Today my little girl Elaine turned 3 years old and yesterday we organized a party for her at home. 17 of her little friends came to visit, most with their parents and/or nannies, so it was pretty busy in our house.
Luckily the rain stopped on time, so the kids could play in the garden as well. The trampoline we bought for the kids was a huge success, some of them did not want to get off it anymore after they started bouncing up and down.
Because it was not so warm we decided to leave the kids pool empty. That was probably a good idea, the kids still loved to play in it. At a certain point I realized Scott had found the water hose and had even managed to turn it on, but I stopped him in time before he could start filling up the kids pool (full of kids at that time of course).
Inside the kids could play in the living room or in Scott and Elaine’s play room, and within minutes the house was a huge mess. But that didn’t matter, the kids had fun and that’s what counts.
Grace had arranged a clown who doubled as magician and who performed a magic show for the kids. He managed to keep their attention for the full 15 minutes of his show (not an easy feat with 3-year olds), so I guess he did a good job. He also made all kinds of things (animals, swords etc.) out of balloons for Elaine and her friends, so they all loved him.
We also hired an artist that made birds and other small animals out of brightly colored clay, he was really talented and I enjoyed watching him.
We had ordered a catering service for food, and they prepared among others french fries, shrimp pop corn, chicken nuggets, nachos and garlic bread. Of course the kids liked it, but the parents seemed to eat even more of it (including myself of course).
And then there were the birthday cakes of course – 2 cakes, because with so many people 1 cake is not enough. Elaine had chosen them herself, so of course both of them were pink. I had too many snack already so I did not eat a lot of cake anymore.
After the cake it was time for the Hello Kitty piñata, filled with tons of candy. It took the kids quite a while to break if, but with a bit of help of the clown eventually the piñata opened and all the candy fell onto the floor. Scott managed to get a lot of candy: being one year older than most of the others he put all the candy he collected immediately into his pockets instead of just trying to keep it in his hands.
After about 2 hours most of the kids were quite tired and the party was over. We took pictures of Elaine with all her guests and then it was time for a huge clean up at home. Elaine and Scott had a great time, and I also enjoyed talking to many of the kids fathers. Interesting is that one of them asked me what my background was, and when I told him he suddenly realized he had chosen the school (Soong Ching Ling) after among others reading about it on my blog (but he had no idea I was the one writing this blog). Always nice to meet people that read my blog, especially if I meet them for the first time.
More pictures of Elaine’s 3rd birthday party here in a set on Flickr.