Free at last

My baby girl celebrated her third birthday last week.  She's been so excited to turn three; her birthday is all she and her brother could talk about for weeks.  I think it's her current favorite number.  If you ask her how many of anything there are, she says three.  She kept practicing how to hold up three fingers.  Now, when anyone asks her how old she is, she very carefully puts her pinky finger down and holds it with her thumb and answers, "Free."

(It reminds me of a joke I'd read as a child.  A man had just gotten out of prison, and he was so excited, he ran up and down the street yelling, "I'm free!  I'm free!"  A little boy replied, "So? I'm four.")

On the day of her actual birthday, we went to a Batman playdate that a very crafty friend hosted for her son, his boy pals, and their siblings.  Among the delicious (and beautiful) treats served were Batman cupcakes.  We also brought cupcakes in honor of Violet's birthday, so the birthday girl and her brother enjoyed quite a few.

That evening, we went to the kids' favorite restaurant, Souplantation.  As a now three-year-old, Violet can no longer eat for free at this restaurant, but the manager gave her a bag of cookies as a birthday present.  (Alas, they were lemon cookies, which I don't love, as Souplantation is having a lemon promotion all month long.)  We made sure to give everyone a little slurp of birthday noodles (in this case, lemon linguine).  After the kids had their usual soft serve dessert at the restaurant, we headed home for a couple more cupcakes and to let the birthday girl blow out her candle. We also gave her our birthday gift to her, which was the remainder of the My Little Pony play sets that my parents saved all these years.

Two days later, we had Violet's birthday party.  This is actually the smallest birthday party I have ever thrown.  I made sure to keep the guest list to only the kids that Violet plays with on a regular basis.  As it was, when you include parents and siblings, the party ended up having about 50 people.  But it was so special for Violet to celebrate her birthday with all her friends.

This was also the first party that didn't have a specific theme.  Violet couldn't make up her mind what kind of party she wanted.  At first she wanted Hello Kitty, then Curious George.  Jack wasn't helping the situation any, always asking her did she want a Star Wars party? (Yes.)  How about a Pokemon party? (Yes.)  In the end, we just went with a generic birthday party with mostly purple decorations.

The food was a pasta bar that featured two kinds of pasta and two kinds of sauce.  We served sides of salad, fruit, steamed broccoli, and garlic bread.  For the cake, I made a pound cake filled with whipped cream frosting and strawberries.  At Violet's toddler school, a parent brought in a cake for her boy's birthday that was pre-cut into bite-sized pieces for everyone.  It seemed like the best of both worlds to have the convenience of cupcakes without the hassle of filling those little cups.  The execution of this idea was less than perfectly beautiful-looking, but I think it still ended up tasting pretty good, which is the most important thing.

Violet also wanted a pinata.  She had seen a pinata with an ice cream cone on it at Target and became fixated on having one.  Considering that we were not serving ice cream, I nixed that idea.  She finally agreed to have a pinata with her picture on it. (It was a pull-string one, so it's not like the kids would be whacking her in effigy.)  I'm a notorious cheapskate.  I couldn't really justify spending $15 on something that is only going to be destroyed anyway.  So I borrowed a friend's idea and made my own pinata out of a Cheerios box.  As I sat there, cutting up crepe streamers to cover the box, I realized that it was taking me over an hour to do this.  I wouldn't want to get paid only $15 an hour to make pinatas for a living.  I was pleased with how it turned out, but I don't know that I'd want to do it again.

For her favors, I had hoped to give out violets, but the seeds that we planted a month in advance in preparation for this party failed to sprout.  So we settled for purple and white elysium flowers, which were almost as good.

Violet received a lot of really cool gifts, including furniture for a dollhouse that we have been planning on building for her.  Now we really have to get on the ball and do it.  Other particular favorites are a swing, high chair, and crib for her baby doll and Legos of her very own so she doesn't have to fight over Jack's. She also got her first Barbie doll/Disney princess all rolled into one.  Thankfully, it was Mulan.

We were so happy that my parents came down for Violet's party.  Having family around always makes these events more meaningful for us all.  My mom was particularly awesome, helping with the set up and clean up of the party and making sure we never ran out of food during the party.  We couldn't have done it without her.

Violet still doesn't get that her birthday is only one day.  She keeps asking if it's still her birthday and whether she'll get another party.  Maybe in another year.  :)

Of the many birthday wishes that Violet received on my Facebook page, my favorite came from her uncle: "Happy birthday to such a beautiful and wonderful child."  She really is.