ahoy matey, there’s a party going on right here

David’s fourth birthday has wrapped up and I will call it a success. For his first birthday we had a house party with a lot of babies, friends and family and our little home was overwhelmed – so much so, that I skipped having a party for birthday two. Birthday three was right before our house renovation so we rented the neighbourhood pool and had a party there – great idea!

Now that the house is done, we decided to stay at home this year and have some kids over. With a four year old, I’ve had to accept a few things…
1. Who to invite – it’s not about me, it’s David’s list of friends.
2. Theme – it’s not about me, it’s what David likes.
3. Decorations – store-bought can be TACKY, homemade is time-consuming – mix it up.

The list of friends was made (seven is a doable number right?) and the theme was chosen – Hide-and-Seek in the Dark! But after some consideration, I was worried hide-and-seek may not work. Kids hiding in the dark, in your house, waiting to be found may lead to tears and bruises. I convinced David to go with a treasure hunt theme instead, in which all of the kids can search together for their treat bags. We would add flashlights and maps and go “overboard” with pirate décor.

The original plan was to search the park and end up back at the house but rain was in the forecast, so at the eleventh hour, I redesigned the map.

Kids can make a mess and at this age and most of the parents come too so you need to plan for both ages and accept that your house will be in shambles within 10 minutes. Why did I clean our house all day? We wanted there to be a bit of darkness so we planned for an evening event. Things to consider:
1. 5-8 pm is too long and too late – should have been 4-7 pm.
2. 4 large pizzas were too much – who spends time eating when there are homes to destroy?
3. Adults like beer – buy more next time.

The good thing about our little family is I LOVE to plan parties but I am not a great host… I’d rather be a fly on the wall. Mike however, is great with kids and taking over at game-time. He led the kids through the house and I must say, it was pretty adorable watching all of them follow behind with their maps and headlights. This was the only planned part of the evening – the rest of the time, was spent playing on their own, which makes sense for this age (planned events for four and five year olds are not worth the effort).