A Fantastic (Mr. Fox) Birthday Party

Wow, Captain Fantastic turned the big OH FOUR two months ago, but I just realized I never posted pictures!  Considering the amount of work that was put into the party, its definitely worth showing the end result.  (forgive the poor quality of some of the photos - I skipped editing in an effort to get them posted before birthday number five.)  Plus I've had a few people ask about some of the details that went into creating it, so I've included some links and such.

I'll start by explaining the theme.... Shortly before Christmas, I picked up the movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox" on sale at Target as a last minute stocking stuffer for my little guy.  I hadn't seen it and I wasn't even 100% certain it would be a good movie for a 3 1/2 year old, but what can I say, it was in impulse buy.  Turns out, a good one (or a bad one, depending on how many times you can stand to watch the same movie over and over) because Z LOVED it.  Talking animals, a clever fox with questionable moral character, exciting chicken-stealing escapades, and bad guys you love to hate... it was a hit.  As his birthday approached, I was trying to sell him on a birthday theme I had been dreaming up, but he immediately decided on a Mr. Fox party.  Of course - because you know, all the stores are just overflowing with Mr. Fox birthday party supplies..... 

So we improvised.  I made some garland out of the printed characters from the movie posters, hung up some movie posters, and made some centerpieces...

Then, I chartered BFM (boyfriend Matt) to make a mural cut-out... I knew he was a great artist, but this seriously blew me away and it was a huge hit with Z! 

The final touch was the cupcakes.  Thanks to guidance from blogland, I was able to attempt to create a Mr. Fox cupcake.  Easy There Cupcake certainly has a talent that I can only hope to pull off to people who don't know any better, but I did manage to get a few cupcakes to look enough like Mr. Fox that my little guy was happy, and that's what matters (right?).  This year I did ice cream too, and I managed to remember to bring it out this time. :)  I made ice cream balls with sprinkles ahead of time so it was much easier to serve.

This year, we had the party at the preschool/day camp place where Z takes music classes and I hired the Big Blue Tumble Bus again - it was a huge hit at his 2nd birthday party and it was a huge hit this year, too.  Plus, with over 25 kids there it worked well to have two play areas.  The kids just ran around and jumped and climbed and dug and built all day and hopefully, they went home ready to eat and go to bed.

I did so much work with the party this year (all great stuff I love to do), so I had the party between meals and just provided snacks... all of Z's favorites (pizza may have been easier but its not a food that Captain Fantastic enjoys). 

I didn't have time to make up a camel colored corduroy suit for Z to wear (imagine that), but ever since watching the movie he was obsessed with wearing ties, so I put him in casual Mr. Fox-wear and I got in touch with the etsy-shop owner who made his Max wolf tail for Halloween a few years back who was able to make a fox tail and some ears for him. So cute!!! I love Etsy!!!

Finally, the goodie bags.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull off anything Mr. Fox themed, but I was lucky enough to find a Mr. Fox mask template online and created little craft kits to go into the bags, and some rubber chicken keychains to get me started.  I added a few other toys, printed some stickers and tags, and there you have it - a kind-of-themey goodie bag.  Oh, I also had been wanting to try my hand at cookie-pops, so I made some spiral ones and threw them in.  That was fun!

As I watched the glorious chaos of the party in action, I really felt how incredibly blessed Z and I are to have so many amazing friends and family who wanted to celebrate this date with us. It was so wonderful, and Z had the time of his life with all of his favorite people.  Everyone had fun, everyone was so well-behaved (props to my friends for their awesome kids, by the way) and even I had enough fun that I was distracted from the emotional tidal wave that usually hits on milestone dates like this, as you watch your baby and realize he's losing the baby-ness to little boy-ness more and more every day.

However, the next day we celebrated at home and it really did hit me.  He's FOUR.  And a flood of memories came back to that flashed through my mind so quickly, I felt like I was reliving the past four years in a single evening.  We sat picnic-style at the coffee table eating his current favorite meal (spinach chive pasta with white sauce, artichokes, and spinach salad - yum!  It was either that or a tuna sandwich???) and he looked so BIG, spiraling up his pasta and eating a salad... I feel like it wasn't that long ago that he'd take a bowl of spaghetti and smash it into his bald head and when his leafy greens came in the form of a puree. 

He was able to open his gifts and blow out more candles and eat more cake.  By the way, the tie on this particular evening was his wardrobe choice - he insisted on wearing one for weeks after this. :)  He was overwhelmed (in a very happy way) with all of the gifts, and in fact some of them are still put away waiting for a good time to come out and be enjoyed.  Last year we did donations instead of gifts and while I'm glad he was able to experience the fun of receiving gifts this year, I'm also glad that when he talks about his party and his birthday, the conversation is always around his friends, loved ones, and the fun he had rather than the gifts he received.  I know I've mentioned this before, but its nice to know where his focus is and enjoy that while it still lasts.

 

 

Happy Birthday, my beautiful boy!