Giveaway Day 2: Describe the best birthday party you’ve ever thrown
WINNERS UPDATE: Excellent suggestions, one and all. I really appreciated the creativity and economy of cbracken’s beauty slumber party and Danna did not have any competition in the boy party category (literally!). I’m going to steal both these ideas for my little one’s future bashes. Email me to claim your prizes: asultan@post-dispatch.com
I’ve written before about my birthday party addiction/OCD. That I tend to go overboard is an understatement. Well, here’s my chance to reward fellow parents who suffer from the same disorder. Describe (in vivid detail) the best birthday party you’ve ever thrown for your child. Deadline to post your entry: 9 p.m. There will be two winners chosen: Best boy’s party and best girl’s party.
And, of course, the prizes:
For the girl party winner: “Red: Teenage Girls in America Write on What Fires up their Lives Today,” edited by Amy Goldwasser. AND, this lovely Barbie doll:
Barbie and the Diamond Castle
Incredible Hulk Glow Mask
Aisha covered education and breaking news for nearly ten years before joining the Lifestyle staff where she writes a "Dirty Laundry" parenting column. She is the home and family editor and wastes too much time on Facebook and political blogs. 
The best party i ever threw was a swing set party for my daughter this past summer. It was simple becuse the entertaimentment was outside. The kids stayed out on the swing set and the food was easy too. We did the standard cake and ice cream thing, and had hot dogs chips and drinks for the kids- Easy and cheap and all the kids loved the food.
The best birthday party I have ever thrown was last week for my 2 year old. With the economy pinching all of us, I found a way to have fun and not break the bank. We had one other family join us for pizza and an ice cream cake at home. I bought some decorations from the dollar store but my 2 year old was in awe. She loved her party and since it was so simple she really knew it was all about her. She is still telling all of us “Happy Birthday” a week later. There were no fancy rentals or big production but she felt loved and honored and that is what mattered.
It was a couple of years ago for my oldest daughter Cailey, who was turning 9 at the time. I had a slumber party for 15 girls. I paired the girls up (randomly of course) and each had a beauty station. Hair, fingernails, toenails, eyeshadow, lipstick, tattoos, sparkles and lastly hair spray paint (that one was outside!) The girls had a night of girly fun and they all had a hand in it. They had so much fun and it was sooooo cheap.
On by daughters 6th birthday, we had a carnival at her old daycare.
We had several booths - face painting, crafts, different games of skill
and a big bouncy. Along with the hotdogs and juice, we had popcorn in the
bags like the carnival. My daughter loved it. She still talks about how
much fun it was.
The best party I have thrown was for my 3 year old daughter. We had a beach party theme, I baked a cake inthe shape of a sand castle and gave all the kids (including those over 4 feet tall) water guns and either “beach” rubber duckies or “hula” pigs for party favors and we spent a good part of the afternoon in the back yard attacking each other with the water guns. Of course, the big kids (daddies) weren’t satisfied with little water guns, so they went and got super soakers and the garden hose.
The best party I ever threw was a jungle party for my son’s 6th birthday. I had Serengeti Steve come to our house to put on a 1hr interactive demonstration. He brought snakes, lizards & an alligator. The children were given the opportunity to hold or touch the animals. Prior to the demo we turned off the overhead lights in our basement as the kids arrived and had purple strings of lights ran along the baseboards. There was a fog machine puffing in one corner and jungle music playing from the another. As they entered the “Ethan’s Jungle” each child was given a safari hat to wear. We had a monkey banana eating contest along w/ a fish for snakes game. My son wants to do it again this year, but I don’t think it will be as much fun the 2nd time around.
For my daughters 8th b-day we has a backyard bananza she invited several kids from the neighborhood, and they had a blast we had big-wheel races,wheel barrel races,the spoon and the egg game and mucical chairs. I bar-b-Q hotdogs and we had cake and ice cream……………..but the best part was the pinata none of the kids could bust this thing so my husband decided to einyelate(spelling)? this pinata with an aluminum bat imagen hundreds of gum balls frying threw the air like little beebees the kids thought it was hysterical and the dog went to town scarfing up the treats!