For Finn’s FIRST birthday, we spent weeks and weeks planning an elaborate Birthday Brunch Theatre at our house — only to have our air conditioning break down right before the party. THIS time, we decided to throw his party at a park, and how much easier it all was! The weather was unusually lovely: it was fresh rather than hot and humid, so we were able to enjoy being outdoors:
The park itself is fantastic, with old, shady trees, lots of space to run around, various playground areas for different age groups, and a colorful water feature that allows kids to run through spraying water and even squirt one another with “fire hoses.” Although Finn had the second-worst meltdown of his life right before we left for the party and was completely antisocial when we first arrived, he eventually managed to get in on the fun:
The high point for all of us, though, was definitely his fantabulous firetruck cake, which was a show-stopper. Made by my sister Ilianna and her boyfriend Brian, the cake was unbelievable, complete with ladder, fireman, a personalized “Finn-2″ license plate, and surrounding cupcakes of fire.
We oohed and ahhed over the cake, sang happy birthday, chowed down, watched Finn’s 2 year video on laptop, passed out personalized fire helmets and firetruck tattoos, and then just spent the rest of the party PLAYING!
Finn had a blast, running around until about two hours past his naptime, when we finally loaded everything into three cars and headed home. By then, he was much too wound up to nap at all, but that’s okay: later that night, we all closed Finn’s birthday weekend by closing our eyes and getting some much needed rest.
His party looked like it came out wonderful :]
When he looks back on photos and videos he’s going to love it! :]