Birthday Bash!

Sweet potato cake with cinamon buttercream frosting.
Delicious...despite the extra butter!

 Here are some pictures from Emily's TWO birthday parties. ;)  Half as many parties as she is old!  Our second party in La Zubia was really fun and so, so easy.  I love homemade cakes and personalized parties with fun, crafty party favours, etc. but something like that just wasn't in the cards for her second party in Granada. There's no way I would have had time to bake a cake, much less deccorate a place, and arrange some kind of entertainment/craft for the kids... 

The ball park turned out to be the best deal ever!  It was 9 euros per child (not counting the birthday girl) and included EVERYTHING.  That is and hour + of play time, snack, drinks, cake, a little gift for the birthday girl and bag of party favours for the guests.  Then for an extra 20 euros you could hire a magician for a magic show.  We did that too.  It was a big hit--all of it. 

I wasn't so keen on the idea of the junky snack they prepare, but one day of that kind of garbage never hurt a kid.  Emily was thrilled.  She was pounding down the little corn puffs (like cheetos without the cheese power) and probably drank four glasses of chocolate milk!  They also served ham sandwiches and nutella sandwiches (eye roll).  Then there was chocolate cake for all.  I don't know how she didn't end up with a tummy ache, but all the kids seemed pretty excited to have free rein of whatever they wanted to eat.  I did feel slightly guilty, because it does go against my general beliefs of healthy eating and how we're raising Emily...but like I say, desperate circumstances call for desperate measures.  And really it was fantastic to be able to just take her there and have everything ready and prepared--absolutely zero headache.

Her jack-o-lantern came out for the party, too!

We even paid a little extra to have some savoury puff pastries and drinks of choice (coffee, tea, soda, beer...) out for the parents who stayed.  I spent the whole party sipping a coffee and chatting with other parents while Angelines watched over Emily. :)  The place has adult supervisors inside the three-floor ball park jungle gym, but that was a little too much for Emily.  She only stayed in there for about 20 min.  The big play area is designated for 4-11 year old kids and there is a separate area for the 3 and unders.  Emily had two guests who were "under-aged" and playing in the baby zone.  In the end she and two other four-year-olds opted to join them.  The owners were flexible, as originally they had said that the older kids were not allowed in the baby zone, but of course, Emily and her friends were better behaved than some of the 2-year-olds in there.  The only down side was that a parent was required to be in there with the little ones whereas the older kids were totally on their own.

We all bought Birthday hats and Emily was SO exited
...just not showing it in this picture!

The magic show was a surprising hit with Emily!  I didn't think she would be very game at all to go with the magician and participate in his act as I was pretty sure the birthday girl would be called to do.  I was such a shy child and couldn't stand being the center of attention in those kinds of situations where people might laugh at me.  I distinctly remember refusing to hit the piñata at a friend's party when I was around her age because I couldn't stand the thought of missing and having everyone there staring and laughing.  Emily has no such problem apparently.  She proudly identified herself as the birthday girl and then happily accompanied him up to the front to do some magic with him.  She got pretty into it.  He asked for her total concentration and "magician face" (which was a pretty terrible grimmace)...scroll down to the pictures, you'll laugh!

Friends and cousins in the bar. :)

Although the party food was less than healthy and the party itself was not so personalized as her fiesta in La Roda, I was really happy about one thing in particular: no presents!  There is a parent Whatsapp group at school and a mom propsed a very novel idea to save money and keep gifts in line with parents' values, etc.: rather than bringing a gift to the party, the parents will buy something in the name of all the school friends present.  It sounds strange, but it's actually a great idea.  All of the parents who have agreed to this idea are on a list and when your child is invited a listed child's bday, all you have to do is show up.  There is no worrying about what to buy or what the child is interested in or what the parents may or may not approve of; you just go and have fun!  From the parents' side of things, you save money NOT buying presents for other kids and can therefore afford to spend a bit more on your own child and buy them an extra something "from their friends" that is in accordance with your own values, etc.  Emily's friends gave her the magic show as a gift.  Several kids also brought beautiful handmade cards and pictures for her. So although in some ways it was your stereotypical junk-food party, it was really wonderful that everyone who came was just there to have fun, celebrate and be with Emily.  In my opinion it was really what a birthday should be about.  There was none of the gift comparing, greedy ripping through wrapping paper, or faking (or not) that you like someone's present.  It was just so much more natural.  All the kids had a blast and Emily most of all. :)

Following strict directions to carefull hold the glass while concentrating on her "magician's face".

Along the lines of birthday greed/consumerism, there was a birthday party of 30 kids there that same day.  The birthday kid walked out of there with several garbage bags full of gifts...  When you get so much, you value very little, in my opinion (and experience).  A thoughtfully drawn picture means so much more, and when it's not compared to some fancy Barbie doll all the better.

Emily didn't miss the presents one bit.

To respect different parents' wishes about kids' pictures online, this is the only one I'll post...but they were a cute bunch. ;)