Birthday Stuff

Before her birthday coupon expired, we managed to get to Red Robin for Ane’s birthday sundae. Unlike last year, when the restaurant was so short-staffed due to snow that they couldn’t scrounge up enough employees to sing to her, she had a full contingent clapping and singing to her. And the sundae was delicious, of course.

Then last Saturday, we had a small kids’ party for Ane – and when I say small, I mean number of kids. The party itself started off with a bang at the Build-A-Bear at our local mall, and the party kids included the Brain and Head, Lina and Denny, and Little Mo.

Ane, being the first one there (along with Tad), picked out her animal right away. We set a monetary limit and the kids had five different animals to pick from, and Ane chose the bunny.

She named her bunny Emily. Because she was the birthday girl, everyone at the party put a heart into her bunny for birthday wishes – which is a neat idea. And then she was the first kid to get her animal stuffed.

The bunny ended up being the most popular animal of the day – everyone picked it, except for Tad and the Brain. The Brain chose a bear, and Tad picked the puppy. Poor Tad. Being part of the party was not easy for him… because waiting to take his turn was just so hard for him to understand.

Finally, he got to help stuff his puppy, which was fun. Tad loves big machines, you know. Too bad they wouldn’t let him run it – the kids just push the foot pedal down.

I think all the kids enjoyed their new stuffed animals. I know mine certainly did.

After the stuffing and fluffing and beribboning was done, the kids all gathered at the front of the store to sing “Happy Birthday” to Ane. They also printed out birth certificates for their animals, and put them in the little house boxes to carry them home. Ane also received a special yellow bear that all the kids signed with a fabric marker as a gift from Build-A-Bear.

Back at our house (where everyone was headed next, because there are rules in place about no food, drinks, or presents inside the store), the cupcake stand was fully loaded and ready to party.

But first was presents, and Ane got some fun stuff from her friends – including clothes for her new bunny and a gift card for Build-A-Bear (and trust me, she was scoping out the outfits and counting on spending some of her allowance and tooth fairy money there later). Friend (on behalf of the boys) shopped for Ane at the Sanrio store – it was her excuse to buy cute pink Hello Kitty things.

Rupert, who tagged along, thought that this present-opening thing looked pretty fun and offered to help Ane.

Ane declined, but that’s okay… TODAY is Rupert’s first birthday (!) and I know he’s going to be doing some of his own present-opening over the weekend. 🙂

And what is a birthday party without a candle in a cupcake?

It was a successful party. Build-A-Bear was very convenient, nice and helpful. And believe it or not, it was cheaper than bouncing on inflatables anywhere. I have heard from both Friend and Aimee that the stuffed animals have been a hit, which is great.

And now… I declare Ane’s sixth birthday festivities officially OVER.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 1:24 am and is filed under Children, Group o' Friends, Holidays, Shopping Stories.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed and Both comments and pings are currently closed.