My cousin Karen commented on this article by Scary Mommy on Facebook. The title caught my attention and I just had to read it. Our daughter Eden is growing-up fast and many days I am not even sure who she is ~ hense the title of the post. She can go from happy and kind to monster daughter in a fraction of a second. She can be respectful and helpful or so snarky that I literally have to walk away. At any given moment, you can never be sure “who” you are going to encounter. These days, she does not bring out the best in me, but the worst part is that I can so see myself in her. We both have the same strong personality and I am determined to ride this out with her. It is certainly causing me to reflect on my parenting and think about what and how I am communicating with her. Despite the trials, we will survive this stage and our relationship will remain in tact!
Eden at 5 1/2 years old.
Eden at 11 1/2.
The Scary Mommy post is absolutely hilarious. It talks about “The Multiple Personalities of a Tween Girl” and how parenting a tween is like parenting someone with multiple personality disorder and ranging in age from 3 to 40. The author goes through the 7 different personalities and it is really funny, probably more so because I can completely relate. I have never visited this site before, but love the disclaimer in the side bar. Too funny!
What’s Working for Us:
Quality time seems to be my best weapon, although that can go “south” rather quickly as well
The course that we are taking “Mothers and Daughters in Touch” has been excellent for opening up dialogue and helping us to both see things from the other’s perspective. I would highly recommend it.
I find that seeking Eden out when she is alone in her room and just lying down with her for a chat, has really helped to keep communication open. When I try to open up communication during the hustle and bustle of the day, it often seems to backfire and one of her “alter egos” appears. However, when I approach her in the quiet of her room, she is often really open and receptive. I am often not there more than a few minutes, but long enough to keep the chat lines open and let her know that she is important.
There are so many great books out there. Here are some of my favourites: Have a New Kid By Friday (Dr.Kevin Leman), Hold on to Your Kids (Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate), the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman (there are specific books for children, spouse and teenagers – all excellent)
Hang in there, for this too shall pass!
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My daughter is in Girl Guides and has accumulated so many badges that I was worried about fitting them all on her sash. My friend Michelle suggested I make a “camping blanket” ~ basically a poncho for wearing at Girl Guide camp. I thought this was a brilliant idea and proceeded to buy the fleece and set to work. I found a set of very simple instructions on-line and made my very first poncho!
Basic Poncho Instructions:
There were several pattern options to choose from. Click the image to visit the website.
Poncho Preparation and Sewing:
I was lucky enough to get the fabric on sale for around $10. I found the poncho instructions to be very good, so I basically followed the step by step directions outlined above. Click on an image to enlarge the photos to slideshow format.
Step 1: Make a square by folding the fabric diagonally and cut off the extra strip.
Step 2: To cut the neck opening, I folded the triangle in half to locate the center and cut out from there (13.5 cm).
When the triangle was opened, the neck opening was the suggested 27 cm.
Step 3: From the strip, cut a piece of fabric that is 30 cm X 60 cm.
Step 3 & 4: Fold the strip (with right sides together) and sew along one side of the strip.
Step 5: On the opposite side, sew a casing for a drawstring.
I made two pockets from the scraps. One is on the inside and one on the ouside.
I marked my scissors with a permanent marker. This allowed me to make each cut the same length.
Basically I just made the cuts on a bit of an angle at the corners.
Here is the finished poncho!
I hand stitched the badges down the sides (I hate hand sewing).
Eden in her new Girl Guide poncho!
I don’t include step 6 in my gallery, but obviously I sewed the hood on! I generally don’t pin, but I did pin the hood because I wanted it to fit just right. Make sure you pin with right sides of the fabric together so the seam is on the inside when you’re done. Also, make sure that the hood is centered on the opening. For this, I folded the poncho to find the center of the neck hole and then began my pinning from the seam at the back of the hood which was lined up with the center of the neck hole on the back of the poncho.
