Birthdays are among life’s most cherished memories. I know I’ll never forget my childhood friend Sarah’s Raggedy Ann birthday party. Her mom lovingly baked an adorable, award-winning, edible version of this beloved vintage doll. M-m-m, I still remember the creamy White Mountain frosting and the tasty red licorice framing Raggedy Ann’s face – so delicious! When I look back at the photo of that party, I have to laugh. In the picture, I’m seated at the head of the table, closest to the cake, with the guests and the guest-of-honor standing behind me. You’d think it was my birthday! Thankfully, Sarah is my best friend today so I think she’s forgiven me.
As a mom, I have vowed to give my kids awesome birthday memories too. Each year, we rotate the celebration at home with a party held someplace else. Interestingly enough, the at-home party is what the kids talk about the most. I guess at-home doesn’t have to mean ho-hum.
With the help of Chasing Fireflies’s birthday catalog, Wishworks™
This year, my daughter’s birthday falls on a school holiday and coincides with her “at-home” year in the schedule, so we’ll host an extra-long party that afternoon. We’ve been paging through the catalog and talking about our ideas. She’s really torn between the Sock Monkey party and the Barnyard birthday. A friend has offered us her fondue fountain for chocolate-covered bananas to go with the monkey theme, making the decision extra tough. But I have to admit, while the sock monkey tails and sock monkey personalized tee make her go bananas, I am hoping she chooses the Barnyard party. The pig snout cups are hilarious when it’s bottoms-up and the farmer hat and bandana make for great photo ops. And while it’s not so important to her, the way-cool cow print table runner and dozen dancing eggs game make it sound like a real shindig to me, for sure! Since I cannot bake as well as Sarah’s mom, I also like the convenience of the barnyard cake topper, which I could place on a store-bought cake.
We’ll spend more time talking and eventually my daughter will choose a theme for her February party and with Wishworks help, it will go way beyond color-coordinated plates and napkins. In the end, after all the discussion about the sock monkeys and barnyard animals, she will most likely choose something altogether new like the unicorn party. So it goes . . .