Party time

Gavin joined the ranks of the big kids today with his very first birthday party.  To say that he was thrilled would be an understatement!  He has been talking about his party for a Very Long Time, and the day finally arrived.

Gavin invited five little friends from church to his Cars-themed party.  Many thanks to my college friend, Melissa, who responded to my Facebook plea for party ideas with an awesome invitation and the entire structure of the party.  I tweaked some things, but definitely relied on her ideas to pull together a simple party.

As the kids arrived, they zoomed Matchbox cars all over the slick hardwood floor.  The boys enjoyed this more than the girls, but it kept them entertained long enough for everyone to show up.  Then at "Ramone's Body Shop," we played a board game with Cars characters.  I picked this up for five bucks at the party store.  It was a little tedious with so many players, but I think the kids still enjoyed it.  

Then we moved on to "Mater's Fishing Hole."  This was a hit.  I was surprised that the kids were so excited to take home paper images of their favorite movie characters.

I didn't get any pictures of "Luigi's tire toss," but the kids enjoyed throwing balls into a large black inner tube.  One boy wanted to play this game for the rest of the party.  He loved it!  After that the kids colored giant pictures in "McQueen's Craft Corner."  It was fun to see how the kids expressed themselves with their crayons.  Some were meticulous and others scribbled wildly.  Gavin was somewhere in the middle.

We had some time to fill, so I let the kids play with some balloons I had blown up.  This was another good lesson in party planning for small folk: the simpler the better!  They had more fun with cheap balloons than anything else!

The kids were nice and hyper for the opening of presents.  Gavin was thrilled with his gifts.

And of course we had cake and ice cream at the end.  It turns out the best picture I got of the cake was before the party, so here it is.

In the end, seven little faces looked just like this:

Tonight Gavin threw his arms around me and said, "You're the best mom ever!  Thanks for my party."  I'm sure his compliments were coached, but they were still music to my ears.