I was a bit nervous about the fringe. Although I was careful and patient, it did bring me back to the episode with Those Devilish Eggs. I was worried that if I made one cut wrong, the whole thing would be ruined. I spent some time contemplating how to make the fringe cuts all the same length and finally got out my Sharpie and marked my scissors. I just lined the fabric up to the mark with every cut and “Voila!” all the same length. I just “eyeballed” the width.The corners were a bit tricky, but I basically made cuts along both sides approximately 3″ from the corner and then slowly worked my way to the corner by angling each cut slightly. The fringes are not “square” (rectangular) in the corner, but flow well with the rest of the cuts.
For the pockets, I basically looked one of my hoodies and decided to round the corners a bit. I folded the fabric in half and cut through both pieces of fabric, so that the rounded corners would be the same. I then folded the edges and made a finished seam around the pockets. I made two pockets that were exactly the same size and attached one on the inside and one on the outside. Michelle suggested the inside pocket and I thought it was a great idea, but didn’t want my stitches showing, so I just sewed the front pocket over the inside pocket stitches to hide them. To be honest, I sewed the top of both the inside and outside pocket in one shot, but the sides and bottom were done separately.
All in all, it was quite easy to make and turned out well. I was a bit disappointed that I had to add the badges to it, as it looked pretty good without them. However, I did make the poncho for that purpose, and in the end it actually looks okay with the badges as well. Eden didn’t know I was making it, and was really excited when I showed it to her.
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As a parent, I want my children to grow-up knowing what it takes to be a winner and how to win graciously, but I also feel that it is extremely important for children to learn how to lose and fail in life. When faced with disappointment, how to you manage your feelings, pick yourself up, and carry on?
Learning to Lose and Handle Disappointment
Let’s face it, disappointment is a part of life. Like it or not, in life, we do keep score. There are winners and losers in every situation life throws at us…promotions at work, landing the best deal, scoring the contract, top salesperson, etc. Does it not makes sense that children should learn how to work through emotions like frustration and disappointment, as well as experience losing, so that they can mature emotionally and be able to handle the ups and downs of life as they get older.
It seems many parents put their children in the lead, looking to them for cues on how to parent. Some parents hope to avoid upset and frustration by doing everything in their power to make things work for their children. Children parented in such a manner never come up against the necessary frustration that accompanies facing the impossible. They are deprived of the experience of transforming frustration into feelings of futility, of letting go and adapting. ~ Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Mate
In their book, Hold on to Your Kids, Neufeld and Mate, go over The Seven Principles to Natural Discipline and the importance of children experiencing “futility”. I would highly recommend this book for gaining an understanding of children in today’s world and what we are faced with as parents of this generation.
Next time, your child is faced with a difficult situation, problem or disappointment, try to step back. Let them attempt to come up with a solution to the problem or possibly come to the realization that there is no solution and that they need to let it go, adapt and move on. Being a problem solver is a life skill and as parents we need to give our children the space to grow and learn, even if that sometimes means making the wrong decision and having to deal with the consequences.
Inside of every problem lies an opportunity. ~ Robert Kiyosaki
This quote applies to all of us. For within every situation there is an opportunity to grow and learn. Without problems, we would never stretch ourselves to become more than we already are, but rather would coast through a life of mediocrity. Don’t deprive your children of the chance to face adversity and come out the other side of it a better person, regardless of whether they have won or lost the battle at hand.
When I look back on my own life, I can see that some of the most difficult situations I’ve faced, proved to be the springboard that took me to a new level in my thinking, relationships and skill level. There are things that I am good at today, only because I took the chance and failed at it yesterday. No one wants to lose all the time, but it does build character and forces you to dig deeper.
Summary
Let’s keep score, say “no” more often and celebrate the problems/losses in life as an opportunity to learn, grow and advance beyond our current ability level. You see, win or lose, we are all winners in the game of life. It just depends on how you use the experience to your advantage.
