Aiden's Elmo Party

I try to plan everything out for birthdays the summer before their actual birthdays. I know this is a little premature as they change a bit before their actual birthday.  Last summer I planned Alex's pirate birthday, and that stayed the same. I also planned Aiden's Little Man birthday, and that changed. No worries though since I can probably use the cards for Father's Day this year. 

It changed because although he is my little man, the mustaches scared the living daylights out of him.  So, he requested Elmo and we went with that. 

Cassie volunteered to come the night before again to help with decorating and we also some good laughs (mostly at my expense), good (or bad for you) food, and games in too. 

Alex (and even Aiden) enjoy helping with the decorating and planning for the party.

Elmo even showed up at his party.  Although Elmo looks very friendly from a distance (such as on the tv, in books or coloring pages), he must seem scary in person.  Aiden had a little different reaction the live Elmo.

We decided to play this party a little differently. I love doing the decorating and planning for decorations.  I love the cheesy play on words and crafting that goes into the parties.  I just needed a little break from all the food.  So, we did some side things such as chips, a salad or two, drinks and deserts.  But, we ordered two party subs for the main course from Subway and it was perfect. We had hardly any left and it saved a lot of time in the kitchen. 

We played some pin the nose on Elmo, which went better for all of the kids the second time around. Aiden even won, fair and square!  At Andy's request, we had an Elmo pinata.  We played it by pulling the strings this time to let the candy out instead of hitting Elmo.  There was mixed reaction from on-lookers.  Some said they liked it because all kids (regardless of size) had an equal chance of "spilling the candy".  But, most said they liked watching the kids hit Elmo because it provided more entertainment and more of a chance for Andy to get hit.  Haha, funny family we have!

My little man was spoiled with gifts again from everyone and loves his new grill that the guys spent a lot of time setting up.

Grandma Guse made his special Elmo cake that Aiden loved!  We took several different pictures and tried to sneak one of Aiden, Elmo and the cake, but as soon as Aiden saw Elmo, he bolted out of there!

First he sees...

Then he runs!

Lots of people to love my Little 'Elmo Loving' Man!