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| Thanks, Mark, for the strategically placed shamrock that says “Oops!” |
(Links to St. Patrick’s Day 2010 and 2012)
There’s
only one themed kid party I do each year that’s not for birthdays and
that’s St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not particularly in touch with my Irish
roots. In fact I’m a mutt and the most I am of anything is Lithuanian
and Polish (a quarter each) and English, and according to 23andMe
Irish doesn’t even figure into my top 10. But I’ve got these
decorations from when I used to host viewing parties for the cinematic
masterpiece Leprechaun and its sequels back in my pre-kids days, and by golly I’m going to use them!
Welcome to the gun show.
Julia
referred to the day as “St. Patrick Pup’s Day” or “Patrick Pup’s
Favorite Day” which made me smile. (They take photos every three months
to show their growth next to a stuffed dog named Patrick Pup.)
James had a meltdown when he only had a choice of two shirts, both
green. After much drama he finally selected one and then asked to wear
it again a few days later. Ah, 3-year-olds...
Last year I had two parties - one for my Mom’s Night Out playgroup and one for my Las Madres
playgroup. This year I just did one for the MNO playgroup and everyone
came. We had 11 kids! Granted, Oliver only stayed for 15 minutes and
Josh and Sam arrived from preschool at 12:30 p.m. so not everyone was
here at the same time, but it was definitely a full house.
The
guests: Sharon and nanny Poonim with Zoe and Zachary, Beth with Laura,
Stacy with Ronan, Rachel with Oliver, Vicky with Amelia and Sophie, and
Debbie with Josh and Sam. Including mine we had four sets of twins!
Ronan and Laura
Oliver and Amelia with Sophie
Zachary and Zoe
Josh and Sam
And finally these two or as they call each other, Other Kid and Other Kid
There was food.
I saw a photo on Pinterest from a Today Show segment starring an Mark’s former co-worker
who’s now a self-proclaimed lifestyle/crafting guru. She put marbles
outside cupcake wrappers before pouring in batter in order to get a
shamrock shape. I dutifully followed her directions, though I didn’t use
the copious amount of food coloring she did.
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| The inspiration |
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| So far so good... |
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| They actually didn’t look all that bad after some minor surgery. |
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| Snack
tray of bell peppers (naturally shamrock-shaped), green apple, crunchy
green beans, and cheese shamrocks courtesy of a shamrock-shaped cookie
cutter. |
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| Vicky brought shortbread cookies and Beth brought kiwi. |
Kids played.
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| Laura reaches for the St. Patrick’s Day window clings. |
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| Vicky
and her twins Amelia and Sophie may be blissfully unaware, but Sharon
is a little disturbed that there is a giant ant coming to get her. |
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| Beth gives Laura a thumbs up after Laura sings a song in Mandarin. |
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| Sophie puts a tiny hat on Vicky. |
Mothers and sons
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| Mother and mother |
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| Mother |
I provided two crafts. The first was a bead necklace.
I provided several types of beads including letter beads so the kids
could make necklaces with their names. The only problem was that the
kids lost interest halfway through so it ended up being a mommy
endeavor. Since I was taking pictures and running things, I figured I’d
help James and Julia’s with theirs later. Unfortunately that meant that
in the meantime the twins started “popping” beads - pushing down on the
end of them until they shot off the table. James also overturned a full
plate of beads onto the floor. I am still finding beads.
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| At first at least Julia plays with her beads nicely. |
And then James gets to the beads. It's hilarious when it takes Mommy months to find all the beads!
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| We see who really ended up doing the craft. |
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| Beth strings Laura’s necklace while Laura pops bubble wrap. |
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| Beth holds Laura’s finished necklace. |
The
kids also watercolored bubble wrap. That might seem odd, but it made
more sense once they pressed shamrock shapes on top of it to transfer
bubble wrap-sized watercolor circles. This craft seemed to work better
when I tried it at home a week earlier.
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| Amelia and Sophie paint in their jaunty hats. |
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| Zoe watercolors. |
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Ronan’s finished shamrock
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The
kids played in the backyard afterwards. And you know it’s a raging
3-year-old kegger when the last guest leaves at nearly 2 p.m. (No
complaint here. It was fun.)
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| There was teeter tottering. |
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| And totter teetering. |
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| And even a little bit of hide and go seeking. |
And at the end we made the kids pose for the traditional holiday sofa photo before leaving with treat bags.
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| Sam, Ronan, Laura, James (with Doggy), Julia (with Bunny), Amelia, and Sophie |
And after the guests left my kids were quite the cut ups.
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| Julia tries on James’s hat. |
Commence the table climbing:
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| Aw, a sweet hug... |
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| ...But then the hug turns to this. |
Thanks to Stacy for many of the pictures!