I believe that every person has a special gift and contribution to make in this world. We strive to instill this positive attitude in our children, but in an effort to fight the battle against a generation of youth who display an aura of “entitlement”, we consistently talk about work ethic and what it takes to be successful at anything in life. It is like walking a balance beam, trying to keep your children’s dreams alive, but teaching them that dreams generally don’t just come true for some and not for others….it takes effort, determination, perseverance and hard work to WIN in sports, and life in general. We often talk about success stories like Michael Jordan ~ who didn’t even make his varsity basketball team in his sophomore year. Michael Jordan took that disappointment and channelled his frustration to practise with a level of determination that eventually made him one of the best players of all time. Was it raw talent? He would say “no”, but rather hard work and a level of commitment that has been matched by few others. As a parent, I want my children to grow-up knowing what it takes to be a winner and how to win graciously in all aspects of life.
Sports: Much More Than a Game!
To keep score or not to keep score…that is the question!
My husband and I were both involved in sports as children and believe that sports can play a powerful role in the overall development of our own children. Today, many are debating the psychology of whether we should keep score in youth sports or not. Personally, I don’t think that score keeping has any bearing on the self-esteem of children (they are keeping score whether there is an official scoreboard or not). Children who feel too much pressure from sport are dealing more with parents who have unrealistic expectations and have made it more about being the best, than having fun. You don’t have to look beyond the politics in minor hockey to establish that the problems are more related to parenting, than the scoreboard. Sport is so much more than skill development and competition. When I was a child, sport was not about getting a scholarship or making the A1 team, it was about building friendships and having fun! As parents, we see the value of sport far beyond their performance on the ice, field or court. Involvement in sports:
promotes a healthy lifestyle
promotes risk taking
expands children’s immediate circle of friends
teaches children about commitment – once a decision has been made, we make our kids’ stick it out for that season, even when they may not like it (we talk about being commited to a team and how others are depending on you to be there for the practises and games, it forces them to think beyond themselves)
teaches children how to be a team player, a skill that is essential in the work force (your grades might get you hired, but your inability to work with others is generally what will get you fired)
provides opportunities for chidren to learn life lessons like dealing with disappointment, how to get along with difficult people (coaches and team mates), work ethic, sportsmanship, etc.
provides a positive social experience where they can have good, clean fun!
Summary
Not all children are athletic, but many organized groups and activities can provide similar learning opportunities. I believe that everyone was born a winner and should have a chance to shine, but your child doesn’t have to be the superstar of the team to gain valuable life lessons and experiences from their involvement in sports. Every sport requires a different skill set and level of athletism. Some sports require more precision and steadiness while others are more about speed and agility. When you consider all that can be learned through participation in sport, the potential is there for every child to feel like a winner!
We all want to see our children succeed and be happy, but I also feel that it is extremely important for children to learn how to lose. Check-out Part 2 of this post tomorrow: Learning to Lose
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Here is a super quick and easy birthday cake idea. I made these for my son’s 9th birthday. Basically, bake a batch of homemade cupcakes. (These were made from our favourite chocolate cake recipe.) Purchase waffle cones and a few red gum balls for cherries. (I used some red-coated wire for the stem and just poked it in the gum ball.) Stagger the cupcakes to create a giant ice cream cone. I like to do things like this with odd numbers ~ I just think it looks better. Basically, just randomly pipe on buttercream icing to depict the flavours you want. I then added a few little globs/swirls to make it look more like ice cream. I used Wilton Tip 12. I began with the cupcake closest to the cone and worked my way to the top of the “scoops”. I also added a few sprinkles and “chocolate” similar to the original idea. The original idea was taken from Pinterest and so much prettier, but this was for Shay’s birthday, so I tried to go with more of a masculine look. He loves Tiger Tiger! The hardest part of this “cake” is that you have to change colours so often. When doing something like this it is often easier to use disposable bags, so you don’t have to do much cleaning between colours. I think this would be so cute for a little girl, with softer, prettier colours!
