Kiddo's Simple and Fun Birthday Bash

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I love admiring a beautifully decorated and thoughtfully planned birthday party as much as the next girl. I've even been known to pin a gorgeous party or two. But when it comes to my real life, I'm totally fine with simple.


This summer has been especially busy and tiring, so when my mom offered to host Kiddo's birthday celebration at her house, I readily agreed. We did a small celebration with Hubby's family at Labor Day, so our family party wasn't going to be huge anyway - just my immediate family. And since my brother and his wife live close to my parents, it would be less travel for everyone involved.

We all had a great time - especially Kiddo - and his birthday bash was pretty simple to throw together.

The Presents:

We arrived at my parents' around 2:00 so Kiddo could "nap" there (he ended up playing quietly in the guest room instead of sleeping). Once we got him up, we took him outside to open his first present - a bicycle from us. Kiddo played outside with his uncle and aunt while my mom, sister, and I prepared dinner.

Checking out the tool set that came with his new bike with his Uncle Andrew.

After dinner and cake, Kiddo opened his other presents - a policeman costume, a book, Hiro the engine, and some new tracks for his trains. It was just enough presents for him to enjoy without becoming overwhelmed. 

The Food:

Kiddo LOVES pizza, so that was the main course. We used store-bought dough to make four pizzas - one stuffed crust with pepperoni, two supreme, and one Roasted Apple, Butternut Squash, and Caramelized Onion Pizza (which was delicious!). Salad and green beans were the perfect complement to the meal, leaving us room for cake!

The Cake:

My mom and sister are much more creative than I am. Mom decided to go with a Thomas theme for the party (since he was getting more pieces for his Thomas train set). She bought napkins from the party store and dreamed up a Thomas cake, which my sister brought to life. They looked at some ideas online and came up with this:

Amazing, right? They used Kit-Kats for the tracks, toffee peanuts for the "stones," and crushed up Oreos for the tunnel and dirt. The trains are bath squirters and the tree is a chocolate-covered ice cream cone with green sugar-coated marshmallows on top. Kiddo loved it!

I am firmly convinced that a party doesn't have to be elaborate to be fun. This party had so many of his favorite things - pizza, trains, cake, and family fun.

It was a wonderful, low-stress party, and most importantly, Kiddo had a blast. Ten minutes into our drive home, we asked him if he enjoyed his party and were met with silence - he was already sound asleep! So asleep, in fact, that he didn't wake up when we took him out of the car and put him in bed that night. The next morning, he excitedly told us, "I sweeped in my cwothes!" :-)

Tell me about your parties: 

What were your birthdays like as a kid? When you plan a party, do you keep it simple or go all out? I'd love to hear from you!

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