Sunday, January 30, 2011

Themed Birthdays for Adults and Kids

In our large, extended family we often throw multi-purpose parties that combine the ever-growing cousin population with something relevant to the adults. The favorite, by far, has been the Themed Birthday Party. It all started with the Kentucky Derby Party or maybe it was the Dora the Explorer Mexican Fiesta. Abby was turning four and since we live quite a distance from 'town' we like to make a child's party fun for the adults as well. Note that these parties go on for hours!


Mexican fare was the obvious choice for the Dora party so the plans were made. Since we are frugal Germans we always have a pot luck type affair for all but the single couple dinners that I host for adult birthdays. In this case everyone was asked
to bring a dish matching our theme...Mexican layer dip, guacamole, refried beans, enchiladas and Dos Equis beer. PiƱatas were hung as well as colorful banners and we were off to a great start. A sombrero or two and colorful striped dresses for the little girls completed the look. What a fun time!

Our latest excursion was into Germany -- just last
weekend! That is my homeland and our grandson, Lukas, was about to turn 1. We went with hot German potato salad, red cabbage, bratwurst, potato noodles (Badische Schupfnudeln) with caramelized onions, and a Reuben pizza (I know, my husband has a strange sense of propriety). Of course several German biers were in the mix as well.

Erika and I created a screen saver of German scenery and our background (displayed on our flat screen TV using a laptop in presentation mode) was of the German countryside. We also played a polka station using Pandora

Radio and the scene was set.

Being from Germany myself, I had two dirndl dresses (mine) and a pair of lederhosen (from my brother, Uwe) so Abby, Sarah and Simon were drafted to be costumed in the
traditional German style.


Now I'm not even sure that the Chicken Dance is German in origin (I certainly don't remember it) or not but it added a certain entertainment value for the little ones and that was great!

We partied for about 5 hours and then still had time to attend the Mass for Life at our local cathedral that night celebrated by Bishop Medley - and ALL of us attended! Fantastic!!!!

Another 'event' goes down into history and we are already planning the next one - Chinese anyone? ;-P

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