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As a rule, I make my cakes from scratch just like my mom did when I was a kid. Occasionally, I will buy a mix, but I prefer to make them myself. I have a few recipes that are my “go to” cakes. Our family loves chocolate, so I usually make chocolate birthday cakes or cupcakes. Today I am sharing my favourite chocolate cake recipe. It is super moist and works every time. It is simple to make and super high in calories (I am guessing). Oh well, that’s what birthdays are for! This photo captures the chocolate cake with our favourite frosting. I tend to keep the cake for our “family” parties plain and simple and make the more elaborate cakes for their celebrations with friends.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 cup of sugar
4 heaping Tablespoons of cocoa
1 cup of water
1 cup of Miracle Whip
Method:
Put the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together the miracle whip and water until most of the lumps are removed. Add the wet ingredients into the dry mixture. Beat well. Pour into a square cake pan. Double the recipe for a 9″ X 13″ cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
Our Favourite Frosting
This frosting is very creamy and delicious. It is not overly sweet and although not the same, would be most similar to the icing on a Jeannie’s Bakery cake. Very yummy, but not great for decorating. I sometimes do my “crumb coat” with this and then use butter cream or fondant for decorating.
Ingredients:
1 cup of whole milk
5 Tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of butter
1 cup white sugar
Mix the milk and flour in a saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium heat stirring constantly to prevent the milk from scorching. Once it has thickened, set the pot directly into an ice bath to cool. (Bowl of ice with a bit of water). Continue to stir the mixture while it is cooling to prevent it from crusting over or forming lumps. Once cool, stir in the vanilla. Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl. Add the cooled flour mixture 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing to beat.
Tips:
This icing is so worth the effort, but it can be a bit finicky. Follow the instructions and be sure to cool the flour mixture completely. Do not use butter that is too soft. Enjoy!
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Since sharing the Italian Casserole recipe yesterday, I thought I might as well take this opportunity to share my other successful recipe make-over. A few years ago, my son would cringe at the word “salad”. He absolutely refused to eat anything with the word salad in it. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like salad, but more that he would never give any form of salad a chance. This was my very first successful attempt at recipe trickery.
Operation Taco Salad
My kids love Mexican food, but would not eat taco salad. I decided to make it my mission to have them eat taco salad. We used to have some form of Mexican food at least once every two weeks (burritos, enchiladas, fajitas or tacos). Although I do have a recipe for homemade taco seasoning, I must confess that I generally use the little packages from the store.
We usually cook up the ground meat (beef, chicken or turkey) and add the seasoning mix according to the package instructions. (Certainly not rocket science). We serve our tacos with salsa (homemade or bought), tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, avocado and sour cream in either hard shells or soft wraps. Obviously, taco salad is the same as above without the wraps/shells. We don’t add anything extra for a dressing, but rather use the sour cream and salsa as our dressing.
So, How Do You Get Kids to Eat Taco Salad?
Here is how it went down at my house……
When the kids asked, “What’s for supper?”
I said, “Tacos.”
They asked, “Where are the shells?”
I answered, “Oh, I ran out. I guess we’ll just have to have the tacos in a bowl tonight. Sorry.” The kids proceeded to try their “taco in a bowl”.
My son announced…”Wow, I loveTaco in a Bowl!”
I said, “Great!” (and quickly dodged around the corner to smirk and give a silent cheer).
Now, Taco in a Bowl is a regular item on The Roy’s weekly menu, but we still don’t eat Taco Salad. Again, it’s all in the presentation!
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I think I may be deemed officially crazy, but in September,my busiest month of the entire year, I managed to pull-off two garage sales. A girlfriend and I decided to combine our “seconds” and have a garage sale on September long weekend. We held the sale at her mother in-laws and it proved to be a great location. Our first sale did more than $500 and we were about a 65/35 split of the profits. We held the second sale this weekend, at our house and sold around $280 worth of stuff ~ not bad considering it was left-overs from the first sale. We ended the day by loading up the van and making a special delivery to a local thrift store. It feels so great to have purged crates of what I deemed to be junk and come out about $500 richer. Not bad. Many would say that garage sales are not worth the effort, but here is what I have learned.
Garage Sale Planning:
Avoid hot summer days when people are spending the day at the beach. If you opt for a summer sale, try a Thursday or Friday evening. I find spring and fall are generally better for garage sales.
Consider your main objective – What is it you are seeking to do? Get rid of junk or recoup some of the money you originally put out for the item? If you are trying to sell better quality items, Kijiji might be a better option than a garage sale. People basically come expecting to pay bottom dollar. If your objective is to have the stuff gone, price to sell or post a sign saying make an offer. I generally have a few items that I am pretty firm on the price, but many I will let go for far less, just to see them gone.
