Garrison's 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated Garrison's 4th birthday yesterday with his first ever "friend party". It was so much fun and my little man enjoyed every second. Yaaaay!! We decided that the 4th birthday party (probably for each of our children) will be the first party they get to invite friends from school and have it somewhere other than home (or Granna and Papa's). This past November Garrison attended his first ever birthday party for a friend who was turning 4 and there were a few friends at Garrison's party yesterday attending their first ever friend party. So it seems to be the going age.  

 

Anyway, because Garrison's birthday is in February and it's a very real possibility the weather could be freezing cold or rainy or even snowy, we can't plan for anything outdoors. It's just too risky. And since they're aren't a whole lot of birthday party "on location" options around here, we went with one of Garrison's favorite places ever, Chick-Fil-A! And we are so glad we did. Everything was pretty perfect. =)

 

We chose a baseball theme and the invitations turned out ADORABLE! My wonderful, talented friend Megan designed them. She is the best!! I LOVE the way she makes all of her invitations so personalized and unique to you and what you want. She is just amazing. I highly recommend her!

Speaking of amazing... so is Chick-Fil-A! They did a great job with our party and all the kids loved the play area, loved the food, and loved the ice dream cup they got with their cake. =)

This was the gift/party favor table. Unfortunately I didn't make this picture until the party was wrapping up because the second I got it set up our guests arrived and presents piled up. We did tee-balls and a box of cracker jacks for favors. I think they were a hit... especially with all the boys.

Here is Garrison's adorable jersey cake. It turned out so cute! Terrell "designed" the cake himself... it's the back of a home Braves jersey except with Garrison's name and the number 4. =) We also grabbed a cookie cake so we'd have plenty to share...and because I know from experience some kids prefer "cookie" over cake.

Garrison had the BEST time playing with his friends and cousins. They were wild and crazy going 90 miles an hour! I think everyone had a lot of fun. And no one was hurt. (That's always my fear when a bunch of kids get together in the same space going wide open.) Thank you Lord!

The eating portion of the party went great too. All the kids sat down and ate and enjoyed their kids meals and were very well mannered. And once they finished I gave them the option of going back to play for a little bit or having cake and ice cream... they wanted the sweets!

 

Austin enjoyed himself some chicken nuggets too. =)

 

A great picture of my sister (AnAn) and Frankie!

Garrison listening to everyone sing Happy Birthday. Precious.

 

Blowing out his candle!

After everyone finished cake and ice cream they went back to the play area to play again. Wouldn't you know my child was the last one to leave the table. He's never been one to let food go to waste. Haha.

After another good stretch of play time and once a few of the kids had to get ready to leave, Garrison opened his presents. He was very excited and impressed with his new goodies.

Before leaving Chick-Fil-A I just had to get in a family picture. We were all sort of spent by the end of the party but my family obliged...despite their exhausted state. 

Once we left Chick-Fil-A, my parents, Terrell's parents, and my sister and Frankie came back over to our house to eat supper with us and so Garrison could open presents from them. He loved his gifts and wanted to play with every single thing at the same time.

One of the last presents he opened was a gift from us... a box of animal crackers to go along with tickets to the circus. We're taking him on his annual birthday outing/date with mama and daddy next weekend to the circus. And we're riding a train to get there. Double yay!

We had such a fun day. It was most definitely exhausting but everything went so well. We are especially thankful to our moms and sisters for all of their help! This was our first party to truly be in charge of and it was a lot of work. Way more than I realized! We appreciate all the help with our kids, party supplies, cutting and passing out of cake, presents, clean up, etc. They made things go so much smoother. And we absolutely loved wrapping up the party by eating with family around our dining room table. That made it even more special. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our little man's 4th birthday!! We're pretty sure he LOVED every single thing about it!