Turning 4 = Donuts Galore

One of Jackson's greatest loves is donuts so in a brainstorming moment I thought having a donut birthday party to celebrate him turning 4 would be perfect and it was! He loved it, I loved it, the guests loved it... It was quite a success, far exceeding my expectations.
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Our guests arrived at 9 in the morning in their p.j.s of course to do "donuts" in our culdesac on their ride on toys. We served a light breakfast on our front porch in an attempt to get some healthier, non sugar sustenance before the donuts galore.
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This was the first year that I attempted organized activities, but as most of his little friends are already 4 or about to turn 4 I thought I would give it a shot. After each game and during the games we passed out donut holes for participation. We started with playing "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" on the parachute. Jackson loves playing parachute and had a blast with help from his friends to make the parachute very bouncy. It was precious all the giggles rising up from under the parachute when several of the moms and dads played pick a boo with them.

Throw the donut hole (wiffle ball) through the donut (innertube) was next. It started off great and the kids had fun, but it quickly got a little chaotic. At one point Jackson's buddy Hank pretended he was the donut hole and dived through the innertube. It was hilarious! After these two games the kiddos gravitated back to the culdesac, so following their lead I held off on the next two games I had prepared for. They had a blast switching between the millions of ride on toys their friends had brought and considering how many kiddos and ride ons ( I think we counted 26 at one point) were doing donuts in the culdesac their were minimal collisions thank goodness.

My favorite part of the party was when I gathered all the children on our parachute for story time. The book I chose to read was the Donut Chef, a precious story about two donut stores competing for business by creating endless amounts of donuts in strange shapes and sizes. The chefs' intense competition was halted when Little Debbie Sue walked in and asked for a simple glazed donut. "Scuse me, Mister," said the tyke, "But where is the donut that I like?" The rhythm and cleverness of this cute book lent itself to great participation and held the kids attention to the very end when Bryan walked out with the towering donut cake. The look on Jackson's face was priceless! Adorned with a chef's hat and a happy birthday soundtrack by friends and family, Jackson made his wish and blew out his candle with gusto.
The kiddos were given icing and toppings to decorate their donuts as they wished and quenched their thirst with chocolate and strawberry milk. Jackson of course chose, just like little Debbie Sue, to enjoy his glazed donut in it's simplicity.
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After his guests left he enjoyed opening his new presents and spent some down time with our family and friends from out of town.
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Jackson still tells everyone we see how much fun his donut party was. I call that a great success!
CLICK HERE for pictures from the party taken by my friend Genevieve who is an awesome photographer, and CLICK HERE for more pictures that my dad and I took. Enjoy! We sure did!