I have a vivid memory of my little brother Grayson’s birthday party at our childhood home. He was turning 4 or 5, which puts me at 9 or 10, and my parents had arranged a small petting zoo in the front yard where kids were holding bunnies and probably some other less cute and cuddly critters.
I don’t know whether it was a conscious or subconscious choice to follow suit in celebrating our children’s birthday parties at home (though I do know we haven’t brought in a petting zoo just yet…), but I have a hunch and a hope that these backyard birthday parties will be some of our children’s cornerstone memories of their earliest years.
We’ve celebrated our boys’ first and second birthdays at home as a family, but by the time they’re turning 3, in preschool, and have friends they want to celebrate with, we’re hosting at home. (Our boys were born in September, April, August, and February, so admittedly I haven’t figured out how we’ll handle our youngest’s yet!)
This means that three times a year, on a Saturday in late summer, early fall, or early spring, we’re pressure washing the outdoor furniture, tying balloons on the mailbox and the arbor into our backyard, and blowing up both the bounce houses (we’ll get to those in a minute).
After lots of trial and error over the years, we finally have a hosting routine down pat, so I thought I’d share everything we’ve learned about throwing children’s birthday parties at home!
