The Easiest Party I Ever Threw

I am a "small party" kinda girl at heart. For someone who has a relatively large extended family, they all know this about me. When holiday dinners end up with 10-20 people rather than 40-50 people, they know I'm a happy girl.

Since having our first child four years ago, Riley's birthday parties have not been a display of my affinity for small get-togethers. The more people that can celebrate this child (and my husband and me keeping her alive for another year), the better. The unfortunate thing is, she is even more of an introvert than I am. She HATES attention, and out of the 4 birthday parties she's had, she has only FULLY enjoyed one of them.

Well, this year was just one of those years that many of our family members (especially immediate ones) happened to be out-of-state of unable to make it down to our house for Riley's birthday. While we will have a little "just family" get together with them soon, I took advantage of this small guest list and created the relaxing, intimate birthday party I've always wanted for Riley.

I invited three of my girlfriends over with their kids that also happen to be Riley's closest friends. I didn't even invite their husbands (Dave said I was doing them a favor). I also invited my parents and Dave's parents. That's it!

I made the time just 2 hours- from 1-3 so that no one was expecting a meal, and Riley could still go down for a nap if she needed it after everyone left.

A dream I have had for quite sometime is to have a kids birthday party where the kids play, and rather than give them all party bags full of knick-knacks to go home with, give the parents something for THEM that they can enjoy during the party. Because let's be honest, kid birthdays are NOT that much fun for us. So what better gift than to have their favorite Starbucks beverage waiting for them when they walked through the front door?

It. Was. Awesome.

I forced myself to chill out with the food- I stuck to munchies- a really easy beer bread and spinach dip that I love to make, veggies, fruit, chips and dip, and some pigs in a blanket. I made a few of Riley's favorite desserts (including her favorite Starbucks cake-pops), and a small cake to put her candles on.

For drinks, all the guests had their Starbucks drink, but I also put out iced water with lemon. For the kids, I used some Frappacino bottles and filled them with regular and chocolate milk. This was probably my favorite detail of the party. And the kids LOVED it.

I didn't plan any party games- and guess what, these 3 and 4 year olds were totally cool with that. They played in our play room, went outside and blew bubbles, and everyone had a ball. Us moms and grandparents got to relax, watch them play, and sip on our delicious beverages.

We definitely missed our family members who weren't at this birthday, and are looking forward to getting together with them very soon. But if there was a ever a birthday party to take it easy, I figured being pregnant and poor, this year seemed like a good one! I only spent about $100 on this party. And Dave and I were strict about only getting Riley one thing- a much needed new carseat. We got her this one and I love it! Because the truth is, at age 4 (and 1, 2, and 3) she really DOESN'T care what we do for her birthday. Every day for this little love is special, and as long as she got her pink cake pop and time to play with her friends, she was a happy girl.

I don't know if I'll be able to get away with another small birthday party for her next year, but I will definitely try. This one was way to enjoyable for me, and my guests!

#Riley #BirthdayParty #StarbucksBirthday