Plan ahead: I suggest starting a few Rubbermaid tubs that you constantly use for garage sale items. As clothes are out grown or items are no longer needed/used: wash them, price them and store them. If you do this as you go along, putting on a sale is really very easy. The hardest part of a sale is the cleaning and purging that is required to gather the stuff you want to sell. If you stay on top of this and continually de-clutter, you never have that huge job of going through all of your junk. I remove clothes that are too small for my kids from the clean laundry almost every week and simply transfer them to my “too small tub”. This can work for immediate donation or for a future garage sale.
Decide if you want to get your kids involved or not. Our kids have sold their own toys, made crafts to sell and have also had cookie and lemonade stands. Our daughter made $25 at the last sale. This is a great way to teach them how to manage money and/or how to raise money for a great cause, if they are so inclined.
Garage Sale Tips:
Location is everything. Both of our sales were in the same general area of the city, but with completely different patrons. The first sale had clothing selling by the bag full. I am sure my friend made a few hundred on clothes alone. Clothes are not a big seller in my neighborhood, so consider your clients.
Advertizing on free sites like Kijiji seems to help, as well as proper signage put up a few days in advance. I often keep the same signs and re-use them from year to year. This is especially true if you stick to the same times and don’t post the date, but the DAY(s) only. I like to make signs that stand-out and look different from the others on the boulevard. Also, make sure the printing is clear and large enough to be seen from a distance. Less print is better.
Timing: For the first sale, we did a Friday and Saturday and actually did quite well on the Friday evening despite the fact we were only open 3 hours. We also had some of our Friday customers return on Saturday. Fridays are definitely worth considering.
Float: I recommend a float of approximately $250 (tens, fives, toonies, loonies and quarters).
Set-Up: We had a few fold-up tables, but also used make shift tables by setting planks across saw horses, crates and even 5 gallon pails. We also used large tubs and lined them end to end with items displayed on top. You really want to get the items out of the boxes and more visible.
Lunch/water: It is a great idea to consider your lunch the night before, and either make a bag lunch or at least have a plan. If someone else is around to make lunch or a snack, it is not so bad, but if you’re on your own be prepared with water and food to get you through the day.
Summary
If you are well prepared and organized, the work is really minimal. It took us about an hour to set-up and an hour to clean-up today. All of the items were already in tubs and priced from our last sale, so it was really a matter of setting up the tables and displaying the items. We were open from 8 to 4, so we got a good dose of vitamin D. For me, I don’t mind having a sale every year or two, but do not like to keep much of what is left-over. Sometimes, I will pass items along to someone I know or donate to a special cause, while other times I just load it up and donate it all. Once the clutter is out of my house, I do not want it back in. To me the sale is pretty much the end of the line for most items. Garage Sales are not for everyone, but for me I really don’t mind them. The best advise I can give is to plan ahead and try to hook-up with a friend or an entire street/neighborhood. It becomes more of a social event when you’re not alone, and can certainly “beef-up” your traffic when there are mulitple families participating. I actually enjoyed both of the sales and was thankful for the opportunity to visit with a friend that I don’t see nearly enough of!
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I need to start by saying that I am not a big Halloween fan, but when you check-out the video at the end you will see why I have put my personal preferences aside and embraced the whole Halloween experience. It really does create memories that last a life time.
My Halloween Experiences:
My memories of childhood Halloweens are not of treats and candy, but of being terrified by the older kids in my home town. I remember them doing things like stealing our candy bags, jumping out and scaring us and starting straw bales on fire in the town streets. I really don’t remember ever having fun (although I am sure I must have when I was younger and went out with my parents). All I recall is being afraid and too cool to tell my friends how I felt. I spent most of the evening in fear (although I am sure there was not any real danger). Even as an adult, people in masks kind of freak me out.
