Gearing up for parties

So, October is almost upon us and October is a bit of a crazy month in this house. Lots and lots of birthdays and then it all ends in the much anticipated Halloween activities that seem to go on for several days!

We start the month off with my birthday, which doesn’t usually cause much craziness - even though I have to say that the last few years my birthday often signified some big event, that had little or nothing to do with my actual birthday.

On my birthday in 2004 my now husband proposed to me. At 6 am actually, but that’s a whole different story lol

On my birthday in 2005 I had to go to the hospital for steroid shots because my pre-eclampsia was progressing rapidly and there was a good chance we were going to have babies within days – or even hours. So to develop the lungs faster, steroid shots were in order. Such fun – NOT!

And it goes on like that.

Last year I got to spend my birthday in Germany. Usually that would have been a good thing, but since the Germany trip was connected with the grim task of sorting through all my mothers stuff, the funeral and essentially all things estate sale, it was not really a very happy time.

 

Did you know that the year after I moved away from Germany, they made my birthday a national holiday? Man, they sure were glad to get rid of me, huh?

 

Anyway, I look forward to an ordinary birthday this year No special excitement or events, just a nice day with the family!

Then we have some friend’s birthdays and the kid’s social calendar is really filling up in October!

And then of course there is the first “main” event of the month – Max and Anna’s birthday! MUCH anticipated, I can tell you!

They are turning 5 this year. I KNOW!! FIVE! I can’t believe it!

This year we are having a little party for them and it will for the first time be one where friends, family and school buddies will be invited. In the years before we usually kept it to the extended family, but this year we’re expanding.

 

Hopefully the weather will co-operate (ie not too hot!) so we can actually be outside, which will be so much nicer, as we’re expecting quite a few kids to be around the place! As well as adults! And we want to bbq, which would be much more pleasant if we didn’t have to do it in the blistering heat!

So I’ve been busy planning. I find that it is getting a little harder now to have a party for a boy and a girl and still find a good common theme. Anna is a total “all frills and princesses” girl who would be all over a princess party with and overload of pink and cute.

 

Max and his friends would of course have none of that, so it’s a balancing act and the first of many I am sure.

After much thinking and trying to figure it out, I decided that I just wouldn’t have a theme. Or, to be more precise, our theme is at most, 5. Yep, the twins are turning 5 and that is the “theme”

Since this time of year is the beginning of outdoor weather for us here in Phoenix, I am going with bright, cheery summer colors that are sure to please most 5-year-olds. 

 

I had some fabric left-over from Max’s curtains, which will serve as part of the table cloth for the dessert buffet, so I am going with those colors!

 

And no pink. But amazingly, Anna is quite ok with that. It’s a party after all. That’s so much more exciting that color details!

So the first step was done last weekend. The invitations went out.

I made the invitations in photoshop. Some went out by email, others went out by snail mail.

If you happen to have a 5-year-old or two or three and would like to use this invitation, you can download a blank version here. It’s in jpg format, so you can add your details in your photo editing software!

Now I just have to get all the rest done!

I will keep you updated as I go with all the little party projects!