Aaron's 3rd Birthday

This year we decided to throw Aaron a birthday party.  We celebrate Aaron's birthday at my family's spring birthday celebration and he gets plenty of gifts from both my family and Thom's so I've been reluctant to have a birthday party for him when I'm already trying to reduce the amount of "stuff" he (and now Audrey) have.  But we have a group of friends with kids all around the same age whose birthday parties we love attending, and I know it's awkward to have a party and ask guests NOT to bring presents, so I tried something a little different.

Aaron loves to help Papa in the yard.  He has his own watering can and they make their rounds watering various saplings, berry bushes and other plants that are not on the irrigation system.  So I decided to have a garden party for Aaron where his friends could bring gifts of plants for his garden.  We (meaning Thom) cleared out a spot next to his sandbox which is adjacent to the back patio.

The party was a huge success. His friends and (mostly) their parents planted a variety of plants in his garden and we had metal plant tags for them to decorate.   Aaron loves his garden and waters it several times a week.  He has a lasting gift from his friends, and it did not add more toys to our overcrowded play area.

Part of my goal for the party was to make it eco-friendly, too.  I served finger foods to avoid utensils, and used silverware for the cake, not plastic utensils.  And I made Thom track down paper cups for drinks instead of plastic cups, which is apparently no easy feat.  I made decorations myself out things I already had on hand.  And for favors, I chose reusable fabric bags (from Handmade by SAM Etsy, my new favorite place to shop).

The seller was so great to work with and also came up with these adorable pads of paper that she customized to my theme and made out of recycled paper. She also included extra stickers for the kids to use.  The favor bags included these notepads and stickers, ladybug shaped crayons (made from recycled crayons, also from Etsy), Annie's Cheddar Bunnies snack bags and sunflower seeds (for planting).

For the cake, I made a trifle which was super easy and super yummy.  I used store bought angel food cake, Trader Joe's instant vanilla pudding, fresh strawberries and homemade whip cream to top it off.  So much easier than baking and icing.

To complete our ladybug theme, we released ladybugs in the yard.

I'm grateful to my Dad for taking pictures during the party.  I managed to take some before guests arrived and a few during, but most of the photos I have from the party are from my Dad's camera. And all of the videos.