A sewing birthday party

Zoe got the crafting bug at Oak Park's Arts District Summer Camp this year, and one of her favorite projects was sewing. So when I found out about Angie Cataldo's sewing birthday parties, I suggested sewing as an option for her 7th birthday celebration.

Since seemingly every girl in Oak Park has an American Girl doll, we opted to invite 7 girls to bring their dolls and sew a doll-sized sleeping bag. Angie brought a variety of fabrics and each guest got to choose the outer fabric and cozy fleece interior. All the pieces were precut, so all the girls needed to do was hand sew a running stitch around the outside, connecting the two pieces. The sewing took about an hour and fifteen minutes and they each got a turn at the sewing machine at the very end. While the girls were intently focused on their projects and chattering happily, it was clear the slightly older girls were more manually dexterous. Zoe and the girl closest to her in age (they are the youngest and second youngest in the group) started to lose interest and veer away from the stitch line before they were completely done.

The sewing wrapped up just as the pizza arrived, and we followed up 3 large Papa John's pizzas with the cake I'd baked to Zoe's specifications: chocolate cake with chocolate pudding in the middle and blue buttercream frosting. The party was almost over by the time Zoe opened her presents and the girls joined their slumbering dolls to watch the American Girl Molly movie.

If you're interested in having a sewing party for your daughter's birthday, brownie troop or some kind of mother-daughter event, I'd highly recommend Angie. She was professional, energetic, and even brought along an assistant--which was key to keeping 8 2nd graders' needles threaded and knotted. Her sewing parties cost $100 plus a materials fee. The doll sleeping bags were $6 each.

A report from the "almost sleepover"

Although it was neither relaxing nor a moment too short, I'm going to count Z's 5th birthday party a success. 10 little girls, aged 4 1/2 to almost 6 joined our girls for Freddy's Pizza, cupcakes from Soirees and Sweets (a local business that delivers gourmet cupcakes to your door for about $20 a dozen), a Princess movie sing-a-long and crafts. Pajamas were worn, sleeping bags unrolled and piled on top of each other and each kid got to decorate a pillowcase with fabric markers and a foam door hanger with her name and sparkly stickers.

A couple of the girls stood out as obvious trouble-makers--trying to exclude others and sneak off to unsupervised areas of the house, but the vast majority of the attendees were sweet as can be. Z's lucky to go to school with such a great group of girls. (And I'm lucky to count their parents among my friends!)

Incidentally, it is entirely possible that little A had more fun than anyone at the party--Z included. She was in her element, showing off her thrice handed-down Princess jammies, crawling inside the big girls' sleeping bags with them and moving from one lap to the next.

Lessons learned for next time:

1) Things move fast. The kids had changed into their jammies, decorated a pillowcase and eaten their pizza slices in the first 30 minutes. I still had 2 hours to fill!

2) I had too many kids and not enough experience as a preschool teacher to organize games. Once one or two alpha girls dropped out, it devolved into chaos. The DVD player transformed maniacs into merely excited kids.

3) It's far better to have too many craft supplies and cupcakes than not enough. Some kids will want to make more or won't be satisfied with their first effort.

4) Choices are not a good thing. Everyone got the same kind of plain cheese pizza, the same flavored water and the same colored pillowcase. The variety of cake plates and cake frosting caused unnecessary shouting.

Happy Birthday Song from almaklein on Vimeo.

Z's 4th birthday party

Z's 3rd birthday party

Z's 2nd birthday party

Where's that tranquilizing gun when I need it?

Thursday evening: Stuck at the Cincinnati airport, then stuck on a plane. Then the plane broke and it started to rain. I spent an unscheduled night at the Cincinnati Marriott with no extra clothes, an ill-fitting contact lense and a dwindling supply of tampons. For those keeping track, my luck with United is not improving. Let's hope our upcoming trip to Sydney breaks the curse.

Friday: My morning flight back to Chicago was delayed, again, but I gave myself permission to work from home so I could change into fresh clothes and see the eye doctor. We had friends over for Indian carry-out and all of our kids played well, so that was a plus.

Saturday: Intermittent rain all day and an ongoing weariness from poor sleep on the road means the kids spend 15 hours finding new and creative ways of whining, making noise and invading my personal space and it annoys the hell out of me. They were re-lent-less. By 7pm, Z was all but scaling the walls with cabin fever, so I threw A in the Ergo and put Z on her bike and we went for a walk/ride in the dark, cool drizzle. "I'm getting my ya-yas out," she hollered for the first 4 blocks. By block 5 she was slowing down, and by the time we got home she was ready put on her jammies, brush her teeth and sit down at the dining room table to help me craft her birthday party invitations.

Josh and I tried to convince her to have a party at the local ice cream parlor, where there would be room to invite all her friends, but she opted for a smaller, girls-only "almost sleepover" at our place.

Cupcakes rule (yes, A's cheap and easy birthday party was a success)

We came. We sang.

They ate.



And played.

And those threatening clouds behind these water-pistol toting mamas? Fuggetaboutit.

Happy 2nd Birthday, A

Two years ago today I finished 25 hours of labor and met you, my second born. I've treasured your babyhood, not only because you were a good baby, because I was confident you'd be my last. I loved wearing you, nursing you, rocking you and watching you watch your big sister with those big brown eyes.

