Birthday Party Madness

I don't know where it came from, I don't know how long it'll last, but I am obsessed with creating completely over-the-top birthday parties for my kids (but subconsciously, it's likely way more for me).

It began when I was on my 2nd mat leave and I had time to bake my own cake for Steve and thought it would be fun for my 2.5 yo to help out. We decided on a dinosaur themed cake, since Duncan was obsessed with dinosaurs, and this was the result:

Really bad, right? Tasted good though. And it got the creative juices flowing.

Not great, I know, but that was free-hand with only Betty Crocker French Vanilla icing tinted with normal food colouring, on a boxed cherry-chip cake. And so the madness began.

Every year since daycare started, I had to bring in treats for the daycare kids, so enter extra-large iced cookies:

I made this with Pillsbury Cookie Dough in the tube and some more french vanilla icing with normal food colouring, all for under $5 bucks. So good, so easy, high impact and doesn't cost $35+ dollars <ahem> Mrs. Fields (I'm not kidding - look it up).

Then I tried my hand at rice krispie squares - topped with icing (natch), a delicious and easy treat:

Duncan was obsessed with Thomas at the time - pretty primary, but the kid thought I was Picasso.

As for actual birthday parties, we usually rented a big play space at the very last minute and at a ridiculously high cost and large guest list (trying to get our money's worth).

That is, until last year. That was when we failed to book something in December for Duncan's 6th party at the end of January 2011. We decided to try our hand at having an at-home party. I mean, how hard could it be? It's just an exaggerated play-date, with cake and presents, right?

Holy shit, no it wasn't.

Duncan had a new obsession at the time - Harry Potter. Even though he hadn't even seen any of the movies or read any of the books, he HAD to have a Harry Potter birthday party. I was totally game - I had read the first five books a decade ago and had seen some of the films. I was actually really excited to have a common interest with Duncan that we could both get excited about.

So, as any mother would do when faced with an exorbitant task with very little time and very little inspiration, I googled the hell out of "Harry Potter Birthday Party for a 6 year old" and all the variations I could dream up.

After reading countless posts from the prior ten years, I copied the text of an invitation, replacing some things, here and there. When I printed it off, it looked pretty plain, so I found a Hogwarts Logo, and pasted it in as a watermark.

 

It still didn't have the old-worldly vibe that I was going for, so I decided to try colouring the stark-white printer paper with a wet tea bag and then let it dry over our floor heater in the kitchen. It turned out PERFECTLY  - the colour was a nice tinge of old, while the wetness of the tea bag created a nice weathered and crinkly feel to the paper. And just to go completely and obnoxiously overboard, I found a red candle, and after tri-folding the letter, I sealed it with the wax. We delivered them to the daycare the next day and to my surpsrise, the majority of the parents responded in the role-play genre.

After the invitations were taken care of, I had to begin the planning of the actual party. From all of the ideas I gathered from the interwebz, I settled on the following:

Sorting Hat and House Badges

I made this sorting hat out of brown paper bags that I taped together and just played around with the design. It worked out pretty well.  Then I printed off the house badges, cut them out and put double-sided tape on the backs. When the kids came in, we used an iPad Harry Potter game that had a part of the game that would allow you to have the sorting hat choose your house. If the kids liked what they were given, they kept it - if they wanted to change houses, they could. Because he was only 6, we didn't really break off into team game-play, so it was just something cool to start out with.

After the kids got settled in, we got started with Potions Class. I had 3 big bottles of Bubbly Water (Club Soda), Sweet Bubbly Water (Sprite) and Puddle Water (Root Beer). Each kid had a clear plastic cup with a stir stick.

Potions Class set up for 16 kids.

Nice sugar rush for the kids right off the bat.

Then on the side I had jars set up with Dried Dragon Spit (Pop Rocks), Frog Eyeballs (peeled grapes frozen in ice cubes), Frozen Rodent Poo (wild blueberries frozen in ice cubes), And other special powders (coloured koolaids) and sprinkles. After we poured the liquid, we passed aroung the other stuff and let them add as much or as little as they liked. Kids enjoyed it and the sugar rush it gave them.

