Yesterday was Sam’s THIRD birthday. I plan to write something more sentimental about my boy soon; but, for today, I wanted to share some details from The Easiest Birthday Party Ever last week…
We actually debated whether or not to have a party at all this year. (Side Note/ Informal Poll: Do you or will you plan to have a birthday party for your kids every year? Just curious.) But, in the end, we decided to do something very low key – seriously – and I was SO glad that we did. This was the first year that Sam actually (mostly) understood the concept of a birthday, and he got so excited leading up to Thursday. He was telling random people at Chickfila and the playground about his “firehouse party” for DAYS. Plus, watching him and his little buddies faces – filled with delight, fascination, and curiosity, made the (very minimal) amount of money, time, and energy we invested in putting things together MORE than worth it!
I actually got the idea of hosting the party at the fire station from Katie at Loves of Life, but I kept things even simple-er (she’s basically a rockstar) and planned just a tour for Sam and a few of his best buddies after dinner on a week night. Sam is crazy about all things fireman, so I just knew this would be perfect for him. Plus, I was all about NOT hosting at my house this year – especially since we left for the beach before the sun on Saturday.
Basically, I just called our local fire department and worked with the awesome PR gal there to set things up – she took care of all the details for me and all I had to do, literally, was tell her what time and how many kids they should expect. Then, we just showed up about 10 minutes before things kicked off. The fire station provided hats for all the boys, and they had about 30 minutes (which was all three year olds can really manage) of bliss climbing on the fire trucks, checking out the firemen suits (or, suitcases, as Sam calls them), looking around the station, etc. They LOVED it.
The tour was completely free (although we do plan to make a nice donation to the station), and the guys there were SO great about it… They seem generally happy to show us around and were great with the little ones! Even the parents enjoyed learning more about the inner workings of our neighborhood fire station.
Afterwards, we enjoyed some pizza with the firemen in their kitchen. Then, our crew (six little guys and their parents) simply crossed the street to a neighborhood playground that we frequent. (Thank you weather for holding up!!) I had ordered two-dozen cupcakes and invited our families and very close friends to meet us to round out the celebration. We sang, ate right-before-bedtime sugar, and let the boys run and play. It was the THE BEST.
By 8:30, we were totally wrapped up. Other than throwing away cupcake wrappers and taking down the three balloons I bought, there was zero clean-up. We went home with a VERY happy birthday boy, and pretty much nothing else.
Seriously, this is the way to go for birthdays. Easiest/best birthday party ever. I may never host a party at my house again. 😉
Have you done something like this before? How did it go? What tips do you have for keeping birthday parties simple and sweet?
E
P.S. Sam’s adorable firetruck shirt is from @gingertees on Instagram. She hand-painted it for me, and it turned out perfect!