Thursday, October 15, 2009

It's my Birthday, and I can throw myself a party if I want to...

Ok, so it is my birthday today, and what am I doing? My last children's program of the fall session, actually! Since they fell on the same day I decided to make an occasion of it and throw myself a party -- me and fifteen 3 yr olds! ;) It was hilarious fun; all the moms and grandmas also got into it and we had a wonderful morning. Here's the treats I made (vegan chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) but I adapted them to child-size servings.



And if anyone is interested, here are the books I ended up reading in between all the singing and dancing.

1. Happy Birthday, moon / Frank Asch.

I find this series of books by Asch, featuring Bear and often his friend Bird, always work with this age group. And they are highly adaptable to many themes. Plus I really like them!




2. The Surprise / George Shannon; illus. by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey.


This one tells us about Squirrel who wraps himself up in a series of nesting boxes as a birthday present for his mother. It is really cute and all the boxes are different shapes and colours which is useful for interactive questions with the kids.





3. The Surprise Party / Pat Hutchins


Another old book, but one I enjoy reading. Rabbit is going to have a surprise party, but as the message gets passed along it gets increasingly garbled. It is a fun take on the game of Telephone, but all the animals get the invitation by the end and they have their party.




4. The Party / Barbara Reid
This one is a rhyming story about a big family party for Grandma's 90th birthday. It has the amazing illustrations of Barbara Reid; made with plasticine and really, really colourful.





5. Happy Birthday to you, Blue Kangaroo / Emma Chichester Clark

And the final story, from one of my absolute favourite series, about Lily and her Blue Kangaroo. Here Lily is having a birthday party that is ALL about pink (and funnily enough every single little girl present today was wearing pink). Poor Blue Kangaroo feels neglected and wanders off to wrap himself up in a sock and feel sad. Lily ends up by saying that she loves both pink AND blue. It's adorable.

23 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday! I hope the children left some cake for you!

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  2. Happy Birthday! I'd like a cupcake please, with some milk.

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  3. Happy Birthday to you. Those are some cute books, and I wouldn't mind a cup cake with my tea right now...LOL Enjoy your day

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  4. Happy birthday! Sounds like you had a great time celebrating. Those cupcakes look amazing! :)

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  5. Happy birthday! Your party sounds like a blast! And I loved Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World...now I'm trying to figure out if I could just substitute gluten-free flour and make them GF too!

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  6. Happy Birthday! I hope your marvelous birthday-day continues!

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  7. Happy Birthday! It's mine, too. But I didn't make cupcakes, I gave myself a nap and a break on housecleaning, ha ha. They look yummy.

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  8. Happy happy birthday. Sounds like you made a great day of it. I always throw myself a party for my birthday. I invite my friends and cook for them. No gifts allowed, though my friends manage to break that rule in creative ways, like bringing the music which happens to be a new CD by my favorite musician, or bringing flowers to decorate the table. I look forward to it every year.

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  9. Happy Birthday. Now I'm hungry for cupcakes. :)

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  10. Ah, sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate. Happy Bday!

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  11. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am sure the three year olds had a great time :)

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  12. Happy Birthday!

    The cupcakes look delicious! =)

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  13. First of all, thanks everyone for your wishes! It's been a lovely day and much more cheery thanks to all of you :)

    farmlanebooks - actually I ate a couple of the cupcakes before I took them in...had to test them,of course!

    StephanieD- thanks - love to have you join us for cupcakes but it'd have to be soymilk ;)

    Diane - I took in some organic coffee & munchies for the other staff (we bring in treats on our own birthdays) but I much prefer tea for myself, as well -- especially with cupcakes!

    Rosemary - it was tons of fun - they are so cute at that age

    Eva - I think that "Vegan Cupcakes" has one or two GF recipes in it, but I haven't tried those yet.

    softdrink - thanks, yes, the day has been great all day long. Very nice treat.

    Jeane - well, Happy Birthday to you too!! How fun to find that out:) A nap sounds like a good gift to yourself - I could have used one around 3 this afternoon ;)

    Petunia - what a wonderful birthday tradition! At work we bring treats in for everyone else, but I like the idea of having an actual dinner for all my friends. Sounds really fun. And I love how sneaky your friends are!

    maryb - every day is a good day for cupcakes ;)

    Iliana - it was a wonderful way to celebrate; more fun than I've had in years!

    Molly - well, they seemed to enjoy it... though I think they were most excited about the cake... ;)

    Megan - thanks - those cupcakes were awfully good & didn't last long - who can resist tiny chocolate cakes!

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  14. Enjoy your day other Melanie!

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  15. Happy belated birthday, Melanie! And mmmm, cupcakes :D

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  16. Happy belated birthday Mel! The cupcakes look yummy!

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  17. I hope you had a wonderful birthday. I'm sure the kids really appreciated the party and cupcakes!

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  18. I'm late!! I'm late!

    I hope it was a wonderful day. From the sounds of it, it was downright awesome! Those cupcakes look delicious.

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  19. Thanks everyone for all your good wishes! It was a wonderful day and you all make it better :)

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  20. Happy birthday! (a little belated...)

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  21. Sorry I'm late, but happy birthday! Hope you had a wonderful day.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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  22. Happy belated birthday. The Party is a favourite at our house.

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  23. Dorothy - thanks for sending belated wishes!

    Anna - nice of you to extend my birthday a little as well! :)

    John - thanks! Isn't The Party great to just stare at? Each page can take ages to look through.

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Thanks for stopping by ~ I always enjoy hearing your comments so please feel free to leave some!