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Most people think of Valentine’s when they think of February 14th. Here at “The Cesarz Palace”, it also happens to be Shannon’s half birthday! Let’s pull out the cake and balloons and really have a party! Granted, it doesn’t take much for us to decide to throw a party, but celebrating a “making it halfway around the sun” isn’t really our thing. In this case, we have a pretty good reasoning. Shannon’s birthday is August 14th.
Throwing a party with friends in August can get kind of tricky. First, it can be hard to track down all the school friends. You can’t just send the invitations to class and have them slyly tucked in backpacks. Second, even if you can track down everyone your child wants to invite, August is often when everyone is taking the last whirlwind vacation or trip to grandma’s house. It’s a lot easier to have a party in… say… February.
My idea was not to replicate the entire birthday experience. Rather, this was going to be the “friend party.” It was an opportunity to have friends over en masse with decorations, an activity or two, and a serious overdose of sugar. When Shannon was in second grade, we threw her first Valentine’s Cookie Party. We found out that our televisionless lifestyle (that’s a story for another day) was tragic, as she could not watch Hannah Montana. Other than that, the party was a big hit. The girls actually painted flower pots and decorated heart and flower cookies that were on sticks. When they were done, they had a little “cookie garden.” Despite the party success, Shan was not interested in continuing with this as a tradition, especially if it was supposed to supplant her actual birthday party. So, we tucked that party idea away as really a one and done concept.
Flash forward 7 years, Caroline also has an August Birthday, it’s not February 14th is my half birthday perfect, but it’s close enough. When Caroline hit kindergarten we had already been rather low key celebrating her birthday at the beach with her cousin and grandparents, and that really worked for her. The Valentine’s Cookie party really was a perfect fit. We did make some quick modifications though… mainly we ditched decorating the pots and baking the cookies on sticks. This reduced the fail rate of baking cookies and eliminated the need to worry about getting paint on clothes.
Unlike Shannon’s one and done adventure in Valentine’s cookie parties, Caroline’s has stuck even into middle school. Honestly, I was surprised when she hit middle school that; one she would still want to have the party, and two, that her friends would still be excited to come. Frankly, not much has changed in 9 years (Covid aside). The girls and sometimes boys need less help in terms of getting their cookies and frosting, but they still lick their fingers (Pro Tip: you really don’t want to eat the cookies they bring home), eat as much as they decorate, and use more frosting than should ever be on a cookie.
I have to say we have this party down to a science. Which is really good because we are typically just a week or two from our large, rather elaborate annual “grown-up” party. It has a relatively easy set-up, doesn’t run too long, can be a girls only or a girls and boys party, and has a relatively easy clean up.
There are a couple of things that we have done in an attempt to make this feel like a special event. First, we always give the kiddos aprons. Originally I made them, but over time we started buying them. The first year we moved back to Mckinney, and I was back to working full time I totally forgot about them until the last minute, and found myself buying aprons from Williams Sonoma (thankfully, they were the child sized ones). Since then, I really try to plan in advance. Also, Amazon is a lifesaver! The aprons not only make the party cute, they also really help protect their clothes. There have been a few times where there’s more icing on the apron than on the cookies.
We individually bag each cookie and then put them in cute boxes to take home. Once, the kiddos have decorated all the cookies their heart’s desire (and this can range from one to ten depending on the kiddo); we turn them loose to eat cupcakes, decorate Valentine Cards, and generally run amuck around the house. When they were little, the markers, doilies and stickers were a lot more entertaining than they are now. Still, there are usually one or two that like to make a card or two, so I still get out the supplies and set them up at the kitchen table. While the kiddos are off doing their thing, we run through and bag and box the cookies. This is when it’s really a good idea to have a “helper” (e.g. a teenager with nothing better to do, or a husband who has spare time now that football season is over).
When the party’s over, cleaning up is pretty easy. I always cover the dining room table with butcher paper, and run a Valentines day wrapping paper runner down the center. Once the dishes are removed, all we have to do is pull the paper off and throw the mess of frosting and sprinkles in the trash.
This year we decided that with Covid it wasn’t a great idea to throw the traditional cookie party. Caroline still wanted to celebrate, so we created “Cookie Party” to go boxes, complete with aprons and cupcakes and she dropped them off at each of her friends’ houses. Also, Shannon turned 21.5. So there’s that.
