Does anybody want a sandwich?

No, seriously. Are you hungry? Because we have more than 6 pounds of lunchmeat in our fridge right now. Yesterday was the kids’ birthday party and sandwiches were on the menu. Jeff did the shopping. And I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but the man shops and cooks as if he a) were on staff in the canteen on an aircraft carrier or b) just survived the Great Depression or c) both. I told him there would be 8-10 kids, and he decided that meant 20 adults. In fact, there were 7 children (including our own, and of which 4 ate peanut butter) and 4 parents (including ourselves). Hence the overstock of deli delights.

Other than that, and the fact that I had to wipe two little behinds that weren’t attached to my own offspring, the little shindig went well. We had a butterfly theme, chosen by Jo. I’d handed her this book of party themes and said she could choose from butterflies, puppies, fish, or jungle animals. We had (still have) construction paper butterflies scattered everywhere. Jo carefully placed one atop each pillar candle on the screened porch, for example. She also mopped the porch and the front steps, while singing her own little tune: “Cleaning up... for the butterfly party! Cleaning up... for the butterfly party!”

Here’s what we did (for the historical record; I’m sure this makes riveting reading):

Craft: Decorate butterfly wings (we pre-cut the wing shapes and gave the kids markers, glitter glue, pom poms, and tissue paper; then we tied them on with ribbons, backpack style). Good thing the rugs in the basement are cheap because I’m pretty sure the glitter is with us to stay. Opie had dragonfly wings. Aww!



Game: Toilet-paper cocoons. This was a suggestion from the book. The idea was to have the kids wrap each other up in TP, then break out of their “cocoons.” They loved the idea, but the TP kept breaking before they could get it all the way around. We should’ve sprung for the expensive stuff.



General hullabaloo: After they had their wings on, we held up hula hoops wrapped with fake-flower garlands for the butterflies to fly through. A big hit. (Side note: when I bought the hoops and garlands, the 17-year-old Goth dude cashiering at Politically Incorrect Discount Store asked me right away: “Are you going to wrap the hula hoops with the flowers?” Why, yes I am.)



The second squeal-fest was playing Elefun. Worked well as a post-lunch, pre-cake energy-burner.

Menu: Sandwiches (cut in triangles and placed points-together to look like butterfly wings) and fruit-kabob caterpillars (melon and pear balls, strawberries, and string licorice for antennae); pretzels, aka “twigs,” juice, cake (here we took a shortcut and bought one with iced-on butterflies), ice cream.

Goodie bags: I bought boxes which look like take-out containers, but close with interlocking flaps shaped like butterflies. Jo decorated them with stickers and wrote each child’s name on the outside. Inside we put a small magnifying glass, a teeny clay pot with seeds (from Target’s One-Spot), a couple gummy worms, some stickers, a tattoo (temporary, not a GC to our local biker shop), and a ring with bubble solution.

So. Our first stab at an at-home birthday party. I’m sure my friend who told me that at-home parties end up costing just as much as destination ones was right, and I know we’ll go that route later. But this was fun.

Bonus cuteness: Jo had a dance recital on Saturday. So stinking adorable. But am I the only one who finds it weird that another group of 4-year-olds (not her class) danced to "All that Jazz" from Chicago, and some 5-year-olds to "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"? Yick.