It's Party Time!

Today was our "family party" for Ryan and Jacob. We're at that age now (at least with Maddie and Ryan) where we have 2 birthday parties - one for our family and a party just for classmates and friends. I enjoy the family party so much more!

I spent most of the weekend preparing for this party. We had about 20 people on our Guest List, which meant there were 25 people to feed and entertain. Thankfully, we were blessed with a BEAUTIFUL spring day and we were able to sit on the deck and enjoy the outdoors. The children were all able to play baseball, blow bubbles and swing all afternoon!

Menu:

• 8 lbs. ham - sliced and served cold (this was my gluten-free entree)
• Kaiser & onion rolls - whole wheat bread (for those who wanted to create a sandwich)
• American, Swiss & Colby-Jack cheeses
• Salami
  
• Potato & Macaroni salads
• Pickle & olive tray
• Baked Beans
  
• Fruit & Veggie trays
• Variety of salty snacks (for anyone wondering, Fritos & Tostitos are both Gluten Free)
• Cheese, Pepperoni & Sausage Pizzas (from Dominos - the cheapest non-bake-at-home option).
• Birthday cake & ice cream (Breyers Vanilla & Chocolate is gluten free)
• Sodas, Strawberry lemonade and Iced tea

We had more than enough food (we ate less than half of the ham, so I guess I need to look for some good ham recipes this week!) and everyone was stuffed by the end of the night! You can see that we actually had 2 cakes - the Indiana Jones cake and a smaller birthday cake. Ryan's birthday is April 7th, and he shares that day with my Grandfather (who is turning 79!). It's fun to celebrate 3 birthdays at one party!


My Indiana Jones cake was a HUGE hit! I found a photo of this cake online and copied it for my boys' cake. It was both adorable and delicious!


For party favors, I gave each child a shovel and pail with their name on it. The pail was filled with a small notebook, pencils or crayons and a few sweet treats. We have two older "tweens" in the family, and they received the same goodies, but in a pretty paper sack. (Note, I had every intention of giving favors to all our guests, but it just didn't get done this time).


The house is a bit of a mess at this point. Thankfully, Craig has offered to do most of the cleaning (since I did all of the prep work AND played Hostess-with-the Mostess all day). We nearly always have parties on Sundays since I work on Saturdays, and the post-party clean-up is always the hardest part.

Tomorrow, I want to reflect on what parts of the party went smoothly, and where we can do better next time.