Halloween for the Next Generation:
We all know how much fun it is to dress-up and pretend to be someone or something we are not. For my daughter’s third birthday, we made her a dress-up “trunk” and filled it with all kinds of clothing and accessories from local thrift shops. It was a hit, just as my own “tickle trunk” was when I was growing up. To this day, our dress-up trunk is still a favourite when friends come to play. However, when it came to celebrating Halloween, we just decided to delay the inevitable. We lived in an apartment for the first few years of my daughter’s life and therefore, we did not have “trick or treaters” coming to our door. We never gave her candy and she really had no way of even knowing Halloween existed. In my world, this was nice. No candy eating to police (sorry, but I believe that candy and sugar is like a poison for small children – so we were pretty diligent about this) and no costumes to make. My daughter was completely unaware of Halloween until she was in Nursery School and they were having a class party. We didn’t want her to lose out on the fun of dressing-up and didn’t even consider not having her participate once the “cat was out of the bag”.
I will never forget her first Halloween. We had very briefly talked about going “trick or treating” after school, but Eden really didn’t understand what it was an said we would decide when she got home from Nursery School. She was 4 3/4 and Shay was almost 2 1/2. We weren’t sure what the final decision would be, so we went through our dress-up trunk and found costumes for both her and Shay (just in case). Of course, Eden was a princess! (Aren’t all 4 and 5 year old girls?) We also had an old lion costume in the “trunk”, so we decided that they could go out as “Beauty and the Beast”, if we opted to go at all. (Eden was not dressed up as Belle, but she was a princess and it would work in a pinch.) She had a great time at school and thought that Halloween was really fun. However, when we asked her if she wanted to go “trick or treating” or not, she reached in her backpack and pulled out a little Dixie cup full of treats and said “Oh, no we don’t have to go, look at all the treats I got from my teacher!” She had never seen so many candies in her life and couldn’t imagine that she needed more. However, Shay was excited to dress-up and so it was decided that we would go out. We got them both ready and went to Grandma and Grandpa’s and two neighbors. The kids were so excited and could not believe the loot they got. The container we gave them was very small, so their treats filled it to the top. We were totally laughing, as they had no idea what was to come in years ahead.
Halloween Costumes:
Of course, after that first Halloween “trick or treating” became an annual event. I am not sure about your house, but at the Roys, we start planning our costumes in September or sooner. Generally, we do not buy the commercial costumes, but rather try to put together odds and ends from around home or the thrift store. I thought I would share some of our favourites in case you are starting to think ahead to October 31st, as well. Here are some of our favourites.
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A Favourite Halloween Memory:
I don’t like scary costumes and Shay really wanted to be Dracula when he was 4, so we made a compromise and I said he could be “The Count” from Sesame Street. Here is a video clip of him doing his Count gig. Gotta love it!
For my daughter’s 7th birthday, we had a Hawaiian themed party. It was one of my favourite birthday party themes and we had so much fun. I followed the same structure that I use for most parties, and even duplicated some of the ideas.
invitations
decorations
activities/games
snacks and beverages
cake(s) ~ plan, design and bake a cake/cupcakes (or save the hassle and order one)
loot bags
This is Eden all dressed up for her party. All of the girls received similar “costumes” as part of their loot bag. We used this backdrop for many of the birthday photos.
For a complete breakdown of party planning steps and organization, see my Birthday Party Planning post.
Invitations:
At this point, I had not done much card making, so the invitations were made on the computer with cute fonts and clip art. It was nothing special, but contained all of the information and matched the theme. I tried to put a sample in the post, but I have changed from Word to Mac, so the format was all off and didn’t look nearly as good as the original. I normally make an extra invitation to put in the kid’s scrapbooks as well.
Decorations:
I made my traditional happy birthday banner for Eden. In addition, I made a huge ocean/beach backdrop for photos. I don’t usually buy those decoration sets, but did purchase a few for this particular party. You can see the Hula Girl and a few other decorations that are not homemade. Some of the murals/decorations were lent to me for the party, as the grade 2 classes in my school do a big Hawaiian theme. The colours were very beachy and bright, and we had tiki lights around the room. We had grass skirts around the buffet in the dining room and a centerpiece that consisted of floating flower candles and scattered sea shells. We had coconut incense (very mild), flip-flop plates and butterfly and fish serving dishes. There were beach towels randomly placed around the room, a palm tree with “balloons” for coconuts, and we used the wicker chairs from our outdoor furniture set to add to theme. I also used decorations from past birthdays such as the homemade butterflies from Eden’s second birthday. We also dressed up in theme related attire. Tropical music played in the background and was used for the games.
