Help me with my big and little birthday party questions!

Oh, that sounds good though.

I don't mean it necessarily has to be thematic or planned or anything like that. As it did start to go in that direction a bit more, though, I remembered the lesson of sozlet's party. As in, what's Mo's opinion of the garden idea? (I think it's lovely...)

People he loves eating cake together sounds perfect.

Also when I've talked to sozlet about this stuff ahead of time she's come up with some good ideas from the kid perspective that have in turn gone over huge with the other kids.

I'll talk to him a bit more about it. So far he doesn't seem to care much but thinks a party would be fun.

I guess not having anything to really compare it to either helps or hinders his ideas (depending on your perspective).

I'm thinking something like this for an invitation:





I know it needs some polishing but.... what?

I can see wonderful possibilities for "Pin the tail on the Garden"

Pins (or sticky notes) with flowers, vegetables, cut worms, ground hogs, palm trees....

"Pin the Tail" is a good game for all ages.

It is!

That invite looks absolutely fabulous, boomer. I'm mulling the last line, haven't come up with anything better. Maybe:



(fini)

Sorry I'm so scattershot today, sozlet and I are both in some sort of post-holidays-but-not-back-to-normal-yet (preschool starts again on Wednesday) funk and we're having a weird day, but one more stray thought:

I'm not sure if you can ultimately control whether people give Mo gifts. I'm sure there will be people who say, "If I want to give my [grandson/ nephew/ neighbor/ whatever] a birthday gift, I'm going to give him a birthday gift." If what you're concerned about is comparisons/ gift-givers feeling bad, one thing I noticed at a few parties is that they do the cake and ice cream thing but leave the gift OPENING until after everyone has gone home. Then comparisons don't come into it.

im not too good with words right now, but what about

Mo has selected a garden party for his theme, and has asked for more seeds then I can find.

a subtle HINT about buying ONLY seeds??

Multi-aged group is just right for several rounds of "Farmer in the Dell".

I know I can't control what people decide to bring but we are talking about THESE people - people who are not too concerned about their grandson's whereabouts 363 days out of every year.

They all know that Mo loves to garden. The Christmas picture they got this year was of Mo with the pumpkins that he grew.

All but a few of them have been to our house and know that he had a garden and that his John Deere tractor is his favorite thing.

I'll have to work on the wording a bit - I don't know if I can say "in lieu of gifts please bring this specific gift"

How about.....



Or does that sound like I'm just trying to get free garden stuff?

The farmer in the dell is a game?

How do you play?

I like the pin the tail thing. Pin the bee on the flower, maybe?

That sounds good, too, Boomer. I doubt anyone is going to think you can't afford a few packets of seed, so I don't see them thinking it's about getting free garden stuff.

Oooh, another thought. Have you seen the Mud Cakes? Chocolate cake, chocolate icing, topped with Oreo Cookie crumbles, and gummy worms coming out?

Cooool!

Oh that mud cake sounds like a fun idea!

I just sent an email off to the bakery about those photo cakes. Have you seen those? I was thinking maybe another garden photo on the cake.

Maybe....

Gross, actually.

But, the kids love 'em!

(The above was for sozobe)

The photo cakes are neat. I Love that picture. We can get them at the bakery section of Krogers here. Do you have a grocery store bakery that does them? I think Kylie's was something like $18 a couple of years ago. Only about a $4 difference from their regular cake offerings.

I'll bet Mo would really love it.

There is a restaurant that sells a dessert called a "dirt cup" or something like that - it has those gummy worms coming out of it.

Have you heard of those kitty litter cakes? What some people (YOU!) come up with!

I haven't seen the photo cakes at the grocery but I don't usually hit the cake section. I love to bake and homemade cakes are always on the agenda here.

With more than normal amounts of celebrants I thought I would rely on the bakery where I usually buy goodies. They're pretty expensive though so I'll check out the grocery stores too. Thanks!

Lessee if I can remember how to play Farmer in the Dell ... All the kids stand in a circle and sing the song. with the Farmer in the middle. The verses go: The Farmer takes a wife, The Farmer takes a wife, hi-ho the derry O, the Farmer takes a wife. The farmer pulls someone out of the circle and into the middle. Then the wife picks a cat, the cat picks a rat, the rat picks a goat... so on through the farmyard until there's only one person left on the outside. Then the song changes to "The Cheese stands alone..." and a chase begins, but I forget who chases whom. (Maybe everybody chases the cheese? what happens when they catch him?) After the action, the old Cheese becomes the new Farmer and it all begins again.

Thanks, Wy! That does sound familiar now.

Everybody chases the cheese? I'd better rearrange the furniture!

This might be a cool photo to use on a cake:

A friend has warned me off from the carrot photo as it is a bit sensual and they fear it could be open to misinterpretation.

I'm thinking the tomato photo probably falls into the "sensual" category too.

I chose them because it has to do with gardening and they are my favorites of the gardening series. I might have some others though....

Considering our situation, I don't want anything misinterpreted.

I thought I'd open it up for further discussion.