Cam had his big birthday party today - We had a TON of fun. The theme was a Wii bowling party. The kids had a chance to play bowling on two different TVs - one in the "man cave/basement" and the other in my reading room/living room. I borrowed a second Wii from a student.
By the way -- We had 15 kids total at the house. 15. That's a lot of kids. Well, there was a little baby. If we include her we had 16. Some parents dropped the kids off, others hung out and enjoyed the fun. We are friends with really cool parents... Or my kid is friends with kids who have really cool parents. Either way, it was fun.
In the end, most kids ended up playing in the backyard - which was my main goal. I just wanted a chance to let the kids run around and have fun. The only crying: two of the kids just didn't want to go home. Other than that, there was a lot of laughing, running and dodge ball/bubble chasing.
I make a point to not accept gifts at Cam's parties - He already has SO many toys. It feels good to have a lot of fun and not require parents to bring stuff. What's really cool is how many kids brought handmade cards and drawings. I got video of Cam going through all of this cards after everyone went home. He thanked each and every kid as if it was as special as a toy. I think friendships are more important than the toy. And if you visited my house, you'd see how Cam already has everything a kid ever wanted.
Speaking of everything a kid ever wanted: Cam got an iPod Nano for his birthday. It's one that I won in a video contest. I bought a REALLY great skin to keep it from breaking from the brute force of a six year old. Check out iFrogz. I was really impressed with what we got. I also got a cool one called Audiowrapz for Jordan. I highly recommend it!
We had a really great birthday week for Mr. Cam. On his birthday, we had special birthday doughnuts and I even surprised him at school at lunchtime. He's been begging me to eat with him, so he was really excited. We took him out to dinner and he loved all of the really cool things he got from his family. Along with the iPod, he got some awesome outdoors gear to help with all of our hikes and explorations. He's feeling very special and I'm so glad to see him excited and happy.
4.05.2008
Birthday fun
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3 comments:
So, I'm curious how you got people to comply with your "no gifts, please" request. I even put it on the invitations to my boy's last birthday party, and EVERY SINGLE parent bought a present anyway. I was sincere with my request. I wanted the party to be about fun and friendship--not stuff. I even talked to several of the parents about it beforehand. They wanted to know if I really meant it, and I said, "YES!" BECAUSE I DID.
Three out of the 15 kids brought something. In total, he got three books and a Transformer. Everyone else came with a card - some bought and others handmade. I was really impressed. A couple of the parents called to double check about the no gifts and I explained how Cam is one of only two grandchildren on both sides and he has uncles who get the kids great things. We wanted a reason to play and not get more "stuff." One of those parents just couldn't come empty handed, but the rest did great. I asked them to help out during the party and that made them feel like they brought something to the party.
This year we had fewer presents and many more kids. I think it was a success.
That sounds wonderful! I'm hoping for the same success with our next party. I'm not a "stuff" person, and it drives me crazy how much stuff we've accumulated anyway. It also drives me crazy when my kid got to the point that he started asking for more "stuff" everytime we left the house. I blame the grandparents for that one, because I certainly don't consider leaving the house a reason to get a "prize." Sigh.
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