Bea's Newsletter v.2.0: Olivia is 3 years Old!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Olivia is 3 years Old!

January 8, 2006

Olivia turned 3 years old today!

Olivia's birthday party in San Jose was a "Princess" theme, very fitting for our little regal girl.

The Princess Birthday girl

Outside the "See Me Tee-Pee"

Inside the "See Me Tee-Pee"

With Ria inside the "See Me Tee-Pee"

Angie put me in charge of games for the party. It was very interesting doing the "research" for the party games. As expected, things to consider for planning successful games for the 2-6 year demographic:
- active but short games
- nothing too competitive
- nothing involving Olivia's toys (she's in the "possessive" stage)
- everyone should have a chance to win a prize
- an hour to ninety minutes is a good amount of time

The first game that I had planned was a "treasure" hunt in the backyard. Angie's new backyard is nice and big, and thankfully, the weather cooperated and it was a beautiful day. I had found some great chocolate coins that were wrapped in bright foil--pink and purple Barbie-themed coins, and orange and yellow Sponge Bob Squarepants-themed coins. I scattered them around the back yard and the little ones went at it. It only took about 10 minutes, but the kids were psyched and they all got some gawdy costume rings as prizes.

Hunting for chocolate coins during the treasure hunt

After the treasure hunt, we moved onto the "must-have" birthday pinata. In keeping with the princess theme, I found a green frog pinata and fastened big red lips onto the whiffle bat for the whacking the pinata...."kissing the frog prince". It took a decent amount of time to fill the pinata this morning, as the hole for the toys and candy is the size of a casino chip.

The birthday girl goes for the frog pinata

The frog pinata was a tough reptile to crack. Each kid got a chance to whack the frog, and then a second chance...some kids got 3-4 times to try it. Finally, the frog opened enough to liberate the candy and toys.