3 Boys Turning 3

Today was the Birthday Extravaganza, celebrating the 3rd birthday of Logan and his two playgroup pals. It was a blast and one of the easiest, most stress-free birthday parties we could have ever hoped for. We enjoyed it so much that we plan on doing the same thing next year!

I ended up making 100 cupcakes and frosting them the day before. At first I thought I was insane for taking on such a task, but really, it was so easy. The egg-free cupcake recipe that I have is incredibly simple and butter cream frosting recipe is even easier. It only took an hour to frost them all, which isn't bad in my book! One of the other moms owns a restaurant in town and she provided the sandwiches while the other mom made the party arrangements, goodie bags and brought the juice boxes. We did an evite to save on postage and to make things even easier. Most everyone attended, only 8 people weren't able to come and 60 people were there including siblings and parents. It sounds like a lot, but it wasn't too crazy at all.

This morning we all got to the bounce place, filled out liability forms and watched a safety video while we all crammed in this little room. Then we let the kids run loose bouncing and sliding to their hearts content while the parents watched, laughed and visited with one another. I tried to get some good pictures, but was very unsuccessful. I guess I don't have the type of camera that one would need to take decent action pictures in crappy lighting.

After a little while we were moved to the second bounce room with another slide and a couple other climbing structures. This room happened to have a climbing wall, something that was new from the last time we were there. Logan tried climbing for the first time and got a little freaked out, so he didn't get very far. I even tired to bribe him with two cupcakes if he tried to climb higher, but he wasn't going for it. Soon all the kids were called to take a group picture in front of the slide, but that was almost impossible trying to get 20-something 3 year olds to sit still and all look in the same direction.




After that, all of the kids put their shoes on and lined up to clean their hands and get ready for lunch. We moved into our "lunch room" and ate the sandwiches and cupcakes. The cupcakes were a hit! It was nice to hear "MMmmm" every time someone took a bite. I hate to say it, but they are damn good cupcakes. I made so many that I sent half a dozen home with both massage friend and photographer friend, then still had another dozen to bring back home.

Our time was quickly coming to an end and all of our friends were trickling out, thanking us for such a fun party. After everyone was gone, Logan and his two friends divided up the presents equally among themselves, taking turns picking a present from the table. In the evite we told our guests that gifts were not necessary but if they would like to bring one, the kids would split them up. That way people didn't have to come with three different gifts and our kids wouldn't be coming home with 20 presents of their own (a little excessive!).

Everyone left happy and on sugar highs. The big bonus was that we didn't even have to clean up! Carter slept the whole time in his car seat carrier which left me free to hang out with friends and attempt to take pictures. It was a wonderful time and we are so lucky to have so many good friends. It was a great way to celebrate Logan turning 3 with all of his buddies!