Next, we had the kids select wands. I had a ton of chopsticks from years of take-out gluttony, so I used those and prettied them up with electrical tape and ribbons. Then they stood in a cup and each kid could choose their own. Unfortunately, the only picture I have was of one of the boys collected and pocketing the leftovers at the end of the party.



If you look closely, you can see the differnt coloured tips.



I looked up some simple spells online and we gathered in the basement. I taught them the spells and we played around with falling down, or freezing people or making them go crazy or making them lie down.

Next we brought out the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans for the adventurous ones:

I kept the chart hidden and made up names for all of them and let them go at them.

Then we did Care for Magical Creatures. Again, I did NOT get a picture of this and it was sooo cool. Steve and I spent a half hour the night before stuffing little Dragon and Magical Creature plastic figurines into dark gray and black balloons and then blowing them up. It was pretty awesome. I still don't know how we got them into the balloons but we did - and with only 3 minor skin wounds.

This is what they creatures looked like and if you look hard, you can see the wand in the backgroun too.

We let the kids pick their own balloons and play gently with them for a while. Then I got the scissors out and began "hatching" the "eggs". They added those toys to their lootbags.

Lunch (pizza, fruit, veggies) was served with juice boxes. Then the cake came out. It was my first foray into the magical world of proper cake-decorating food-colouring gel. Besides the black icing tasting like hell, I think it turned out really well.

My Harry Potter Cake - a coloured representation of all the Hogwarts' Houses.

After the cake, we did the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class. After training, I pulled out the Dementor Pinata and the kids had at it for about 10 minutes, before we had to get a knife to help them.


Dementor Pinata - made with black tissue paper and some black eyeshadow trying to define a ghastly face.

 After the pinata, it was almost time to go. I had a huge display of candy laid out (ala HoneyDukes) and gave each kid a plastic bag and said they could choose 5 different types (gummy worms, ring pops, chocolate rocks, licorice, etc.). Obviously, the candy store was a huge hit.

All in all, a very rockin' party. My favourite part was the huge hug I got from Duncan right before bedtime - by total surprise - and when he said, "thanks for the awesome party, Mommy". He really loved it and I almost felt like he was proud of it. Score.

This post is now out of control, so I'll wrap it up.

But be prepared for my next blog documenting the most AWESOME 7 year old Star Wars party EVER...!

A Z-lister is Born

Wow, what a crazy day.

First of all, I was surprised to open my email to a note informing me that an article I had written had already been published on yummymummyclub.ca …
(http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/family/toddlers/age-three-is-the-magic-number)

…and then, as if that wasn't enough, I also made the cover of the Fall 2011 Canadian WineCrafter Magazine for an event I attended in September with (again) the Yummy Mummy Club.

http://www.winemadesimple.ca/media/CCWA_Fall_2011.pdf


It was a Create Your Own Wine Club/Win Thirty Bottles of Wine contest sponsored by the Canadian Craft Winemakers Association who partnered with YMC in order to expand their social media reach.  I thought it was an awesome contest and a great event. And the wine (I chose Shiraz) is seriously delicious. I love wine. I love free wine even more.

This is fun stuff! Being published is a little thrill in itself, so the fact that I also get to be a winemaking covergirl? Crazy! I will undoubtedly, be getting some teasing among family and friends but that won't stop me from singing the America’s Next Top Model theme song to myself for the next week (Wanna be on top?) Yes. Super-cheesey but c’mon, when am I ever going to be on the cover of a magazine again?!! 

It also just goes to show you, those contests are out there for anyone to wine. I mean win...

Gotta go practice my smeyesing in case Tyra calls! Oh, who am I kidding...

Ssy

PUBLISHED!!! Again!

I'm happy to share, I am a published writer, once again, and for a very prestigious publication, no less!! That's right! Today's Parent's website, todaysparent.com published my article, My husband might be a better mom than me:  http://www.ivillage.ca/parenting/school-age/your-husband-better-mom-you-%E2%80%99cause-i-think-mine (02/05/12 NOTE: ever since the todaysparent.com webpage redesign in Fall 2011, I haven't been able to find my article on their site. So here is on ivillage.ca. Thanks ivillage, for the pick-up!)

I can't explain what a rush it is to get my writing out there. I am pumped about it. 

