Strawberry Boy Birthday Party!

Thank you for your condolences about my Gram everyone.  She was/ is a special lady.  ( I say is because I know she still exists somewhere.  Death is not an ending to me.  I know in my heart these loved ones live on.) Her passing was expected yet I was surprised at how much I grieved for my time with her as a child.  She was/is a pretty fun Grandma.

Anyway, on to Owen's Birthday party!  We decided to make Owen's 4th birthday a strawberry party because when we bake or even talk about baking he always asks for a strawberry cake.  I have never made one, so he was thrilled at the suggestion of a strawberry party!

I made all of his Birthday ring decorations except for the two snails, which are from Armadillo Dreams.  The snails are for play not decoration, but they still looked pretty darn cute on Owen's birthday ring,  Here is his happy storm gnome because he arrived during a thunder storm.  His strawberry, the number four, a moon because we sing, "I see the moon and the moon sees me...", a sunshine because he is a summer babe.  And a star because his favorite song when he was just learning to talk was, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". 

My dear friend had this vintage strawberry fabric in her stash.  I fell in love with its quirkiness.  My husband says is looks like a "70's acid trip".  To which I replied, "but it's so ugly, it's cool, it's vintage."  And he said "yah, leprosy has been around for awhile too but you don't want that."  He's going to just love it when I haul out this table runner and eight napkins every summer season!  What do you think?  Quirky vintage or "leprosy"? 

A little felt strawberry mobile.  I love that we can keep all of these things for next summer's seasonal decorations. 



An easy strawberry burlap banner.  My friend just happened to have this strawberry stencil lying about.  The burlap coffee sack material was left over from my covered studio boxes.  Miniature clothespins hold them to a hemp string with curly green hemp string tied between. 

We had five boys at the party and boy were they thrilled with the balloons.  We had a few easy and fun activities planned.  They sailed ice boats on the hot sidewalk.  Inside the ice were little frogs to play a leap frog game.  After that they made wire bubble wands and bubbles with homemade solution.  Then out came the sidewalk chalk.  Lastly I had coloring pages printed and a new box of crayons for them to take home. I printed cute Jan Brett cursive letter practice sheets in the boys initials amongst other Jan Brett color pages.

I baked two cakes.  The first was a strawerry flavored cake that came out disgustingly sweet with an odd texture.  I know this because one of the cakes fell out of the pan in a crumble. This was a really fun way to spend the evening before a party, let me tell you!  The above was my second attempt, this time a yellow cake with yummy chocolate icing and strawberries on top. My friend also brought a strawberry pie.

We had hamburgers, brats, olive & sweet pepper pasta salad, asparagus potato salad,  cilantro pesto pasta, chips and salsa verde, strawberry spinach salad, fruit and veggies.  The kiddos ate well on brats, veggies and fruit, strawberries in dirt chocolate pudding & yummy cake.

Strawberry spinach salad. I took this photo early I guess because it was so colorful.  Later I added feta cheese and almonds. 

Owen loves his new mama made strawberry boy crown.  And yes he was fully dressed when everyone arrived and somewhere along the way both of my boys lost their shirts. It has been about 106 degrees outside so who can blame them, right?

Owen told his friend he loved him & gave many hugs and kisses to everyone. He was very excited about all of the presents, a play doh truck, a wooden semi truck, a wooden tool set and work bench.

A bow and arrow & quiver set by Backyard Ballistics on etsy. 

A pair of wings was the last present to open.  He asked, "Can I fly with these!?!" and went racing out the door to test them.

 

My Dad sent him this Superman cape which he slept in the first night.  We had a bonfire at the end of our party for about 5 minutes before a huge wind and rain storm came up.  Yes, it stormed and poured rain on Owen's birthday, just like when he was born.  A fitting end to our evening. 

Until next time...