Sorting Sprinkles is Now 1 Year Old! / Angry Birds Birthday Party

Last year on this very day, I was publishing my very first post on Sorting Sprinkles. I told myself it would really just be an online notebook of what the kids and I did for school; a way for me to keep everything together with pictures and links of the printables used. And then, somehow, the word got out and I started getting visitors...lots of visitors. I must admit it's been quite humbling to see my ideas being appreciated by so many of you and coming from all four corners of this world, and so today, I'd like to dedicate this post to my First Blog Anniversary starting with my most sincere Thank You to all of you:

Zahavah, Adrian and I strolling in a German garden this Spring

Thank you to all my loyal readers, my subscribers, and Facebook fans but also to the ones who stop by every so often to see what we've been up to. Thank you to all of you who've taken the time to comment on a post, to pin an idea or to share one on a social media. Like I said, I never thought Sorting Sprinkles would be so well received considering there are so many educational blogs out there but I am grateful it found such a special spot in so many people's heart. A special thank you to the following websites/blogs for referring so many of their readers to my own little world in the past year:

1. Living Montessori Now

2. No Time for Flashcards

3. Growing a Jeweled Rose

4. Reading Confetti

5. True Aim Education

and a final thank you to my family of course; without whom, this blog would not exist.

May you all have a wonderful and peaceful new school year! :)

Valerie

Sorting Sprinkles's editor

Sorting Sprinkles - Since July 29, 2012

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And now, on to a special celebration that took place this month to honor the beginning of Adrian's 5th year on Planet Earth! May I add that he requested a Solar System themed birthday for months before abruptly changing his mind in favor of an Angry Birds themed one? I did my best to accommodate his change of heart and judging by the excitement on his face on the day we picked to celebrate him, I pulled it off well enough. Phew. :)

The invitation

Homemade of course. It cuts down the costs; can be e-mailed or given in person. Best of all, I found this template at Angry Birds 365 and it was FREE! How delightful is that? Later, I downloaded another freebie that included the Angry Birds computer fonts so I customized the invitation for my son's own birthday party.

The Table Setting

When researching options for my son's Angry Birds party, I saw lots of adorable table settings but Birthday Express's layout was simply stunning: simple, doable, yet impressive. I didn't have all their supplies of course and being short on time, I had to use what I had but overall, Adrian and his friends loved the table setting. The brown paper was purchased for one euro at our local Tedi Euro shop and so was the birdhouse you see in the middle. The wooden blocks were something we already had (a gift Adrian received from his grandpa two years ago) and the Angry Birds pompoms were already made (made them myself for our Angry Birds week). I did end up purchasing an 8 person party package including the plates, cups and napkins but that's all (ooo...I did purchase balloons and presents too!). The "napkin rings" were paper towel roll cut in half and painted red with a TNT label and the golden eggs were plastic Easter eggs I painted with a gold acrylic paint I already had on hand. Low budget yet very cute I thought.

Some of the Food; with Brilliant Names

The birthday party was a luncheon in itself and the main fare was hot-dogs and hamburgers (I know, how healthy!). I usually shy away from such a menu and had never gone forward with that before but ended up loving it for several reasons this year: it's quick, it's cost-efficient, BBQ grilling will not heat up your house (European houses such as ours tend not to have air conditioning and in July...it is hot enough after baking an entire cake), it keeps the preparation and clean up to a minimum, it keeps the little ones happy and  let's face it, for once, I got to enjoy the party too instead of being in the kitchen the whole time. :) On the side, we also had some fun dishes: "twigs" (pretzel sticks), "piggy parts" (various vegetables), "bird nests" (Tostitos scoops), and "smashed piggies" (green grapes and strawberries). The names and name cards are to be credited to Birthday Express.

More Food; More Brilliant Names!

La piece de resistance: The Birthday Cake

Homemade as well. Nothing against the local bakeries of course but I've been baking the children's birthday cakes since their first birthday so it's become somewhat of a tradition and I wasn't about to stop this year. Adrian commissioned this cake early (read: as soon as he decided he wanted an Angry Birds birthday party) so I looked at the possibilities for a homemade cake. I decided that since my mom was going to be in town that I probably wouldn't want to spend hours decorating the cake so I went ahead and purchased the Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game so I could use some pieces of the game as cake decorations. The rest is icing, pretzels sticks and almonds for the bird nests and eggs, some Whoopers for boulders and that's it. FYI, the cake was a Devil's Food (Chocolate) Cake topped with a Buttercream Frosting.

Favor Bags for our Little Guests

I once read that the rule of thumb for inviting children to a birthday party was to invite as many kids as the age your child is turning so technically, this year, our quota was five kids. We ended up inviting six but only three came (plus Zadrian's sister...and his grandma who travelled all the way from Canada!). Originally, everyone was coming but we had some last minute cancellation due to sickness (Adrian had a cold and Zahavah spiked a 39C/103F that morning and so were some of his friends sadly). For those who were able to make it, we had  favor bags all ready to hand out before the departure to thank them for coming to share in Adrian's big day. To make the bags, I bought colorful paper bags at the store and printed out Angry Birds faces and glued them to the bags. Inside, the children found small presents such as giant sidewalk chalk sticks and "Angry Birds poop" aka Smarties (pictured below).

One of the favors found inside the bags

I had seen this idea on Danee's Stampin' Delights and decided to replicate it myself. Bought a large tube of Smarties (similar to M&M for my American friends) and filled small bags with them. Sealed the bags with a homemade tag. I simply found a Red Bird clipart, printed it on white cardstock, glued it on red cardstock and drew some "Smarties" with markers. I once again used the Angry Birds font.


Games were not played at this year's party unfortunately. I really wanted to get that Green Pig pinata and do a egg relay race and other cute birthday games but with the kids being sick, no one really wanted to move/play... If you happen to be looking for some educational games though, read my past post on Angry Birds Weeks and you might just find what you were looking for...

Angry Birds for Preschoolers Part 1

Angry Birds for Preschoolers Part 2

Angry Birds for Preschoolers Part 3

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