When our daughters turned four, a friend and I teamed up to throw our girls their first “real” birthday party. We planned a craft activity, figured out a schedule for cake and presents and sent hand-written invitations to everyone in their pre-school class, even the annoying ones. The big day arrived. Gleeful children streamed in, and to our shock and dismay, most parents dropped their kids and took off! The craft activity we planned lasted all of 10 minutes, several children had “accidents” due to overexcitement and plenty of chocolate cake (what was I thinking?) was ground into the floor, the sofa, the curtains. Exhausted after a half hour (and to our daughters’ horror), we let the children rip into the presents and play until pick up. Disaster. That was the last time I had a birthday party at home. Readers often write in for birthday party ideas, so we did some research. Here’s a partial list. Read about the rest of our birthday party picks and resources: click here.

love,

erica

p.s. On vacation next week; see you on March 21st.