For her fourth birthday, Talitha had not one, but two, Frozen-themed parties.
For the second year in a row, my amazing sister threw Talitha a birthday party while we were visiting Texas in June. There were decorations, there were homemade cupcakes, there were costumes, and there was even fake snow to play in on my parents’ back porch in the 90-degree Texas heat. Katie also made a huge cardboard Olaf for pin-the-carrot-nose-on-the-snowman, and she did it so well (free-hand) that I think Disney should hire her in their animation department. I took tons of pictures because it was very cute, and I was NOT IN CHARGE.
After dinner and treats, we all sat down to watch Frozen. But here’s the funny part… it was Talitha’s first time seeing the movie. And that, my friends, is the power of Disney. A little three-year-old can see all the toys and hear the other children talk and sing the soundtrack in the car and before you know it she is requesting a themed birthday party for her favorite movie… one she has never even seen.
Talitha saw the movie for the second time back at our house in California a few weeks later. She really wanted a birthday party with friends at home, and since I skipped one for her last year, I thought I should oblige.
However, I was exhausted from Eisley’s puppy party and the end of the school year and traveling to Texas. Also, Talitha’s birthday falls on a tricky week, because it happens to be the last week of school in California, as well as every little ballerina’s final recital weekend, so I never know when to plan a party to accommodate people’s schedules.
After pondering for a few weeks, I came up with the perfect non-party party idea that I plan to use many times in the future. Instead of planning our movie for Saturday, we chose a Friday night. Often, people are more likely to be free on a Friday than on the actual weekend. While little girls watched Frozen on the projector inside and snacked on “reindeer food” (M&Ms, carrots, and popcorn), a group of moms sat on the patio outside and munched on appetizers and chatted the evening away. There were no dads around. Micah wasn’t even home! We took a movie intermission for “snowballs” (vanilla ice cream with marshmallows sprinkled on top), and the girls spent the night alternating between watching the movie and running around the house in their Frozen costumes. The only kid who watched the move the whole time was Talitha, but it was only her second time seeing it after all…
