Birthday Party Countdown

Every morning I start my day not only w/ coffee but a review of the calendar. I am currently in the middle of finishing up Jaxon's birthday party planning for the year and today marks the 20 day deadline! It's bittersweet really, I have been planning since January and don't get me wrong, I'm really excited to see it all come together but part of me will be disappointed to see the planning come to an end!

The summer before Jaxon's 1st birthday I discovered that planning a party for a child was more fun than I could have ever imagined! I also found out that your options are endless but finding exactly what I was looking for was not so easy! The theme that year was a circus theme, I chose this mainly because the food options would be inexpensive and his fave food at that time were animal crackers!

I am a very theme oriented person and want everything to match. I looked and looked that first year for a prepackaged party set that fit the circus theme. I found a lot of stuff out there but nothing caught my eye. Plus these sets were expensive and you can't mix and match or add and subtract items to your purchase. That is when I decided to make my own party set. I started with the invitations. I then branched out and made labels for the drink cups that matched the invites as well as the party banners.

I chose red, yellow and blue as my colors. The tableware, balloons, invites, party banner, welcome sign, Jaxon's outfit and the cakes all had these colors in them. BirthdayDirect is my party source for any of you looking to buy solid color tableware. It's inexpensive and they have a great selection of mylar balloons!

Party number 2 was farm themed. I decided that year to paint a mural in our basement, it was a farm scene and I thought that it would make a great backdrop to his party. I am finding that every year I do a little more, get a little bigger and spend more time perfecting every little detail. This year's theme is Planes, Trains and Trucks. I try and use things that he is really into, I also pick very classic themes so that in the future when I don't have as much time I can reuse some of my stuff.

Some of the new things I am trying this year are party favors and designing my own cake! These things are all ran by Jaxon first, he helped pick most of the things I am using plus he has been a big help in the kitchen as I start to practice w/ the cake baking and decorating!

I have read that you shouldn't make a big deal out of birthdays... I DISAGREE! I hope to one day look back w/ my children and show them pictures and share stories w/ them of how we planned for months to make their special day as special as we could. This is a family tradition that I plan to pass on!