This past Saturday we began the celebration of Shannon's 6th birthday. In what seems an unusual trend we are having multiple parties for her this year. The first was her "friend" party in which all of her school friends, and other kids her age, came over to play, eat cake, and have fun. The second party will be more sedate as it will have more adults will focus on family members who can make it in town (the weekend after Easter).
This past weekend was the friends party and Shannon planned most of it with just a little guidance from Lisa and myself. The totality of my input was that it would be a "no-present" party. She has so much stuff, and always gets so much from her family, that her friends really didn't need to be getting her anything. If any of her friends families felt compelled to get her a gift then we would donate the gift to a local charity that helps out needy kids. Many of the parents were a little put off by this stipulation but, in general, they did a good job of respecting our wishes.
The theme for the party was "Peter Pan" with a focus on Tinkerbell and fairies. Most of Shannon's classmates and friends are girls so Shannon decided she wanted to have a costume party were all the kids would dress up as fairies. If anyone didn't want to dress up as a fairy they could dress up as a pirate or a lost boy from Peter Pan. In general all of the girls dressed up as a fairy (with one exception - she was Wendy in a dress her grandmother made just for the party). There ended up being just about 20 kids and nearly as many moms on hand for the event. Needless to say the house was full of fun.
We had a play dough table setup, tents and tunnels they could climb/crawl though, the Wii was setup for some of the adults to play, we had hopscotch on the porch (it rained a bit), and pin the wings on the fairy (another great Shannon idea) as well as pin the hook on the pirate (for the boys - she is very thoughtful).
I don't know if you have ever had apx 20 5-6 year old girls in your home before or not but let me tell you - they can be loud. They run, they scream, they scream, they scream, oh and they scream. They had a blast. Little kids in tights and wings fluttering around the house with about four pirates/lost boys tormenting them. It was hilarious and fun to watch.
For the first hour of the party though the true hit was Joseppie the Clown. Joseppie made balloon animals and took the demands of the kids in stride all the while wearing a huge red smile. He had a pretty good repetoire of animals as well; he made dogs, mice, giraffe's (a big hit), swords, and even one crown. He was a great help and we really appreciate him not just doing it but volunteering for the role in the first place. Shannon loved having a clown at the party and, for as long as we can keep it, she won't know his true identity. The other parents were all really impressed by Joseppie and I think he could make some good money if he were willing on occasion.
Eventually we had the cake and ice cream and then we ended the party with a mad dash for candy from the Pinata. Every kid had a ton of fun and I think the party was a huge success. Most kids parties now-a-days are held at party places like Chuck-E-Cheese (Billy Bobs Pizza here) or a Bowling Alley. By having the party at our house though the kids all got to actually play together and just have fun. Plus, with having a no present policy but having it be a dress up party all of the kids ended up getting a gift of a costume (if they didn't own one already). One of Shannon's friends, who normally won't go to the parties (due to lack of funds to by a gift) was able to come which was really cool.
Shannon was great. She was totally cool with the idea of a no present party, she seemed to play with everyone and made an effort to make all the kids feel welcome, and even shared most of her candy from the Pinata with kids who weren't able to really get any in the mad scramble. I often say she reminds me of Lisa and in this regard she is no different. I don't think I have ever met two nicer people. Now if only I could get her to give a natural smile for the camera. There are a couple more photos in our online album.