It's a cliche to say that my love for you has grown as you've grown, but it's true. You were a sweet baby, yes, but you're such a fabulous little kid! I love listening to you talk. Your speaking skills have evolved from caveman-speak to full, 90 percent lucid sentences in a matter of a couple of months. You'll be speaking at Toastmasters events in no time.

You love doll babies and doll baby accessories, Little People, other kids and Caillou. What is it with little kids and Caillou? You get excited about trips to the pool, the park and the zoo, shouting "I ready! Let's go now!"

While your enthusiasm for all things continues to skyrocket (bedtime and diaper changes excepted), your palate has diminished. Instead of eagerly wolfing down whatever is put in front of you, you ask for waffles, pizza, meatballs, bananas and applesauce. And snacks. You would happily subsist on a diet of chips, raisins, Trader Joe's fruit bars and cookies. You see food on my plate and demand "I want dat. Own plate!" only to take a closer look at the food and declare, "No, dat's yucky. No want dat."

You're still a good sleeper, going down between 7 and 7:30 and waking up after 6am. You've surprised us with a couple of pee-pees in the potty this week, but you're more interested in stripping down naked than getting potty trained.

Your favorite books change from week to week, but right now you're a huge fan of Caillou books and the new board books Nanny brought: No No Yes Yes and Binky.

We're celebrating the big 0-2 with a low-key party at a local park. At least, that's the idea. I emailed some friends and neighbors and told them to meet us at the playground to play and eat cupcakes. I'm not planning any games or hiring any entertainers. But as the responses came back I realized I'll need 44 cupcakes. Parents and their 2.5 kids, they add up fast.

My kind of birthday party

Our afternoon birthday party at the River Forest Community Center went off without a hitch. Of the 21 kids invited, 20 RSVPed and 19 showed up (one was sick). Tina, our party coordinator, showed her teacher credentials; she was amazing. I didn't have to think up games, convince kids to participate or worry about some kid unspooling all the toilet paper into my toilet.

In addition to climbing around the playland, where the birthday party ostensibly was, the kids enjoyed about half an hour of classic childhood games and parachute play in the large gym.

And, of course, there was cake.

Happy 4th Birthday from almaklein on Vimeo.

In case you were wondering, the party favors were a huge hit.

I'm not doing goodie bags

There, I've said it. My children are young enough that I still love birthday parties, but I really dislike the party favor bags given away at the party's end. As much as I appreciate the effort and the generosity, my kids don't need another cellophane bag full of crap from Oriental Trading or the dollar store. Sure, my daughter is initially thrilled to get something on her way out, but frankly she doesn't need to be eating candy after downing all that cake and juice and the novelty items lose their novelty by the time we make it home.

As disposable as goodie bag junk is, I'm loathe to throw away the foam visors, unsharpened pencils, cheap sunglasses and battery-less mini flashlights. So they sit, gathering dust atop my refrigerator. A more "together" mom might bundle party favors into zip-top bags and bring them along to restaurant meals, but it's all I can do to remember the diaper bag, my phone and the house keys.

Anyway, my daughter's fourth birthday is rapidly approaching and we're throwing her a party at the local community center. I didn't stress about the guest list, the Costco cake or the invitations, but figuring out what to do about the damn party favors was keeping me up at night! I didn't want go mean mommy and cheap out completely, but I wanted to do something green. Something that didn't involve buying ugly plastic crap that was made in China (laced with lead?), shipped around the world and would only be played with for moments before becoming more landfill. Had money been no object, I would have purchased a Sigg water bottle for every attendee. But since we've got 20 RSVPs, I would have spent more on the bottles than I did on the room rental!

Finally, a solution came to me: gift certificates. I bought 20 certificates good for a free kid's ice cream cone at my favorite ice cream parlor, the very place that hosted my baby shower exactly four years ago. Each certificate cost $1.85, but I got 1 free for every 9 purchased.

I'm pretty pleased: I managed to find a party favor that's green, affordable and supports a local business. Yes, it's not all that healthy, but what do you want, a coupon good for a bag of carrots?

Mmmm...cake

Here's our almost 1-year-old enjoying the sugar-frosted American tradition whereby we usher our children forth into a diabetic future.

Minutes before the party started, I was describing the Costco cake I'd purchased for the event to my mom.
"It's vanilla with chocolate mousse filling. It says "Happy 1st Birthday A and it's decorated with a rainbow."
"A rainbow? Aren't those reserved for gay people? I see rainbow flags all over, and they're always for gay pride."
"We'll it's not like they've laid claim to all rainbows," I responded. "Besides, who says this isn't a gay-friendly birthday party?"
For the record, all the kids were begging to have a slice with rainbow on it.

Also, I'd sent Z down the street to play with her new friend Brianna for an hour before the festivities began. She came back decked out for the party.

The pajama jammy jam

Z's third birthday party went off without a hitch. All the kids (most of whom are pictured here) wore their PJs and chowed down on whipped cream-laden pancakes and Hello Kitty waffles before we brought out a coffee cake with candles and sang Happy Birthday.

Our amazing babysitter Paula helped the kids create necklaces with Fruity Cheerios and stamp designs onto pillowcases, which they got to take home.

What worked? It was early, so all the kids were at their best. The novelty of wearing their jammies out of the house was really appealing to these 2 and 3-year-olds. The food was easy to prepare and kept everyone happy. I didn't waste any money on the Made in China goodie bag crap I hate so much. And it was all over by 11:30!