i started to plan ahead for niko's 6th birthday celebration collecting ninja turtles party supplies and before i knew it, his love for tmnt's had vanished. so here i go now, starting from scratch searching on pinterest for minecraft party and i realized it all had to be made by hand. there aren't even minecraft balloons for sale! niko started carpooling later during his school year and i had no idea where he had learned about minecraft. he was using his buddy's ipad on the way to school and became addicted just like so many kids lately.
although nikos party went great and everyone had a good time, i feel like i slacked off towards the end. i was a total party mom right before his party and failed on picking up the food labels, making way more food like i had planned and finishing the games i had prepared. we were able to download the minecraft font and made our own invitations and food labels, sadly the birthday banner wasn't printed on time. our local food market got down with the cake, i couldn't believe how amazing it came out. and it came from a little mexican food market. papa printed some characters and glued them to cardboard to make cupcake toppers. i left the cupcakes in the oven the day of the party, luckily my cousin saved the day and brought over leftover cupcakes from her sons party the day before. niko's friends from kindergarten came and celebrated with us and he had so much fun, he was the happiest six year old i have ever seen. what i love most now, is getting to read the handmade birthday cards that came from his friends. their writing and spelling is priceless, i love it when they make a mistake, cross it out and start over right next to it. one little girl even drew niko and her holding hands, i'll have to keep it forever. we played the silliest music during the party, only minecraft parody songs like this
one and this
one. we even made copies to hand out as a thank you for coming to niko's party along with a handmade goody bag. i couldn't find the best way to make minecraft themed goody bags so i cut squares and pasted them on a green paper bag to make a creeper face. all the hard work parents put into birthday parties truly pays off, and maybe you can't see it the day of but looking back at the memories your child will have reassures me that the little details i go crazy about are okay. what made nikos birthday even more special was the people who drove such a long way to give him a hug and celebrate his big day. its not that easy driving four hours to a birthday party for me so i really appreciate it when other people go out of their way for us.
