His First Real Birthday Party

kids around here have birthday parties.  major parties.  well, some are bigger than others, but they involve things like magicians, traveling zoos, ponies, trains... i kid you not.  they are productions.  even ones that are scaled down are still productions.  or they are parties at a fun location.  but a cake and ice cream party where people play a few games in the family room, open presents and then leave... they don't really happen.

and if we decided to have people over to our house?  well, i don't think the birthday party game they had in mind was sardines.

anyway, i knew that this was the year we would start birthday parties for ethan.  he's really into birthdays.  the cake.  the candles.  the excitement.  where he didn't get it at 2 years old, he gets it now.



but his birthday is on december 17.  we celebrated christmas with my family on december 18.  so did other people.  can we say, inconvenient timing?  i figured that we could celebrate after christmas...

and i sought out a fiscally responsible party... and i kept my wits about me.  because i could add a few touches here and there, but breaking the bank on things like favors, was not going to happen.  i tried to cheap out as much as i could, and all in all, i am quite pleased.

i had an etsy artist design the invites... and i printed them at costco.  5x7's are a steal!



and the cake i bought from a lady that lives south of town... it was tasty and another bargain.  thank you amy for the recomendation!



the favors?  they were crap.  but i was okay with it.  the table runners?  {not the cutest} sale fabric from joann's that i pinked {the pinking olfa rotary cutter is pure genius, fyi}





the food was from the cafe, and it was quite tasty {not to mention, i didn't have to cook}  the drinks were a rip off, as they only had the tiny juice boxes... whatever.

and i have a bunch of leftover crayons...  i don't want them.  any takers?  i feel bad just throwing them out...

sister was tired... but well behaved.



this is her, "i'm trying hard to be happy face." 



all in all, a great party.  i did think ethan was going to lose it in the planetarium, when he looked at faustino and said "i can't like this"  {damn, captain eo at disney world!}  but he quickly got over it.









when i asked ethan what his favorite part of the party was -- the cake!




and one of the sweetest gifts?  my sweet friend sabrina took all of these photos for us.  she blogs here and here... and was my sounding board for the party.  thank you, sabrina!