The party was a smash! Literally, as I broke our (new) French press - smash on the party room floor - just as the first guest arrived. Besides from having one friend head to our house instead of the community centre, everyone came, made merry and departed in one piece. We caved at the last minute and did modest loot bags - filled with a swirl pencil (that writes in many colours), a glow in the dark bracelet, a bouncy ball, instructions for science experiments at home, the silly putty they had made as part of the Mad Science "performance", and two tiny candies.
Sebastian was thrilled with Mad Science and his role as special assistant and at having so many friends (from his new school and old school and neighbourhood) to play with. We, the parents, came home and announced that it was worth every penny, as we had many more insights into schoolyard dynamics and whom we might encourage Sebastian to play with in coming weeks. But it was very telling that family friends are the best!
Seb makes one of his birthday cakes.
Sophie helps out with the clean-up. She had a good party as well, heading out for a warm Saturday playdate with Gopika (whose two older siblings were guests).
I made a mistake though. On the invite, we stated "no presents but if you would like to give a small donation to Sebastian's microscope he would appreciate it. "Small" in my books means $5. But obviously these families don't know us yet (that was the point of the party afterall) and this request must have caused some angst (I mean, who wants to look cheap). We ended up with an embarrassing sum that will more than cover a microscope and some money set aside for a 1/2 birthday present, and then some. We are discussing what the "and then some should be". I think a microscope for the classroom would be an appropriate use of the extra money.
Any other ideas?
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