Happy Birthday to our beautiful boy Alaric! Although, he probably wouldn’t like to be called beautiful as he told me recently: “I don’t like beautiful things, I like cool things!”. Coolest kid around, the best baby, excuse me, big boy I could ask for. I love his curious nature, mischievous spirit and sweetest hugs!
In this past year he really has grown a lot. Yes, he’s probably an inch or two taller but mostly he has matured so much! He now has an opinion about everything coupled with the bulletproof logic of a four year old (“You still have money, papa, it means you can buy me a new car!”). Since his last birthday he became a big brother and we watched him grow from the only child “I-own-this-place” mentality to the sweet older sibling who likes to give hugs and kisses to his little sister.
It just so happens that we have big parties with family and friends every odd year: one year old, three and definitely will at five. This year, we decided to have a small family celebration and a fun lunch at school. I love to plan his birthdays and come up with themes, colors and party favors. This year he made it easy for me saying he wants a carrot cake and a race car theme birthday. Ok boo, your wish is my command.
Race Car Theme Birthday Party Cake & Supplies
First, I ordered a cake. Since it was just going to be the three of us I got it from my local Whole Foods. Originally, I wanted it to be a surprise but we were so excited that we started to spill the beans days in advance, luckily it only got the birthday boy excited.
On the day of celebration I presented him his special birthday shirt. It is kind of a tradition already, every year I get him a shirt with colors, characters or a number for a corresponding birthday theme. You can see the first, second and a third here. Nothing huge but a little special touch. This year I almost forgot to do it! I couldn’t find “fourth birthday” shirt in time since they are made to order even if you order on Amazon so I went with the Hot Wheels shirt. Alaric loves Hot Wheels so it was a win-win. He got excited and wanted to wear it right away.
After that we all went on a scavenger hunt of sorts. First, we went to get the balloons. Alaric was in awe of the colorful explosion of Party City. Nonetheless, he quickly picked a balloon he liked (blue “four” and a “Happy Birthday” star). Then, we went to pick up the cake. I asked the bakery to add a simple road decoration since I already had prepared car shaped candles. When we got home, Alaric was all over the cake and couldn’t wait to open the gifts.
Gifts
Alaric has been really into taking photos lately and he insists we print them out on our photo printer for his baby book which I have been working on updating. Now there’s a whole collection of the photos of his favorite cars. We thought it would be fun to get him his own little camera and decided to get an Instax Mini. I think the fact that the photo pops up straight of the camera is really fun and hopefully it will make him more mindful when he wants to take a picture since there’s a limited number of shots.
Birthday boy also got his first two wheeler from the grandparents. He couldn’t wait to put it together and take it for a ride. So we did. Coincidentally, that same day and time there was a CicLAvia event when streets are closed to car traffic and open for people to walk, skate, bike, play, and explore. Alaric got to take his new ride for a spin right in the middle of the boulevards. Other cyclists were actually cheering him on. I’d say his 4th birthday was a success!
Race Car Theme Birthday Party Favors
In the evening, after he went to bed I started preparing the favors for the party at school. This is actually one of my favorite parts of any party planning. I love to select a few fun things to go along with the theme of the birthday party to put together little grab bags. I feel like it makes it a celebration for everyone.
For this year’s race car-themed party, I picked checkered boxes and in each box there was a little race car toy, car sticker, race car duckies, checkered lollipop, an apple sauce and cookies. For celebration itself, I also got school-friendly vegan muffins.
The next day, I left work early to celebrate with Alaric at school. It went great, though a bit chaotic which is to be expected from a large group of toddlers, but everyone enjoyed the party. Alaric got a bit shy when kids were singing happy birthday. It was sweet. He asked me to bring his new camera and he actually snapped a couple of great portraits of his friends himself. I’m proud of my little photographer.
All in all, we all had fun and I am so happy he is growing up into such a sweet, funny and smart kid.