I especially love ALL of the dozens of reactions that I've gotten so far. Everything from mom's thanking me because they feel the same way, to fathers giving me a sheepish look and a smug, "well, if I could take the summer off, I would be Super Dad too, you know", to other guys saying "oh, well, isn't your husband the shit", to women crying and saying, how lucky I am. Also, the many, many friends, family and supporters I have who are just happy for me to reach a goal. I LOVE THE LOVE! 

I. Am. Proud. And grateful - for Kate, Lisa, Alex, Today's Parent...and of course, Steve (with a side of Duncan and Griffin). 

Ssy

In case it gets lost on the interwebz again...here's the copy.

My husband might be a better mom than me by Stephanie Rebot Tarling

At the risk of sounding completely and utterly inadequate, I – um – have a confession to make: I think my husband might be a better mom than me. There. I said it. Now allow me to explain.

About a year and a half ago, my husband Steve's workplace was sold and he lost his job. Since his last day at work was in early June (and he’d received a package so he wouldn't have to find another gig immediately), he decided it would be a great opportunity to take our two boys out of daycare and spend the summer with them before our oldest began JK that fall.

After singlehandedly arranging new daycare (which would start on the first day of school) and lining up a new job (conveniently starting the day after – talk about planning) he designed (again, singlehandedly) an amazing summer with the boys. He signed them up for Sportball and T-ball. He scheduled weekly visits with my out-of-town family so the boys could see their grandparents and cousins. He even took them to his parents' cottage for days at a time and arranged for me to join everyone at the end of the workweek.

SuperDad had everything under control. And I kind of loved it…until I realized he was really good at it. Like, better-than-me-on-maternity-leave good. Like, my-kids-might-start-calling-him-mom good. And so my secret rivalry began.

I tried to push that nagging “my husband's a better mom than me” feeling down deep, but with every giggle-packed phone call the boys made from the playground, or captured photo they sent from their daily adventure, the question persisted. Could my husband seriously be a better mom than me?

The more I thought about it, the more it drove me nuts. Yeah, I was secure in the contributions I was making to our family, but I was starting to feel a bit unimportant around the old homestead. All of a sudden a bigger question emerged: Am I a great mom who just feels inadequate as a mom? Aha!

After I had this breakthrough, I realized that instead of letting it get to me, I needed to focus on my many shining mommy moments: I am the reader of bedtime stories, the partner of homework assignments, the baker of fabulous birthday cakes and the best hugger in the house. Am I still jealous of my husband's awesomeness? Sometimes. But more importantly, I'm proud to have married the man that I did. You never know what kind of father-to-your-children you're going to end up with until you watch them all grow together. I'd say that I won the lottery.

So here’s what I’ve learned in all this. Is my husband really a better mom than me? No way. Parenting isn't a competition, it's a partnership. I am the best mom for my boys and my husband is definitely the best dad for them – hands down. Sure, neither one of us is perfect, but right now our boys think we are. And that in itself is pretty awesome – for me and SuperDad.

 

Winter fun in the T dot

I was just downloading pictures I took of yesterday's toboggan-polooza at Withrow Park in Toronto, and felt the need to post this picture.We had been there for 1.5 hours when suddenly the sun poked out and the snow stopped and the skyline came into view while the tobogganers continued playing in the foreground and it just gave me the warm-fuzzies.

Winter fun at Withrow Park, January 2011.

I LOVE that we have this in my city - in my neighbourhood. I don't know why I've always been stuck with the notion that tobogganing is a country sport.  It lives in my past life: growing up in the country, it was an entire weekend project, to craft a roller-coaster-worthy toboggan hill that would last the week for after-school fun.
And more recently, it lives in my head as something we do at the cottage (not this year since there's a renovation taking place). Even though I've lived here for 12 years, "tobogganning in the city" just doesn't roll off my small-town-tongue.

But lo and behold, it is right here. Right here! We went to this same hill last week, and ended up meeting up with a ton of people we knew from the daycare and school. Yesterday, we called some of the kids' friends to let them know that we were going to be there and bang! Four more families hooked up with us for some good ol' wintertime fun.

