Carter's 5th Birthday Party

It's two months late, but it's about time I posted about Carter's 5th birthday party!!!  Carter and I had a little trouble deciding on where to have his party this year.  He really wanted a dinosaur party at the house like Rylan had this summer.  But November weather meant that we'd probably have to be inside which just isn't that much fun.  And the main thing Carter wanted was a dinosaur pinata.  If the party wasn't at the house, Carter wanted it to be at Glow Galaxy again (that's where he had his 4th birthday party).  I eventually figured out he wanted it there because he loved the mini golf course in there.  So I eventually suggested we have a playdate with our friends at a park with a pinata, have the party at gymnastics, and then we'd go to a mini golf course as a family.  Carter was 100% on board with that idea.  I gave him a couple of weeks to change his mind but he didn't and I booked the party at Harpeth Gymnastics.

We kept the dinosaur theme for the party.  I found some cute clipart on Etsy for a few dollars and made the invitations.  I picked the colors (green, blue, and orange) based on some balloons I had gotten at Target on clearance awhile back that had dinosaurs on them (and didn't even use for the party).

For party favors I used some things I had left over from Rylan's party and added a few more things - a dinosaur mask, dinosaur stamp, dinosaur tattoo, 2 small dinos, and 2 small playdohs.

I put the favors in white paper bags and attached the masks to the front of them.

I have always done cupcakes for the kids for their birthday parties.  I suggested some cool dinosaur cupcakes to Carter for his party but he was adamant that he wanted a cake this year with a dinosaur scene on it.  And he wanted me to make it.  So I did.  And I am still really impressed with how it turned out considering I've never done anything like it before!

I used two sheet cakes I made in a 13"x9" pan and frosted them together.

I also made a few round cakes in some Pyrex dishes I had for the volcano and stacked them.

Lots of frosting (and some food coloring) and then a tub of dinosaurs and trees I got from Toys 'R Us and there you have it!

When I was just starting to decorate the cake and put on the initial frosting, I asked Carter what he thought.  He told me he liked it in a very unconvincing voice.  I then asked him what he really thought and told him it was okay to tell me what he really thought.  He said he didn't like it so far but didn't want to hurt my feelings.  He added that it was okay though as long as I tried my best.  He's too sweet!  Luckily after the cake got further along, Carter started getting excited and ended up loving it.  Yay!

Carter had his 3rd birthday party at Harpeth Gymnastics and we've taken classes there off and on.  At the time we weren't currently taking a class there so Carter was excited to have his party there.  Unfortunately the room for cake is very small.  And we had a ton of kids coming to the party.  We invited Carter's preschool class as well as a lot of our playdate friends.  Apparently 4:30 pm on a Saturday is a time when people don't have a lot of other commitments!  We ended up with 23 kids (plus our 2) at the party!  It was a little insane.  Only 2 kids couldn't come that we invited - that NEVER happens.  But we still managed to squeeze in places for all the kids at the table.

I stuck with the green, blue, and orange theme for the tablecloth, napkins, and plates and then added some dinosaurs we had at home for table decorations.

And I made Carter a banner (I do one every year).  You can't really see it in this picture but each block has a dinosaur from the clipart I bought mounted on coordinating cardstock with a letter on it.

Now for a bunch of pictures from the party!

While waiting for everyone to arrive, the kids played in the pit - everyone's favorite part.  Carter had to wear the crown he got from school at the party.  My kids sweat so much though that halfway through the party it was a gross, soggy mess.

Once everyone arrived, the instructors talked to the kids for a minute and then split them into two groups.  One group did the tumble track and trampoline and the other did a course of gymnastics skills.

Look at all those kids!!!

Carter and Rylan's group started off with the tumble track.

Campbell:

On the way back to the tumble track line, the kids walked on a low balance beam.

Carter with Campbell and his big brother, Christian:

Rylan:

Sophie, Carter, & Campbell:

When the groups switched, the highlight of the other course was the rope swing.

Rylan still can't get his feet up like this (I blame his big belly!) ...

After wearing out the kids with gymnastics, the instructors got out the parachute.

I have vidoes of all this but unfortunately Blogger isn't let me post them right now.  After the parachute the kids played Freeze Dance and those videos are too funny!  Hopefully I'll get that worked out soon!

Before heading off for cake, the instructors gave Carter a medal and t-shirt and then had all the kids gather up for a group photo.

The good one:

And the silly one:

Singing "Happy Birthday" (I wish I could post the videos!!!) ...

Somehow all the kids fit!

It took a few breaths to get all the candles on this cake!

Happy Birthday, Carter!!!

Lots of kids means a crazy party, but it also means a lot of gifts!  Carter got so many amazing gifts from his awesome friends.  It took us a couple of sessions to open them all!