying that The Muppets were awesome. As was Luke's birthday. At least according to Luke.