Halloween-Themed Baby Shower

"My costume roars, what does yours do?"

I can’t believe it’s been six months since my brother and his wife announced their pregnancy. Since they are expecting their little “treat” to arrive on Halloween, I couldn’t resist but do a Halloween-themed baby shower. Everything had pumpkins!

• invitations
• games (a monster match game, pumpkin trivia, pass the pumpkin)
• prizes (pumpkin-shaped chocolates, pumpkin-scented soaps)
• giveaways (pumpkin candles)
• The Diaper Cake
• dessert (a delicious homemade pumpkin cake)

And the best part of all… the kids dressed in costume to welcome the arrival of their new cousin! Of course, my son was wearing one of le•top’s 2009 Halloween costumes. He was dressed as “Troy” the Triceratops, which he loved to wear because it kept him warm all day (now that fall has arrived in California!) and had a hidden button that everyone pushed to make his costume “ROAR!” I thought it was going to scare him when he first heard the sound, but he didn’t seem to even notice. I guess Mommy always sounds like an angry dinosaur. 🙂

Check back daily to see more Halloween ideas from le•top’s 2009 collection.

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Children’s Themed Birthday Parties

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for our friend’s 5-year old son. The invitation was cowboy-themed. The party was decked out in Western decor. The host gave away cowboy hats and bandanas, and there were even pony rides. YES, pony rides! It was the BEST party my daughter has ever been to (she exclaims this after every party she attends). It seems like children’s birthday parties are getting fancier each year, and it’s becoming a challenge to “top” the next party – not that these kids are competing. But as a parent, you don’t want to be outdone (recently, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were in the news, having hosted a $100,000.00 birthday party for their daughter, Suri, where the cake alone cost over $15 thousand!). The pressure is on if you’re only going to have a simple “cake and ice cream” birthday gathering.

We’ve been to quite a few themed events, such as:

• a Dinosaur party hosted at a children’s activity center (complete with dinosaur-related games)
• a Princess Ball, along with a dressing room filled with gowns, crowns, make-up, glitter, boas, etc. for all the girls (and the loot bag was more expensive than our present for the birthday celebrant!)
• a Pirate party with a scavenger hunt, and enough gold coins to fill Captain Jack Sparrow’s ship
• a Musical party where a music teacher came and brought boxes of different musical instruments for the children to participate in song-and-dance activities
• and the most outrageous one I’ve been to… a Super Model party. The dad even built a runway for the girls to parade down the catwalk in their fashionable attire!

My daughter has had her share of themed parties:

• Hawaiian pool party with beach toys as giveaways
• Gymnastics party where the instructors came and set up their equipment at a park, and had a “class” with all the kids
• County Fair-themed party with a cotton candy machine, an ice cone maker, face painting, and a friend who made balloon animals for all the guests.

The day after my daughter’s 4-year old party, she started discussing with me what her theme will be for next year’s party. (I’m not kidding!) She had a few in mind: a Power Ranger party, a Pokemon party, a Princess party to name a few. But the winning theme is a Pirate party – just like her cousin’s but not exactly the same. She wants it to be a PINK Pirate party and have a Pirate Princess come to entertain her guests. (Demanding for a 5-year old! And don’t even get me started on her wanting an iPhone as a present.) So, two months before her birthday, I’m already making a mad dash looking for a Pirate Princess to come to her party, and hunting down a bakery who can make custom-designed cupcakes with black and pink skull and bones. As the date gets closer and I’ve secured the entertainment and the cupcakes, I sit back and sigh, “What the heck am I doing? I’m trying to impress her 5-year old friends. Next year will be just cake and ice cream!” I say this every year, and I know I’ll be sucked into another theme party again next year.

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