3rd Birthday Party

We invited some twin club friends and friends from school to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum for a birthday party on Saturday.



I brought two of the pictures, the stars, and the "three" from the kitchen wall for decorations.  With the push-up pops (see the end of this post for details on those) and a few balloons, that was plenty to add a personal touch to the party room.





As always, the kids had a great time with the trains, rockets, water tables, blocks, balls, fire truck, giant bubble maker, floor piano, ambulance, and so on at the museum.





Fitting with the theme of the party, Michael, Mike, and some party friends launched rockets!

At busy events like this I always wish I just relied on my phone's camera and left my big ol' one at home since chasing after kids and trying to soak in the experience myself makes it even tougher to get good photos anyway.  But even out-of-focus moments are pretty special.





"Hey, fire fighter!  How old are you?"



For a little while I was on my own with Soph as she collected balls in her bucket from the giant machine.  While taking these pictures, I was really struck by what a little girl she is now, by how much my babies have grown in three years.



Back in the party room, the kids made slime, ate snacks, and we sang "Happy birthday."  We ran out of time toward the end for presents, but that time was probably better spent playing.  Three and four year old's prefer that anyway, right?




Below are some of my party planning details:

Rocket Party Inspiration

I scanned this fabric for the invitations, push-up wrappers, and some signs.

Rocket Push-Up Cakes Inspiration 

Our Rocket Pops!

I made the push-up wrappers in PowerPoint using the scanned fabric.  I printed them, cut them with a paper cutter, and glued them with glue dots.

The cones I cut out of scrapbook paper (love that stuff although I don't actually scrapbook) by cutting out circles, cutting them in half, rolling them into cones and taping.  I used a dot of that sticky putty stuff for hanging things on walls to hold the cones on the pops since it's easier to pull off than glue dots.  All of that was manageable while catching up on shows after the kids' bedtime.



Brownies, Strawberries, and Cream Recipe

Our Rocket Pops (naked)

I probably should have followed this full recipe rather than finding semi-homemade short-cuts.  I bought brownie bites from Costco hoping to avoid actually baking and cutting, but they were a tad too big for the containers.  I set aside time the night before the party to trim those down, which wasn't too bad.  I also just used a can of whipped cream, but the cream cheese mixture in the recipe probably would have held up better.  Even with waiting to assemble the pops until just a couple of hours before the party, the whipped cream lost its whippiness and the brownies got pretty soggy.  The kids thought they were good, though, so whatevs!

DIY Push-Up Pop Stand

Mike knocked the stands out over a few nights after work.  He had a 4 x 4 cut into four chunks at Home Depot, carefully measured out 12 spots on each, drilled, sanded, and painted them.

We intend to reuse the stands and push-up containers in the future.  They're pretty darn cute.


We're having family over today for the kids' actual birthday.  Stay tuned for pictures of the kids riding their 3rd birthday presents.  ;)