Happy Half Birthday to You! It was so exciting to plan a Half Birthday Party for Pinky! She will be 6 months on Wednesday, July 14th! Time flies and I can’t believe how much she has grown, how much her personality has already shone through, how smart she is, how beautiful she is becoming…and how much she looks like her dad, more and more everyday!
I didn’t think about this Half Birthday thing until exactly a month ago. My Korean friend told me about a tradition where they celebrate the baby’s 100th day of life. I wanted to start a tradition for our family. Hopefully we will keep this up.
I did a lot of Internet research and didn’t find anything exciting other than a pretty simple definition on Wikipedia and some sites which offered cheesy ‘half’ themes…at first I looked way too much into it, thinking how to explain this to every one in my family, how to decorate for a half birthday, how would I decide on making half an invitation, should I only make half a cake, and so on. That got too exacting so I sent out a text message telling family members to save-the-date for Pinky’s Half Birthday Picnic. Our family pretty much got the idea without explanation! We also had to work fast because my dad was making an unexpected trip to the Philippines.
Anyway, I really wanted to throw her an Alice in Wonderland Themed party…then thought it would be too much, then realized we could do an “Un-Birthday Theme.” I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. Finally, I decided to keep it simple since we’ll be planning her First Birthday in just 6 months. We decided to go with a Beach Theme since she is our little California Girl born in the Winter; and we can’t have a beach picnic in the Winter. Many will argue that San Diego experiences Summer all year long, but we really don’t. The weather here is so unpredictable! Hence the June Gloom in July the day of her celebration. Despite the minor malfunction, Daddy, Uncle and Grandpa woke up extremely early to save a spot for the picnic. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, pancit, cake, cookies, and Mexican corn. We kept it simple, but still we were so tired at the end of the day.
The important this is that Pinky had a blast! It was her first time being out ALL day at the park. She loved the breeze and the fact that every one came out just to celebrate her first 6 months of life! In the photo Alana is attempting to blow her first cake as well as dig into the frosting. Although she didn’t have a slice, she did enjoy the eye candy – a plain white frosted store bought ‘half’ sheet cake which we decorated with teddy grahams, candy and brown sugar to mimic a beach setting! It was so fun to decorate.
We are so blessed to have Pinky in our lives. And, we have so much to look forward too. Not to mention, so much to invest in. I’m talking beach gear and BBQ grills! We’ll be doing this again next year! It’s such a great idea and who doesn’t want a reason to celebrate their kids!
Here are a few things we learned that day:
- Camp out at your intended party spot.
- Don’t forget the sunscreen, even though it was over cast the sun still shines through the clouds. It is said that UV rays are at their strongest during overcast.
- If possible, have a Plan B to host your party.
- Enjoy yourself.
Hope you make time to celebrate your child’s next Half Birthday!
Credits: I spruced up our photo with Ali Edwards’ Title – Journal Blocks No. 01 Overlay
To read more what pinky is up to visit our blog at http://thepinkyproject.com.