Party

We invited Ranger's friends over for a Rock Star party this weekend. Everything went splendidly. E and I have a pretty cruddy hosting parties history (family gatherings excluded) so I think we were both 1 amazed that people actually came (one party we threw, a super bowl party, two people showed up and stayed thirty minutes, and then no one else came- we ended up watching a movie and eating the party snacks ourselves) and 2 surprised that we had a good time. Maybe it's because this party was about the two year olds, maybe it's because we've both mellowed a bit since our failed attempts.

The boys (coincidental that all of Ranger's friends are boys- his first year all his friends were girls) are all around two years old, and all of them have great personalities. Not that there weren't some tears- these are toddlers we're talking about- but there were no melt downs.

I mostly left out toys for them to play with; musical instruments, a tunnel and ball tent, crayons at a the kid table (train table covered with that brown craft paper). Once everyone was there and somewhat settled, we made t-shirts together. That lasted perhaps ten minutes, then the boys went back to playing. We set up the train table- that was hugely popular. The cat came out and was gracious enough to let some of the boy pet him, and the parents had a nice time chatting and snacking. I used a hair dryer to dry the paint on the shirts, peeled away the freezer paper,and ironed the result to set the paint. I wish I had had the thought to put the shirts on the boys and take a photo, or take more pictures in general. Oh well. Next year I will remember to take photos!

We gave each boy a "position" in a made up band, hung signs with concert themed concepts (consessions, swag), and even made a flier for their "performance" (I might have had a blast thinking of ways to spread the theme about the house).