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Games and Activities:
Pin the Coconut on the Tree – We separated Fudgee-O sandwich cookies. The girls licked the icing and stuck it to the tree. The cookies were the coconuts!
Pineapple Bowling – I made paper maché pineapples from 2 L pop bottles and then we used a real coconut for a bowling ball. Our long hardwood floor hallway made a great bowling alley. (These were used later in the year for Shay’s Pirate Party)
Musical Beach Towels
Hula Dancing and the Limbo (under a pool noodle)
Pass the Present – Wrap a little gift/surprise item in a box (in paper that goes with the theme, if possible). You then proceed to add layers of wrapping paper on the outside equal to the number of kids, so that each child will get a turn to unwrap the present. You pass the present around the circle to music and when the music stops, the person holding the present gets to unwrap a layer. The person that unwraps the final layer gets to keep the prize inside.
Craft: The girls made bracelets with seashell beads.
Seashell Bracelet
Pin the Coconut on the Tree
Pineapple Bowling
Pineapple Bowling
Snacks and Beverages:
We served fresh fruit, fish crackers and a little plate of fish-shaped jube jubes.
Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris were served for the beverage. The drinks were served with a slice of fresh fruit on the edge, a straw and of course, an umbrella!
Cake and Ice Cream:
I made two cakes. One for Eden’s Hawaiian Party with her friends and one for the family party. The Hula Girl cake was served at the party she had with her friends and the flip-flop cake was served later in the evening to family. The Hula Girl cake was based on the same idea as a Barbie Doll cake. I just tweaked the idea for the Hawaiian theme. The flip-flops were easy and didn’t require much prep. I simply made two sheet cakes and cut them each into a flip-flop shape. I frosted them and then decorated them with a Fruit Roll-Up. I don’t seem to have a picture of the cake and ice cream being served, but I cut a 2 L box of ice cream into slices and then used a pineapple cookie cutter to make ice cream cut-outs. I sprinkled yellow coloured sugar on the pineapple and green on for the leaves. They were then re-frozen on a tray until serving time. Everyone got a piece of pineapple ice cream (vanilla flavoured) with their cake.
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Loot Bags:
Each of the girls received a lei, grass skirt, sunglasses and a flower for their hair as soon as they arrived. This would all be taken home at the end of the party as part of their loot. They also received flip-flop barrettes, homemade flip-flop cookies and a beach themed discovery bottle. The discovery bottles were made from recylced water bottles. We filled them with water, blue food colouring (a bit of oil – I think), some sand, seashells and a few tiny sea animals (plastic or erasers). To be honest, it was a few years ago and I don’t exactly remember or have a photo of the finished bottles. Once they have been filled,you simply glue gun the lid closed. All of their loot was taken home in a canvas bag that had big tropical flowers on it. I have so many great pictures of all of the girls against the backdrop all dressed-up with their umbrella drinks in hand. So cute, but I didn’t feel I could share photos with anyone else’s children, so you just have to use your imagination. I absolutely love giving costumes as part of the loot. The kids not only have fun at the party, but can continue to play dress-up at home after.
Here you can see the flip flop cookies that were handed-out to the guests at the end of the party.
There was a beach umbrella right at the entrance that the girls walked under to enter the party. You can see the loot bags on the left.
This party was so much fun. We have so many great photos of the party. I always try to get a few group shots and a picture of the birthday boy/girl with each of their friends, in addition to all of the random snap shots that are taken. A party like this is so much work, but my daughter still remembers it and talks about it. It seems like the days of theme parties are behind us, as the kids have gotten older and just want to hang-out with their friends. I am so glad I put the extra effort in when they were little!
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