Dominic’s First Birthday
My little boy – Dominic – is 6 today and to celebrate I’m doing something a bit different. I am dedicating this post to my little guy and sharing some of the images from his birthday party which took place over the weekend. Here is a photo of him from his first birthday. My son was born just an hour and a half shy of Halloween. Neither of us were keen on waiting that extra time to make him an official Halloween baby. 
We decided to host Dominic’s birthday party at our house again this year. After much negotiation, my son agreed to invite 3 of his boy friends , 2 of his girl friends, and his big sister – big change from last year’s 13 kids! If it was up to him, it would have been only him and his best friend. Oh well, that would have been ok too! 
Dominic was heavily involved in the planning of his party and he decided that he wanted a “Zombie Puffle Party”. Say what?!
So, the first task was to “Puffle-fy” the house. For those of you wondering what a “Puffle” is…
Puffles
Birthday Party Food:
Although I host a website about books, I secretly equally love creating food and crafting as well. Here is the spread I created for Dominic’s party last year:
Pumpkin Cheese Balls
Monster Apple Wedges
Pizza Bread Bones
I was so well-behaved this year, that I limited myself to ONE food dish! Tada (click on cover to see where I found this on Pinterest):
Fruit Skewer Pumpkin Head
Birthday Cakes:
I have a thing with cakes. For my birthday every year, my Mom made an awesome Butter Cake. It was completely delicious. Every year for both of my kids, I make (ok and sometimes buy) the most awesome cakes. I’ve included photos of Dominic’s first ever cake and his latest one (art courtesy of my awesome husband!)
Dominic’s First Birthday Cake
Puffle Cake
Birthday Party Crafts and Games:
If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that if you don’t have games organized at a birthday party for little ones, chaos will ensue. Here were some of the crafts that we did at the party – oh, and a photo of the witch broom party favor bags (click on covers for links to original source of ideas – ok, couldn’t find one for the frames, but we got the kit from Michaels):
Fizzle Paint With Pumpkins
Halloween Picture Frames
Witch Broom Goodie Bags
Ah, the games … what to do with six 5/6 year-olds (and one 9 year-old)? Here’s where I channel my inner Kindergarten teacher (I am so NOT a teacher in real life) and put together a line-up of fun games. First up was the Mummy Game, or in this case, the “Turn the Daddy into a Mummy” game. Next came the Pass the Pumpkin game (not pictured) using the Monster Mash as the background music. And, finally that perennial birthday party favorite… the blindfolded Pin the Puffle on the target (thanks to my daughter who put this together 5 minutes before the guests arrived). Phew…
Turn the Daddy into a Mummy game
Pin the Puffle Game
Hope you enjoyed this little peek into our lives. Big smooches to my big boy!! 
