LIttle Chefs Party

Shortly before Christmas, my firstborn celebrated his seventh birthday. I'm still kinda shell-shocked by it because I can still remember celebrating his first birthday as if it was yesterday and I'm not really sure where all the time has gone. Who knows whether or not he'll even want mommy to throw him corny birthday parties anymore in a few years? Every new year for him brings unknown waters and new territories; being the first child, he'll always be our parenting test subject.

Yes, that's PvZ on his apron... he's never played but his friends have! (Sorry for the bad picture... don't know what happened to the original picture, just took another one with my phone when I noticed today, Jan16/15)

Luckily, this year, he was still super excited about celebrating his birthday and inviting friends over for a party. In the past, we've had lots of fun getting messy with friends making gingerbread men and gingerbread houses. This year my son has suddenly shown an interest in cooking, (Masterchef Kids to be specific), so it seemed like a chef's party was in order.

I made chef hats and aprons, mostly following this and this tutorial from LiEr at Ikatbag. I cut some corners when it came to finishing and details in order to suit my very tight sewing schedule, Lier probably wouldn't have approved of my hastily zig-zagged seams but hopefully the kids didn't notice :)

Hubby didn't get a picture of the chalkboard until after a few fingers had tested it.

The kids were excited to come in and be greeted with their hats, aprons, and party schedule. The schedule, by the way, was magic! I think the chalkboard instructions cued a classroom-like obedience and I found it pretty easy to herd the children from one activity to another without much nagging.

The kids made their own pizzas and then decorated their aprons with fabric markers while the pizzas baked.

Everyone ate well, which I find is usually the case when the kids help make their own food. Then they headed down to the basement for a movie and some snacks while I threw the aprons into the dryer to heat set the ink. 

After the movie, the kids all decorated cupcakes and then we sang "Happy Birthday" with their cupcake creations. (Yes, I had to bite my tongue as I watched them make some hideous cupcakes with icing towers that I knew would not be eaten).

Please excuse the fuzzy picture, it's a enlarged still from the video.

All in all, the kids seemed entertained and no one complained of boredom... Not to me, at least :) My second-born has already requested a similar party for his birthday. We'll have to wait and see since his friends would be much younger and less independent and I shudder to think of what damage a fabric marker could do in the wrong little hands. I guess that's what Oxiclean and magic erasers are for though...

Happy seventh birthday to my big boy, Ethan! Can't wait to see what the new year brings!