Over two weeks ago, Harlow had her 3rd birthday party. I just got around to writing about it now, because this time of year is CRAZY. Not only do we have the holidays, we have ALL THE BIRTHDAYS. And the first draft of my book was due the week after Harlow’s big day. (I turned it in on time! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!)
Mazzy’s birthday party is this weekend so I needed to get Harlow’s post up or else I was really going into run into a birthday backlog. Hashtag “birthday blog problems”.
Harlow chose an Inside Out theme (specifically Joy) except there was one little glitch. She was having a joint party with her friend Giles (or more accurately, my friend’s son Giles) who is really more into Minions.
When Giles’ mom Emily and I first started discussing the party, it seemed like a perfect match.
1. Harlow and Giles both don’t have many friends on their own but together we could put together a respectable gathering.
2. Joy and Minions are both yellow and blue creating a consistent color theme.
3. Emily and I have a joint friend named Pam whose husband Alex just opened a communal work/event space called Interface and volunteered to let us use the space for the party. Thanks, Alex!
Then I tried to commission a Minion/Joy cake (both kids HAD TO HAVE the actual characters on the cake) and this proved to be a small fortune. Then Seri (aka Little Miss Party) advised me to forget the edible characters and buy the miniature figurines. Which were still a small fortune because they were sold out everywhere… except from an Amazon seller who is probably related to the guy who sold me the ridiculously expensive Disgust costume Mazzy wore for Halloween.
In the end, the cake came out fantastic. Here is it with the Inside Out characters— notice the fondant “memory balls” around the edge.
And here it is once Emily arrived with Giles’ Minion addition.
I think it all goes together perfectly.
Interface is really meant for adults but turned out to be an awesome place for a birthday party. Lots of seating that could be arranged in any which way, a speaker system, a bar (cocktails!), plenty of room for dancing and enough space to spread out the grown-ups from the kids.
For toddler entertainment, we had a disco theme with lots of music, freeze dance, limbo and rockstar accessories.
The only issue was Harlow.
Harlow fell asleep on the way over and as always, was extra cranky when we woke her up from nap. She was mad we couldn’t eat the cake right away, she suddenly hated pizza and she had no interest in doing anything but being held.
Typically, Harlow takes at least an hour to warm up to new places and for some reason, I didn’t think that would be a factor at her own party. I was wrong.
This pic sums up her mood nicely.
At least Mazzy was having fun.
Harlow finally got it together and started having a good time about a half hour in, but then Grammy arrived and it all fell to pieces again.
Harlow adores being held by my mother, so as soon as she walked in the door, Harlow went into full-on victim mode so Grammy could play savior. This is their favorite “game.” My mom ended up holding and soothing her for the next hour, even leaving the room a few times to do the job.
This got me down too because Harlow was so excited for her party in the days leading up to the big event and now wasn’t participating. As a mom, we have such high expectations for our kid’s enjoyment level at their own party, you know? Also, I knew Harlow didn’t understand her party was a limited engagement. When those two hours were up, we were packing it up and going home. The party was not going to wait for Harlow to warm up to it.
By the time she got back into the swing of things, her birthday party was more than halfway over.
The last 45 minutes were really fun though. Harlow relaxed and got into the bubble wrap boogie.
She was also very appreciative that I let her skip the pizza and feast on grapes and crackers instead.
And she loved the cake.
After cake, she put on all the disco accessories (purchased because Harlow loves accessories!) and rocked out with her co-birthday buddy Giles.
And she danced on a leather couch which she called her “stage”.
She also planted a big one on her boyfriend Luke’s cheek.
But probably had the most fun when we opened gifts back at home.
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Big thanks to Interface and Little Miss Party for helping me throw this party together!
Adorable party! And this is my child’s twin! Every holiday (or honestly any gathering that involves more than 5 people) – clings to me, overwhelmed, hesitant to join in. Last 5 minutes? PARTY! Then upset that it’s time to go. Oh well… I’ve learned that it’s her version of fun, so we go with it. Looks like a blast!
That last pix…DYING!!! Please make sure you keep that for her graduation party…or wedding slide show!
I’m a bit concerned that Harlows party looks far more stylish than any of my own birthdays! Great space! We just had a joint party for my 4 year old daughter Tilda and her friend Thomas, Sleeping Beauty/Trains we just about made it out unscathed. Kids parties are completely exhausting. Well done, she will always remember that you went all out I’m sure even if she didn’t love all 120 minutes! 🙂
Full victim mode and Grammy savior! Hysterical! That describes my mother and 4 year old. I’m horrible and grandma saves the day. Whether there is and saving needed or not.
Thanks for keeping it real and not sugar coating it. Reminds us all its hard no matter who’s in charge.
Awe….LOVE this! That pic at the end is beyond words. xoxo
My son is like this. You would need to plan for a long warm up before party begins the next time!!
That’s how I do it…
It seems that in the end everything turned out great and everyone had a great time! 🙂
We just threw #3’s 2nd birthday party. It was less for him than the older siblings who could not countenance the idea that we wouldn’t have a party for him. But #3 has even fewer friends of his own than #2 did (not so many friends of #1 still doing the reproducing thing…) and would have been happy with a cake and a helium balloon. We still did it and it was great fun – but coming up with activities to entertain the toddlers plus the older siblings that ALL #3’s friends come with was more challenging, especially this time of year. We did have a great time, and the birthday boy enjoyed himself because we had stickers, bubbles and music, but I still think he’d have been as happy with cake and a balloon. It’s the cake he still talks about… It’s as much for the rest of the family to celebrate him at this age I guess. I have to admit to enjoying planning my older kids’ birthdays now their friends are a smaller circle of children they regularly hang out with at school and share things they enjoy doing – and the kids get dropped off so you don’t have to feed parents too!
I love that you had all those accessories for Harlow and made it totally “her” thing. I think it’s little touches like that that make the party when you look back on it together.
Don’t feel bad… my three year old hasn’t even had a birthday party yet because… well.. #middlechild. Oops! I’m a bad mommy. 🙁
[…] grabbing it whenever the event is important for me to capture right. I used it to photograph Harlow’s birthday party, Mazzy’s birthday party (post coming soon!) and a recent trip to Gansevoort […]
This is practically the same experience we just had at my son’s 3rd birthday party. Just sub in “bowling alley” for the location, a construction cake, and him pooping his pants on the way over instead of falling asleep. Everyone had a blast, except for him. He just wanted the cake and presents.
[…] render the entire meal inedible as I have always believed. 14) I will stop ruining special events (like my own birthday party) by throwing a fit unless my mom is holding me at all times. Who knows? A party planned completely […]
[…] on the other hand, had a more difficult time, since apparently Harlow hates parties. (Or she just gets really tired around […]