Cranky Frankie Turns 3: a little monster birthday party

by | Oct 28, 2014 | Birthdays, It's Party Time | 12 comments

On Sunday, Frankie turned three years old. You can imagine his excitement.

We threw him a Little Monster-themed birthday party. Here’s how it went down.

THE DECOR

Red tissue balls and green hanging fans, fabric circus bunting, a mini monsters banner, a homemade personalized Happy Birthday Frankie banner, and many MANY trash monsters made for the occasion by Bobby and Gus.

THE FOOD

The food was selected by the birthday boy. His initial request was for “raisins and string cheese.” I was able to talk him into a few more choices.
THE MENU 
Chilling Chips
Shocking String Cheese
Scary Salad
Hair-Raising Raisins
Fried Monster
Creepy Carrots
Dreadful Dip
Weird Water 
Beastly Biscuits
Monster Mash -ed Potatoes
Petrifying Punch
Frightening Fruit
The punch was really fun, here’s how I did it:

My other favorite was the watermelon monster. These are SO EASY, way easier than carving pumpkins. I was going to buy a watermelon for the fruit salad anyway, so making it into a decoration was free!

THE GAMES

As usual, Jack was our Master of Ceremonies. This time, he planned a Feed-the-Monster bean bag toss game:

And a Pin-the-Eyeball-on-the-Monster game:

The cutest thing about that one was that at the end, he announced that every kid had gotten his eyeball in just the right place, so they each won a prize. (One of those little pinwheels.)

THE CRAFT

Inspired by this pin, the big kids set up a Monster Headband Making station.

I cut felt rectangles and sewed elastic to the sides. The kids cut out bunches of eyes, noses, mouths, and fangs. Plus we had feathers and puff balls and pipe cleaners. We used glue dots, which are SO EASY and don’t require drying, but they didn’t keep the felt pieces together all that long. It was fine for the party, but I think, over-all, glue would have been a better choice.

THE CAKE

Betty made the cupcakes. They were simple to make, but turned out quite professional looking!

And that was that. A good time was had by all.

Even the birthday boy!

Other posts to check out here:

Click on the “Cakes and Parties” tab at the top for more. We throw a lot of parties.

And YES, I know I owe you a Capsule Wardrobe post. I’m working on it! It will be up Thursday or Friday. In the meantime, please link up YOUR capsule wardrobe posts here.

And don’t forget about the Catholic All Year Catholic Costume Contest! Share a photo of your child in a Catholic Costume for Halloween or All Saints Day, on the Catholic All Year Facebook page, on Instagram with hashtag #catholiccostume, or via email at catholicallyear @ gmail . com. Inspire those around you! Win a fabulous prize!

12 Comments

  1. Sophie שרה Golden

    Happy Birthday, Frankie!!! Frankie has a character, which is unique, so I like that 🙂

    Amazing menu, good for you, Kendra. I especially loved "unusually" creepy carrots with the dreadful dip 😀

  2. Tori

    Fantastic! I love how your older kids get involved and help. The cupcakes are great. And that first picture of Frankie with the balloons is just perfect, ha.

    • Kendra

      Thanks Tori!

      I probably should have mentioned it in the post, but it was really hard for me to let go and let them help. Especially on the cake. I had the choice of going out to dinner with Jim or staying home to make the cupcakes myself, and I seriously considered turning him down for date night because I wanted to make sure the cupcakes were just so. But, reason prevailed, and I realized it didn't matter if they ended up a little wonky and I went out with my husband. And then they turned out perfectly anyway!

      There's a temptation looking around too much on Pinterest, that makes me think everything should always be perfect. But it's much more fun (and less time consuming) if we all get involved and it doesn't have to be perfect!

    • Amanda

      Good for you! They're so proud and they'll be so good at it themselves!

      This whole thing is about 4000x more creative than I am (for our birthdays the past two weeks I….made a cake). I want to live near you in real life and crash these shindigs.

  3. Erica Saint

    Love the eyeball punch! Happy birthday Frankie!

    And I just linked up my wardrobe post. 🙂

  4. Anna

    Way to sport the bow tie Frankie! Happy Birthday! (my Henry Jude is 3 today. I love all your Frankie posts. They would be chums.)

  5. ccgnicholson

    I have to say, your Frankie posts always make me smile. Such a character. Happy birthday, little guy!

  6. Tracy Bua Smith

    I love the scary watermelon and punch idea, but all the ideas are great! That's great that your kids were involved so much! And did you mean to say that Jack was the "Monster" of ceremonies? HAHA! LOL! Happy birthday to your little, sweet monster!

  7. Elise

    So fun, Kendra! Love that eyeball punch – you are so creative. Also, I adore that bow tie on your little man. Happy birthday to Frankie!

  8. Jessica

    So creative! I especially love the Frightening Fruit and the Furry Monster Cupcakes. What a fun party!

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Hi! I’m Kendra.

For twenty years now, I’ve been using food, prayer, and conversation based around the liturgical calendar to share the lives of the saints and the beautiful truths and traditions of our Catholic faith. My own ten children, our friends and neighbors, and people just like you have been on this journey with me.

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