I love it. I love being forced out of my countrified thinking. My kids can absolutely have what I had growing up - they might not have the pond in the back yard that me and my sisters meticulously shovelled off so we could perfect our Donny and Marie Show: On Ice Extravaganza, but they will have a lake to skate on at the cottage and rinks galore right here in the city, around the corner. They may not have a hill at the side of their house like I did, but with a little 20 minute hike (or four minute drive) we can meet up with a ton of friends and view the picturesque Toronto skyline while trying to catch air on the "mogul run", to the left of the runs shown here.

The truth is, my kids can have the same, awesome experiences that I had - and in the Big City, no less! There's more community here than I ever had growing up, where my nearest neighbour was a bike-ride away. 

I am so proud to be a city girl. What's next, Toronto?

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Ok, I am officially the worst blogger ever.

Who has time to blog? Not me. I have tried, man. I really wanted to pump out three, maybe four entries a week, just for the month of August to prove I could be the Next Blogger for Today‘s Parent, but could  I pull that off? Sadly, no.

I started off while on vacation - it was a strong start, but even then I forced out three per week. Flash to returning to work in the second week of August and having to play catch-up for my two glorious weeks off as well as getting thrown in to three huge new business deals, and the pressure was on.

But that’s just my 9-to-5 job. I can’t forget having to take the kids to swimming lessons every day for two weeks straight and to soccer once a week, shopping for and attending two birthday parties, having overnight guests two weekends in a row, taking G to speech-therapy, running three to four times a week (ok, attempting three to four runs per week, which is also pretty exhausting). Excuses? I have a ton of them, but come on. How is a person supposed to find time to finish the Stieg Laarson trilogy, let alone write a blog?!!

This writing thing is such a commitment. I know this already. Everything that’s worth getting good at means making a commitment.  I know this from learning to play the guitar (I play chords well, but didn’t have the time to get really great), running (after the first three weeks of cardio-building, the battle is all about getting out of bed at 6 a.m. which I‘m also not great at), and writing. Writing is hard when everything else comes first. And that’s why I was trying to put this first for a moment, while I was relaxed (and possibly tipsy) on vacation up north, but alas, it just wasn’t meant to be.

I hate failing. But I hate not owning up to failure more. So here is my towel, my white flag, my hands in the air. I surrender, Today’s Parent. I am not your Next Top Blogger - this year. But I’d love to write an article that investigates the question, who has time to Blog? Let me know if you’re interested.

Birthday Fish

So I’m celebrating a birthday today (was actually yesterday). And for my birthday, my boys decided it would be a great idea to get the family some fish. Why did they think I would want a fish for my birthday? Payback from Steve. We got him a beta, that lasted two weeks, for his birthday back in November. I thought it was a sweet idea. Duncan and I went to Petsmart and picked out a small tank with some food and we even paid a premium for our fish because he was the most colourful one for sale.


When we presented him to Steve, the morning of his birthday, he faked surprise and enjoyment but truthfully, seriously, who wants a fish for their birthday? I thought it was a nice thought since they had been fishing all summer long and they read fishing magazines together all the time, and they truly love fish. So, nice idea right? Now I know.


Duncan named it Pablo. I have no idea where he got that name from but it stuck. And two weeks later, we awoke to an upside-down floating Pablo.


Duncan took it surprisingly well, and for some reason decided we should get another fish immediately so that he could call it Tarro. Okaaaay. 


Flash to that night, an inconsolable D cried deeply for 3 straight hours, bereaving the Remarkable Pablo. What happened to the soon-to-be-bought Tarro? Forgotten and never to be bought.


D eventually cried himself to sleep but when he awoke, it started all over again until we offered a proper burial in the back garden complete with headstone that D and I painted together. Once he was in the ground, the tears stopped and life moved forward. I guess the kid just needed some closure. 


Flash to today, and the kids informed me we would be buying four fish for my birthday - one for each of us named Butt, Erred, Pop, and Corn. Hooray for me.


We went to the pet store today and after picking one goldfish only (Steve refused to buy another tank and the Fish Specialist warned us we could only have one goldfish in our current 2L tank), we named it (Tiger) and took him home to get settled in his tank. Four and a half hours later, Duncan noticed Tiger was abnormally swim-floating on his side. So long, Tiger. Rest in peace. August 15, 2010 2 p.m. - August 15, 2010 7:28.


