I hate to disappoint, but this is not a recipe. I did not make any of this from scratch. I cheated.
My eldest son was born on New Years Day 2005. This has made birthday celebrations a little tricky at times, but has also made me realize that simpler really is better. The years that I have gone out of my way to make complicated (and expensive) birthday plans, it has only brought undue stress to all of us.
This year we are keeping it old school. I MADE him a birthday cake and let him help. We made chocolate peppermint cookies, too. (Mostly because grandpa loves chocolate and we didn't want to leave him out.)
I'm not about to get wild and tell you how I made all of this from scratch - because I didn't. The cake and cookie mixes were on sale for $0.37 each because they were in holiday themed packaging. (Man, I love bargains.) Now, granted, the cake does have red and green flecks in the batter, but I asked him and he didn't care. We decided that it looked like confetti anyway.
We've invited friends and family who were going to be in the area to meet us at a pizza place that has arcade games and go-karts. They have an all-you-can-eat buffet and plenty of room. I didn't make a big fuss with themed plates and napkins and cups and hats, because all a seven-year-old boy really wants to do is open presents and play games, anyway. I have discovered that often, the "big fuss" is more important to the moms than it actually is to the kiddos.
So, next time you're stressing about making sure your child's birthday as special as possible, stop and think about which parts of it they are actually going to remember and just focus on those and let the other details fall to the wayside. You'll be glad you did.
My eldest son was born on New Years Day 2005. This has made birthday celebrations a little tricky at times, but has also made me realize that simpler really is better. The years that I have gone out of my way to make complicated (and expensive) birthday plans, it has only brought undue stress to all of us.
I'm not about to get wild and tell you how I made all of this from scratch - because I didn't. The cake and cookie mixes were on sale for $0.37 each because they were in holiday themed packaging. (Man, I love bargains.) Now, granted, the cake does have red and green flecks in the batter, but I asked him and he didn't care. We decided that it looked like confetti anyway.
We've invited friends and family who were going to be in the area to meet us at a pizza place that has arcade games and go-karts. They have an all-you-can-eat buffet and plenty of room. I didn't make a big fuss with themed plates and napkins and cups and hats, because all a seven-year-old boy really wants to do is open presents and play games, anyway. I have discovered that often, the "big fuss" is more important to the moms than it actually is to the kiddos.
So, next time you're stressing about making sure your child's birthday as special as possible, stop and think about which parts of it they are actually going to remember and just focus on those and let the other details fall to the wayside. You'll be glad you did.
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