And They Called It Monkey Love...

Okay, before I start this post, let me just say that I'm not one of those moms who spends $1000 on birthday parties. Never will be. (This one only cost just over $50, actually!) What I am is a mom who, in her pre-child days, wanted to be an event planner. I love to plan parties, dinners, get togethers, vacations, whatever. You have a function? I'd love to plan it! (No really - I'd love to help!) Lists, schedules, decorations, budgets - I'm getting giddy. I got to do a little professional event planning in my pre-kiddo days, but not enough to get it out of my system.

So that's why birthdays are so fun for me. There's so much potential, so much fun to be had - so much planning! (Ooh, my heart just skipped a beat!) And once you get used to planning events, they get really simple to plan and put together.

That said, here's a look at Spencer's fourth birthday party from a planner/mom perspective.

Theme:

Every good party needs a theme. Themes are great because they can kick-start all the great ideas you have in your brain for the party; one idea just leads to another. The possibilities are endless. However, themes are also good because they set boundaries; parties with too many unrelated elements feel a little off-balance, which is distracting. (At least to me!)

For several months Spencer has been talking about having a monkey birthday party. (Don't ask me where that came from; I just work here.) So I took the monkey theme and ran with it!

Decorations:

Decorations, especially for a kids party, don't have to be expensive to look good.


The only things I bought to decorate were the crepe paper and the inflatable monkey - both really cheap. Everything else was made from what I had around the house. Crepe paper is great because it's cheap and can make a big impact if used properly.


Kudos to Lance for making the excellent trunk; it really pulled the whole look together.

Food:

Every birthday party needs a cake. Spencer kept requesting a monkey cake, which scared the bejeebies out of me because I've never claimed to be a good cake maker. Oh, I can make the cake taste good - just not look good. (Remember Josh's birthday trifle?) But this time I tried really hard, and I think I made up for all the poor, mangled cakes of my past.


I owe it all the Martha and her recipe. I think it was a monkey-head-masterpiece! (BTW - I didn't want to buy a bag of yucky black licorice for the face. So I bought some Tootsie Rolls, heated them in the microwave, and molded them into the eyes, nose, and mouth. C'mon, clever, right? Well, it made me feel clever.)


The cake itself was decent; it tasted a lot like banana bread with chocolate frosting. But I wasn't going for taste this time - just looks. I can honestly say this was the best monkey head cake I have ever made. :)

We had pepperoni pizza and monkey fruit salad, because I am sure that's what a monkey would eat for lunch if given the chance.


Activities:

With little kids you have to have at least a few structured activities; otherwise it's just mad chaos for a few hours. (This way it's structured mad chaos for a few hours!)

First we made a cute monkey craft. Nothin's more fun than gluing a monkey together! (I glued the bigger pieces together beforehand, just to make things easier.)


Then we had a few games to get the wiggles out. First, pin the tail on the monkey. (Has my artwork gotten any better since Thanksgiving?) ((Okay, I can't lie. I typed "how to draw a monkey" into Google and got this.))


I don't know if the kids really got the point of the game (there was some peaking and some helping!), but they still had a fun time!


Then we played "monkey dance". The kids would dance when the music was on and then freeze when it was turned off. It was pretty funny, but only lasted one song. (I thought they would go longer; I thought wrong.)



All that dancing made everyone hungry, so it was time for cake and ice cream. Spencer cracked me up - we got to the very first line of "Happy birthday to you..." and he blew out the candles. So this video shows me lighting the candles for 2nd time - and telling Spencer when it was okay to blow them out! (I think he was worried about his friends beating him to it!)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I thought it would be hard to cut into my magical monkey head. But then Spencer started sticking his fingers into it and licking the frosting, and suddenly it didn't seem so hard. (Cutting a perfect monkey cake head? Hard. Cutting an imperfect monkey cake head? Easy-ish.)


Party Favors:

Party favors are great ways to end the party. They help tie in the theme one more time, give the guest something to remember the party, and can be a big help to moms trying to leave. ("Get your coat and shoes on and you can have your party favor!") Plus, it was good to have Spencer give his guests something after receiving so many wonderful gifts.


Our party favors included banana candy and a keychain-sized Barrel Of Monkeys game. It also included a thank you note for coming to our party.


So that was the party. I think a good time was had by all. Lots of laughing and eating and playing. Even some crying. (Each child had a chance to cry at least once, and if that's not a sign of a good party I don't know what is!)

Now you'll have to excuse me. Lance's 30th birthday is in six months and I have some planning to do. :)