Monday, October 09, 2006

So, my precious baby will officially turn one year old next tuesday, but Hubby, Dear Boy (my stepson, age 11) and I will be throwing precious baby her first birthday party this weekend. Hubby and I thus made the "Birthday gift pilgrimage" this weekend at the bulls eye store.

Picking out the plates and napkins and decorations was fairly simple... I didn't want anything too girly (per Hubby, who scorns pink) or anything themed... I figured there will plenty of time for her to ask for all the princess stuff when she she's old enough to be aware of it. I quickly picked out some cute plates and naps with a brightly colored birthdaycake slice on them. They coordinated well with the evites I'd sent out the week before. Decorations were a cinch... multi colored balloons and streamers that I already had at home.

I was totally stumped, however, by the issue of party favors. Until recently, it had never crossed my mind, but precious baby and I had recently attended the first birthday party for the daughter of a good friend. At that party, precious baby had received, as a "parting gift" a cute little chinese takeout style box that contained several little animal figures, some plastic, some stuffed, that were of course, all appropriate for the birthday girl's party theme, which was zoo animals.

Clearly, favors are not only important, but are required, must be age/gender appropriate, original, and cutely presented.

The bulls eye store had no shortatge of choices, however, as I stood there in the aisle, I found myself becoming more and more concerned that everything on offer was a choking hazard. What in the world could I get for favors that would be appropriate for one year olds, and yet still be fun for slightly older children as well? Bead necklaces? Maybe for the girls, but what if someone broke the string and choked on the beads? Little cars? So small they would easily fit in someone's mouth. Stickers? At the last party, precious baby tried to eat an entire sheet of them and got pretty upset when I swept them all out of her mouth, so that was out of the question. And on and on it went. There seemed to be nothing appropriate.

Dejected, I left the favor aisle. Hubby was urging me to get to the toys, his favorite part.

As I perused the toy department with Hubby, my dejection faded. I'd figure something out about the favors. Far more importantly, what would precious baby receive from Mommy and Daddy on her first birthday? Hubby and I looked and discussed for quite sometime. Finally, we agreed that some kind of ride on toy would be fun... precious baby isn't quite ready for a trikey yet but we agreed that some thing she can scoot around on would be fun.

But what kind? the princess mobile, all in pink with sparkly jewels embedded on every surface? The edu mobile, with discourse in both spanish and english? The blue puppy rider, which has 10 silly songs available at the push of a paw shaped button? Hubby and I were dizzy with choices. Finally, I saw it... perched on the top shelf, and it was the last one left. "Quick Hubby, reach up and grab it before someone else does!" I said. He retrieved the box... The kindly honey addicted bear mobile... that blows bubbles as precious baby scoots around on it! Thrilled, we placed in in the cart, made few other selections and left the bulls eye store.

Now, if I just get precious baby to be more interested in the scooter itself, rather than the box it came in.

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