R's Fourth Birthday

R turned four in February. I meant to have a very small, intimate party this year (unlike in previous years where we had around 20 kids and rented a space to have the party in), but with one thing and another, including R wanting to invite all her classmates, we ended up having around 20 kids yet again, too many to fit into our apartment.

R waiting for the party to start: excited!

As an attempt to keep it simple (and save some money), though, this time we had it in the function room of our condo. This space is available for a nominal fee ($10/hour I think) and is huge, plenty big enough to fit any number of excited four-year-olds.

Party setting: R is crawling under the table for some reason

I decorated with just some balloons and rented some large toys, like a toy kitchen and a car park, for the kids to amuse themselves with. The balloons turned out to be the biggest hit; everyone had a wonderful time chasing them around the room and collecting them into bunches.

 

My friend made R a little party banner and we provided some snacks (I deliberately scheduled the party at a time where I wouldn't have to provide a full lunch for simplicity's sake), all R's favorites like pretzels, goldfish, cantaloupe and cheese sandwiches.

R picked a My Little Pony theme so the cake and party settings were decorated with those slightly creepy little horses. It's sort of funny that she likes My Little Pony so much, as the original show was one of my favorites as a young child.

Most of the children present, gathered to eat cake.

We didn't play any organized games, just let the children amuse themselves playing and chasing balloons for a couple hours, then cut the cake. It was a perfect low-key party.

R blowing out the candles