I love throwing parties for my chickens, but it’s a lot of work.

Thank goodness I had some helpers here, otherwise some things wouldn’t have happened! I’ve learned my lesson…you can NEVER do enough ahead of time. If you can do it a day or two before the party, DO IT!

My Dad {Popsi} cut and polka dotted 20 tails for the Pin The Tail On The Dalmatian game and perfectly taped the red tablecloth on our huge table so it wouldn’t slip. My Mom {Gramma} rolled and tied the utensils in the napkins and ran to the store for balloons. Jay was on vacuum and Windex patrol while I made a big pot o chili and corn bread muffins. My friend Ralph{s} supplied the boneless hot wings which was a huge help! My friends Karen, Melissa and Janet were my sous chefs and helped get the kid eats secured to feed the hungry little mouths after the big fire house tour.

Thanks to EVERYONE for their help…it wouldn’t have come together without you. Three cheers for group effort!

Hip Hip Hooray!

*****

I had a leftover foam wreath thingy from Christmas so I whipped this up for the front door…75% off tinsel and a hot glue gun do wonders!

For the boys’ goody bags, I found some {flame} beanies and gloves. For the girlies, I picked up some black beanies and made rosettes out of the same flame fabric as Holden’s “4” shirt and pinned them on. They also got either a Red Hots or Dr. Pepper lip gloss. I just packaged them up in some bakery bags and secured with a little tag:

Lunch was chili and cornbread for the adults and piggies in a blanket, Bagel Bites and Tater Tots for the kiddos. I also had some boneless hot wings, spicy peanuts and cheddar jalapeño Cheetos to snack on.

Easy.

We almost had a Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory party instead. Holden was major into the movie around the holidays and I toyed with changing the theme. SO glad I didn’t! But I had the whole {candy bar} idea in my noggin and still wanted to carry it out on a much smaller scale…

Needless to say, the kids LOVED filling up their little bags with sweet treats! I was joking with the parents and saying it’s much cheaper than a trip to the Sweet Factory!

Remember the Martha Oreo Tower? Well, don’t laugh, but something tells me that Martha’s Oreo budget called for more than two packages of double stuffed cookies! I was certain that I could do something attractive with that….uh, NOT so!

{You’ll see a full shot of the Oreo lameness in just a minute…}

As far as stuff for the kids to do, I just gathered all our fire trucks, related books and picked up a little fireman Lego set. The boys had a fabulous time huddled around the coffee table putting that together. I also crafted a {Pin The Tail on The Dalmatian} game. This was very informal and we didn’t blindfold or spin them around before they pinned…or taped! We used the honor system and they just closed their eyes. Everyone was a winner!

{yes, I misspelled “dalmatian”…hopefully Gramma was the only one who noticed! ;-)}

How cute is our neighbor, little Miss Nataliyah? She is the most social little 21 month old!

After all the kids were hopped up on hot dogs and candy, we took a torch to the {little pink fire engine that could} and sang to Holden! I swear this was one big cake wreck and this confection needed a rescuing of it’s own!

And try to hold your laughter at the sight of the Oreo mound!

Somehow the little striped {4} candle perked it up a bit! I tell ya, Martha sure knows what she’s doin’.

*****

Thank you again to all who responded to the call and came out in the crazy weather to help Holden celebrate!

And one more big THANK YOU to Station 156. I honestly cannot thank them enough!