Life in Stepping Stones

Anyone who’s followed my blog knows that when it comes to my kid’s birthday party, I love to go all out. It’s made this year especially challenging given the restrictions the Covid pandemic and quarantine has put in place. That doesn’t mean though that I’m sitting this year out. My son deserved an awesome 5th birthday celebration and that’s exactly what I gave him! I went all out and made it a three day celebration event (which I’m now paying for with extreme levels of exhaustion) but it was well worth it. He had a wonderful birthday weekend!

The week leading up to his birthday, I started preparing the cake and decorating his playhouse in secret. The cake took me three days to create, from baking (then freezing), making the white chocolate balcony mold, and decorating. The theme he chose was Aladdin, so I decided to make a cake representing the famous balcony scene.

I made the mold for the balcony by cutting a piece of cardboard and taping it together in the curved shape. I stapled parchment tape over the cardboard afterwards. I melted the white chocolate (only 1 1/2 minutes on medium in the microwave), stirred it, and once it was completely melted, I added it to a pipping bag. I piped out the railing across the mold. Once I was done, I put it in the refrigerator to set for 5 minutes. When it was done setting, I took it off the mold, stood it up, and piped white chocolate onto the bottom to create the floor. I put the whole balcony piece back into the refrigerator and let it set as one piece.

I also made some of the genie smoke out of white chocolate (I colored it blue), by drizzling patterns onto a flat piece of parchment paper. Piping the large clouds was very simple and I added some dimension by making one large cloud out of marshmallow. To hold Aladdin up, I used lollipop sticks and glue dots!

The night before our son’s birthday, we decorated our dining room for the following days festivities. My husband spent hours blowing up balloons to cover the ceiling with them.

Day One

Yard Sign Display & Morning Activities

For the first day, I hired the company Yard Card Story to display a Happy Birthday sign on our front lawn. I originally was planning to make these myself and ordered the foam boards two months in advance, but they still have yet to arrive. Thanks postal service. Luckily, I reached out to the company Yard Card Story with a few weeks to go and they were able to set up the sign and make custom Aladdin theme signs as well! They set them up the night before after everyone had gone to bed and removed them the following night.

After beginning the morning surprising Bailey with the giant sign, the local fire department drove by in their fire truck to wish our son a happy birthday. My husband reached out to the department earlier in the week and they agreed to come by, barring any emergencies.

Since my son had picked Aladdin as his birthday theme this year (and we won’t be going trick-or-treating because of Covid), we decided to make his birthday extra special by dressing up and wearing Aladdin themed costumes all day. We’ve been in a “bubble” with his grandparents and aunt since the beginning of the Covid pandemic so they were able to join us. After they arrived, we played a bean bag toss game that my mom created and spent time as a family in the backyard.

Drive-By Parade

In the early afternoon, our son’s parade began with greetings from our closest friends. We set up a cupcake table outside and our son brought cupcakes to the cars as our guests handed him presents and wished him a happy birthday. We never have huge parties and this was no exception. We had 6 cars visit in total and it was the perfect length of time for our son to enjoy seeing his friends, feel the love, and head off to the next part of the day.

Presents & Decorations

For the big finale, I set up his new playhouse to look like The Cave of Wonders. For decorations, I purchased a Magic Carpet rug from Target, gold plastic table covers from Party City for the backdrop, a shimmery gold curtain, and sequin gold tablecloths. I finished it off with a small treasure chest, genie lamp, and scattered coins and jewels. I brought all of his presents inside and after the parade, we headed to the backyard to find the cave and open gifts. Bailey was thrilled when he opened the playhouse door and saw his magical cave full of treasure inside.

In some ways, it actually worked out really well that he opened his gifts without guests. He was able to enjoy the gifts and there was no battle with other kids over playing with his new toys (which seems to always be a problem for the under 5 age group!). We wrapped up the day celebrating with cake.

Day Two & Three

Our son is back in preschool a couple days a week and has had two friends that we’ve included in our bubble throughout the summer. This made the following two days of celebrating possible. While we didn’t feel comfortable having multiple families together due to Covid, we invited our son’s best friend and parents over for a backyard playdate. In the early morning, I took the decorations we had inside from the previous day, outside, and set up the yard for another mini party. As the parents, we kept 6 feet of social distance between us and set the couches apart, while our kids played normally together, as they do at school.

Treasure Egg Hunt

I set up a six stop treasure map and egg hunt around the yard for them to do together, which ultimately led them to the Cave of Wonders, which I filled with eggs. The two of them had a great time searching for treasure and working together to find it.

Photo Booth

I also created, printed, and cutout signs for them to hold up for photos in the Cave of Wonders and in front of a backdrop of Jasmine’s palace. I used Adobe Illustrator to create the artwork, thick card stock, and extra long lollipop sticks to hold them up. In the theme of Aladdin, I made a Princess Jasmine, Aladdin, Abu, and Lago, as well as a “Happy Birthday” and large number 5.

The following day, we did the same experience with his other close friend. To change it up just a little, I made a different treasure map so the eggs wouldn’t be in the same locations, and after the hunt, they spent time hiding treasure in the sandpit, running around the yard, and chasing after each other as they each tried to run away with the treasure.

It was certainly a challenge this year to plan a birthday party around all of the obstacles Covid brings, but I am thankful that we are far enough along into the pandemic and quarantine to know the protocols to follow to make a celebration safe and possible for our little ones.