Duncan only cried for 45 minutes this time and it was mainly because the store wasn’t open to buy a new one immediately. I think we’re hardening him towards death because we’re scheduled to buy a replacement tomorrow. Is this good or bad parenting?


Ssy

New home

Welcome to Thirty-Something-Sass's new home. I just transferred all entries from the past two years. The reason? Because I couldn't figure out how to make my text have spaces and I despised seeing one big continuous lump of text!


Happy reading and wish me luck in my new home!


Ssy

After-Vacation Blues

Being back to work from two glorious weeks of cottage vacation really blows. 


Add on a massive heat-wave that hits on the Sunday before you start work, the surprising realization that your air conditioner has somehow broken during your absence (natch) and having to watch your partner-in-parenting prepare for his three-day business trip to Montreal, and you will be able to see, with the naked eye, the stress re-piling onto previously-relaxed shoulders. Nothing like re-emergence-chaos. What’s that term for deep-sea divers who come up too fast? Google says it’s Decompression Sickness (DCS). That’s it. I think I have that. I wonder if I could get a doctor’s note. Get me a hyperbaric chamber, stat. 


Single-parenting for three days is bad enough. I hate to say it but it feels like taking two weeks of vacation is almost not worth it. Almost. For the amount of work that goes in to preparing for vacation and then coming back to an onslaught of piled-up work, having to cover co-workers’ workload who left for vacation the day you return, and finally, having to field the dozens of well-meaning colleagues‘ polite inquiries into said two-weeks away…it’s enough to drive a woman to drink (an additional glass of wine, that is). 


What’s today’s equivalent to the 1980’s bath soap commercial’s famous line, “Calgon, take me away” or “Serenity now!” from the Seinfeld series of the 90’s? Did we have one for the 00’s? Let me know if you can think of one. Off to bed in order to face Day 3 A.V. (after vacation). Night. 


Ssy

Follower

So, I’m on vacation at the cottage, and pretty content because I’m 48% (according to my Kindle) through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. I’ve wanted this book since I read an article in the Toronto Star Books section, two weeks ago, and then even more so since I read a piece in the Globe and Mail this past weekend (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-summer-of-stieg-larsson/article1657742/ ). 


The question I raise is, why did I have to have these books? Why was it that I needed the books, immediately, even though, I was perfectly happily reading White Tiger by Aravind Adiga for my book club? 


Something happened to me and I don’t think I like it. I succumbed to the propaganda posed in the articles written about these books (“Men are becoming girl-with-tattoo widowers, because their wives only want to get cozy with the book at night.” ). But how can it even be propaganda if the authors aren’t propagating anything but the goodness of a read? I’m pretty sure they’re not getting a cut of the royalties… It may have been the intriguing back-story of the posthumous author (and how he died of a heart attack in 2004 before the trilogy was even published), or maybe it was the several of my Facebook-friend-status-updates that included the titles in some way (e.g. “just finished all three Stieg Larsson books…what a great long weekend”). I did find it weird, however, that none of my close friends have ever suggested it to me…maybe that was it? I had to read it to find out how awesome it was in order to recommend it to my own reading network? 


Whatever it was, I finally succumbed. And when I did, I had a difficult time purchasing the books on my Kindle. 


After doing what I had to do (no comment), I finally procured the titles and began to read and now, at 48% though the first book, I am riveted…taken. Just as those damn articles told me I would be. I hate being told what to do, and yet I allowed myself…no, I demanded I read these books myself and BANG, they did exactly what the articles said… I got hooked and can barely drag myself away from the text to: a) feed the children, b) play with the children and/or c) get another drink while watching the children. 


Did I allow myself to be taken by the hype, or did I simply read a couple of articles that stated how intriguing the Millennium series was and then decide I might like it as well? Who doesn’t look for a stellar recommendation when selecting a new book, especially for summer vacation? Unless I’m forced into a book (i.e. book club), I actually enjoy when a trusted friend suggests a title for me. It can be quite a chore, (albeit, at times, a welcome one when I have the time to commit to a search) to enter a bookstore as a blank slate, looking for my next read…but MAN, I love it when someone tells me what I will love. Is that too submissive of me?

originally posted: 11:10 PM - 2010-AUG-3